One of the secrets to a good trip is to keep doing things
you can well and just try to not care too much about anything else.
One thing I've gotten pretty good at is packing. In fact
this time, I hardly planned at all. I just pulled out the list I use every time
and tossed everything in our bags. We’re hitting Eastern Europe with one
suitcase, one carryon, a backpack and a small purse. At least we thought we
were.
Two things you can’t control: flight delays and lost
luggage. Our original flight out of Dallas was delayed two hours due to
lightening. We landed at Heathrow at the exact time we should have boarding our
connection to Budapest, but we were saved by the delay. Our connection was an
hour late, which put us right on time.
We landed in Budapest right on time. Except our luggage,
that one suitcase didn't It was last seen in Heathrow according to the
database. So we filed a report and celebrated how little we had to carry to the
taxi stand.
This is when I surprised even myself with my packing savvy.
Because even though we had next to nothing in the backpack and purse, we ended
up in Budapest with
- 8 pairs of socks and underwear each (recycling clothes
everyday doesn't sound so bad as long as you have clean socks and drawers)
- Our camera, laptop, kindles (loaded with guide books),
chargers and plug adapters
- 2 pairs of clothes each (if you count our travel clothes)
- All our prescriptions and a stock pile of Tylenol and ibuprofen
- Hats and sunscreen
- Toothbrushes and toothpaste
- Maps, itineraries, and tickets
- And of course, the only two things we really need: passports
and credit cards.
Holy smokes, we’re traveling across Eastern Europe with
nothing but the clothes on our backs. And it’s fine. We have until Tuesday
morning for the no show luggage to make it to the hotel, or I suspect they will
reroute it to our home. Worst case scenario we need to buy deodorant (we’re
very European today) and a brush, maybe a couple spare tee shirts.
