Last week The Guy had to go out of town on business. He wanted me to go. Since the biggest pressing thing I had to do was proof, I figured I could do that in a hotel room. And it was only going to be for two nights. Less that 48 hours.
One would have thought we could have had a small bag each and maybe a few hanging work clothes for him. Not so. First there were the electronics: Two laptops, two tablets, two cell phones, a Kindle and everything it takes to charge all that plus track balls, cables, and power supplies. There was also unrecognizable stuff (to me) that he needed for his work. I didn't ask. I don't care.
I like to proof from a hard copy and I like to proof in a bigger, different font because I find the typos easier, so I had 348 printed pages. It took up a whole tote bag.
Haunted by Rhonda Nelson's inability to get diet Mountain Dew in her hotel in Texas last week, I had to load up on that. Fearful that I would eat candy bars and potato chips out of the vending machine, I figured I'd take some fruit, Laughing Cow Cheese, and Triscuits. That led to paper plates, napkins, and a knife for spreading cheese and slicing apples.
Then there were our clothes.
Do you see where I am going with this? When did it get to the point where we had to have so much stuff? One could argue that we didn't need tablets since we had laptops, but they are so handy. And after all, they only took up a little space in our messenger bags.
Time was, I could travel light. Now it seems that I need almost as much for two night as I need for two weeks in Europe.
Can you travel light?
