My first post. My next trip.

Hello travellers

My next trip is to Sydney – visiting the Garvan Institute for a symposium.  I would usually just go early on the day, but daylight savings has started and we Queenslanders do not assimilate, so I have no desire to get to the airport by 4:30 on a Monday morning.  Sheesh – I have about a one hour drive to get to the airport which makes it a diabolical start time for me.

I’ve been a varied packer in the past.  As a fairly inexperienced traveller, I used to take a large suitcase with more clothes, shoes, etc than I needed.  Years of waiting at carousels and dragging massive suitcases around has made me a champion packer.  I generally travel with carry-on baggage only – a small silver Samsonite spinner and a large handbag which also doubles as my laptop bag.  This works really well for making a quick escape out of the airport, but it’s a killer on the back and shoulder.  The age old problem – save time or save your back!

I own so many suitcases, laptop bags and handbags, it’s the eternal search for the perfect combination.  I’ve done a lot of research and haven’t really found the perfect solution.  I will confess that I want my luggage to be “pretty” as well as robust and functional.  Not gonna happen, right?  I am continuing my search however and I’ve recruited a number of fellow female travellers to be on the lookout as well.

At this stage, I’m going to start carrying a toolbox again – I’m able to do some nice user maintenance on my robots when I visit them, so I’d like to have the right tools with me.  I have a great little toolbox, but of course it needs to be checked in, so I figure if I have to wait for my toolbox, I may as well pack it in a suitcase and check my baggage as well.  I am actually quite excited to try this again – imagine… get off plane, bio-break, grab coffee, check mail/messages THEN swoop in and gracefully retrieve my baggage from the carousel – that works, right?!

Anyway, that’s the plan, I may need to buy a new medium-sized suitcase 😉

Until next time,

xdesleyjane