Back on April 1st, I promised you 30 blog posts in 30 days. I knew I had a business trip planned, but I thought I’d be able to write some things ahead of time and line them up to publish while I was away.

Wishful thinking… who was I kidding? I had so much work to do to prepare for this trip that I didn’t even start packing until the night before. See my last blog post for details.

When that didn’t work out, I thought – okay, I’m bringing a laptop on this trip. I’m sure I’ll have some spare time to write a few quick posts at the end of each day.

Wishful thinking… who was I kidding? I was so tired when I returned to my hotel room that I only had the energy to get changed, brush my teeth, and go to sleep.

So, when that didn’t work out, I knew I had a three-hour wait for my flight from Chicago to Philly, and I thought I could quickly crank out one or two posts and start to catch up on the week of blog posts I lost.

Again, wishful thinking…who was I kidding? My flight was delayed, and I hung out at the airport with some of the wonderful people from my trip instead. Thankfully, we made the best of it. We talked about our trip, checked our airline apps, shared our frustrations and horror stories about air travel, and considered renting a car and driving 12 hours to Philly. At one point, we all walked over to try and intimidate the lovely people at the customer service desk to see if we could get on any plane to Philly. We thought the “Philly Six” (which is what we nicknamed ourselves) could find a plane for us — or at least buy us a round of drinks for our troubles. I was also busy calculating the time change plus the travel time from the Philly airport to my house, texting my family, and hoping I’d see them soon and sleep in my own bed.

On the flight home, I thought about blogging later today. I had the day off and thought I would definitely have time to put some thoughts down on paper.

You guessed it. Wishful thinking… who was I kidding? I slept in until 9 am, checked my email, posted some photos from the weekend on our social media platforms, did laundry, camped out in front of the tv, and napped on and off all day long. Actually, I must have dreamt about doing laundry because I see that all of my dirty clothes never made it out of the sorting baskets on my bedroom floor. I guess that means I’ll be wearing PJ bottoms and a cute top to work tomorrow. Good thing I work from home. No one in my Zoom meetings will ever know (unless, of course, you rat me out 🙂 )

As you can tell, I’m still a little punchy from my six-day road trip and three-hour wait at the airport, which turned into a four-hour delay yesterday. What is it about me flying through Chicago?? I always get stuck there. One of my favorite bloggers is sharing her travel nightmare stories this month, and I’m pretty sure if I shared all of mine, they would always begin with a flight through Chicago.

Okay, I need one more good night’s sleep, and then I’ll write more exciting blog posts to finish the month.

Wishful thinking? I hope not!

Anyway – I missed you all, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

XO,
Elisa

• 1 comment

When I was younger, packing for a business trip was so much easier. I calculated how many days the conference lasted plus the number of mandatory business dinners. I  added in a few fun tops to wear to the “after-hours” activities (also known as hitting the bars with co-workers) and made sure to include comfortable travel clothes. My biggest conundrum was figuring out how to pack my suitcase with the least amount of shoes. They took up so much room! The trick was to wear the bulkiest shoes on the plane, so I always had sneakers with me. But I still had no less than three pairs of work shoes in tow. (No pun intended).

Next week, I am going to Chicago on a business trip for six days, and I have already started the packing process. I’ve been doing laundry all day, got a mani/pedi, and picked up the necessary toiletries at CVS. I also located my packing cubes – the best invention ever! – started to pick out my outfits and put aside the good underwear. This trip is more complicated than others because I am spending part of it at a nice hotel where we are hosting a major fundraiser. The second part takes place at a retreat center/campground. Therefore, I’m packing for all occasions and situations: business/cocktail attire for the fundraiser and sweatshirts, jeans, and lots of layers that can pass as professional but still appropriate for the outdoors. I may need to check another bag for my shoes!

Oy!

And if my outfits weren’t complicated enough, I have another issue. I use a CPAP machine at night for my sleep apnea. This thing takes up more room in my suitcase than my shoes ever did back in the day. When I was fitted for the machine a few years ago, the travel version didn’t seem worth it at the time. It would have set me back about a thousand dollars. It also runs on distilled water, and since I’ll be without a car and in the middle of the woods, I’m sure it’s not readily available unless I schlep my own water with me. I’m debating on leaving it at home, even though it will mean my quality of sleep suffers. But who am I kidding? I don’t sleep well when I travel anyway.

Well, at least I no longer have to worry about any “after-hours” outfits this time. At my age, these are otherwise known as pajamas.

Got any packing tips for me? Share them in the comments. 

• 5 comments