my travel planning obsession

I’m not exactly obsessed with travel. I don’t really want to backpack though Nepal or hike the Amazon (though I wouldn’t mind a week in Paris or a trip through Scandinavia!)

I’m just obsessed with planning what I take with me on trips!

In my notes on my iPod Touch I have a packing list. I update it every few months, before and after every trip we take. In old diaries I have lists for trips we took in 2006 and 2010. I always try to note what I didn’t wear and what I wished I had but didn’t take so that I can refine the list for next time. I spend time online looking at packing guides and videos. Yeah, I’m a packing geek!

We are planning a trip home to see my family (coming up soon! we have finally booked tickets) and my mind is spinning with all the possibilities and limitations of the stuff I plan to bring.

My number one concern is photography. I will bring at least one camera. Possibly the film camera as well as the digital camera. I would like to take some nice pictures of my family, if they’ll let me, as well as the usual sightseeing pictures and silly self portraits.

I would love to bring an iPhone – for the camera, the music, and the wifi connection. But I did the math on the cost of owning one and I just can’t convince myself it’s worth it. My digital camera is great but slightly bulky (the trade off for having awesome features) and it can’t connect to wifi so I can’t share pictures as I go. The iPod Touch is great for wifi connections, music, games, apps, note taking… but it doesn’t have a camera. And after deciding that I might upgrade to a newer one (with all the money I saved by not buying a smartphone 2 years ago, or even 2 months ago!) I found out that the Touch and the iPad have terrible cameras – 1 megapixel? are you kidding me?! Then I discovered another way that Apple has failed me – the camera connection kit which makes it possible to link a digital camera to an iPad doesn’t work on the Touch (even though the iPad is basically a giant iPod Touch. grrrr!) and I don’t really want to buy an iPad, do I? (or do I? no, I just took a look at them online – I don’t want one!)

I could bring my laptop. Yes, I could. But I really don’t want to…

I could also borrow my husband’s smartphone, or one of my family’s computers, both of which I will probably end up doing.

Or I could go offline for a couple of weeks… imagine that!

I am going around and around in circles on this, trying to figure out what I really want.

• I want to keep things simple.
• I want to have a good time.
• I want to take pictures because that’s what I like to do.
• I also want to to keep my money and not spend it on another gadget! especially not one with a monthly bill.

My other obsession is with travel accessories. I recently spent a number of hours clicking around looking at travel blankets and sleep sacks because I spotted someone online packing a tiny little silk sleep sheet or blanket into their luggage and thought that might help me get comfortable on the long flight. Not that the airline doesn’t provide a blanket… (and no I’m not someone who is afraid of using the airline blanket. I have never gotten sick from using a blanket nor have I caught a dread disease on the backs of my legs from sitting on a toilet seat – don’t even get me started on that!) It’s just so hard to stay warm and comfortable sleeping while sitting up on a plane. But that’s just how it is. There is no magic that will make this situation different, except maybe having so much money that first class seems like a reasonable investment – I guess if I save that smartphone money for a couple of years…!

Anyway, this is what everything comes back to: traveling is inconvenient. Planes are crowded and you have very little space to store your stuff. When you’re bored and can’t sleep and your muscles are stiff 4 hours into a 12 hour flight, there’s nothing much you can do. You have to keep going.

So maybe what I need to plan is an attitude adjustment. Maybe I need to practice sitting and letting things be. Wishing for more and different and newer gadgets and accessories doesn’t actually make the hard things any easier. New stuff just means new worries and frustrations, different wishes and desires and regrets. Because there’s always something else…

Jo:)

 

sketchbook project 2011-12

sketchbook project 2011-12, a set on Flickr.

I’m done!!
My sketchbook is finished and ready to send to Brooklyn.

Here’s a look at it, page by page.

(btw I’m posting this directly from flickr – a bit of an experiment!)

I’m really happy with the way the sketchbook looks, perfectly imperfect binding and all. I probably should have included a fork or spoon related self-portrait somewhere in there, but I thought of that too late – there is no more paper, and I don’t have a printer. I am reflected in the spoons in front of Lizzie’s eyes, so I guess I am in there…

Thanks to my SIL for letting me use her printer for Xmas and to Lizzie for letting me photograph her silverware drawer.

Jo:)

new year, new journal

The beginning of a new year means I get a new planner, journal, diary and/or calendar. And this year I can celebrate finishing my 5 year diary!

I loved (the idea of) my 5 year diary, even though it took 6 years to fill (I took a year or so off between mid 2009 and late 2010) but I am excited to have only ONE diary to keep up with in 2012.

In every area of my life I swing between wanting only one thing (my minimalist side) and wanting to try a lot of different things (my scanner side) – usually the scanner wins out. At times during the last couple of years I have juggled a blog, brain-dump journals, a 5 year diary, a planner, a sketchbook, letters to my family, and photos, all competing to document my life. The truth is I can’t keep up with all of them AND live my life. I can’t even keep up with a few of them. This year I have decided to concentrate on the forms that I love – enthusiastic photography and a daily diary.

In 2012 I have a simple black page-a-day diary/journal. It has enough space for a recap of my day and a short commentary (or a longer page of thoughts with only a minimal day review). It has a space to note the weather and I am writing the name(s) of the books I am reading at the top of each page.

I enjoy knowing what I was doing on a given day more than I enjoy reading or writing a lot about my feelings. Using the 5 year diary I would go back read previous years to see whether we were busy at work, what the weather was like, if we forgot our anniversary (or Halloween one year) or what I was reading or watching. Even without writing down my feelings I could tell whether I was busy or lonely, sad or too busy with life to worry about anything – the activities of the day would often trigger memories of my mood.

My morning pages/brain dump journals didn’t quite work for me – I would re-read them and wonder how I could have not written about important things I remember were going on – often the most emotional things in my life would be the least reported in my journal.   They did help me think – sometimes I worked out pretty tricky problems by writing them out. But I still wanted to keep a diary showing what I did each day…

Maybe I should just let the past be the past, but it really bothers me that I have nothing to anchor certain memories in time. I can’t even remember exactly when I got chicken pox (I know I was in my early 20s, but was I 21? I think so, but I don’t know for sure!) There are events that I think were going on around the same time, but without the diary to confirm the chronology I can’t be sure. And that’s drives me crazy!

I have a small vintage suitcase full of journals, writing, planner pages and other personal papers. I have one diary from intermediate school and even a few little books from primary school with my childish handwriting. These papers help me feel anchored in reality!

I’m looking forward to seeing how my page-a-day one-diary plan works out.

10 days into the year, I’m optimistic!

Jo:)

the sun is always shining…

(somewhere up there, above the clouds)

christmas eve star

holiday carousel

happy holidays