saying goodbye

Faithful readers may recall that one of the more difficult changes for me during this pregnancy is being grounded - no more travel for me for a long while, except for a weekend trip to Atlanta next month. So I've been putting off one of the more onerous purging tasks on my list: going through all my travel stuff. All four plastic bins. I got up early this morning and just went through each box and tossed everything that I know, deep in my heart, I'll never use again. Like the various laundry bags that I've stolen from hotels around the world (Hotel Rotana in Doha, the Sheraton Pretoria); two pairs of noise-cancelling headphones that are too bulky to cart around; an seatpocket organizer that never fit in any airplane; all the first class toiletry kits; a bag full of eyeshades and earplugs and earphones; about a million little pouches; luggage tags (since both MoBob and I just use laminated business cards now). The stuff I decided to keep, like extra plastic bottles and our travel mosquito nets, fit into one box now.

Most of all though I'll miss what wasn't in those boxes - whizzing through the diplomatic line, picking up my priority-tagged luggage, getting upgraded, boarding first, a "fixer" waiting for me at the airport with my name on a sign, nice hotels, buying Starbucks mugs at my final destination. *sigh*