Citrus Potion

We leave for a big trip today. We will be away from home for 19 days. While there is excitement about the adventure, the launch is always such a drag. 

There is packing, checking in for flights and doing laundry. There is arranging the cat sitter, the snow shoveler, and stopping the mail. There is dealing with international bureaucracies and poorly translated websites while applying for visas and travel permits for three different countries. 

But for me prepping for a trip like this brings out a lurking monster. It's the monster of all of the stuff I should have done months, weeks and days ago that suddenly feels urgent. This time around, I suddenly felt drawn to...

• Clean out the basement and making sure my new studio space felt cute. 
• Test about 50 Sharpie pens to see which ones still worked.
• Return eight pairs of pants, one kitchen faucet, one book and a set of measuring spoons to Amazon.
• Send get well cards to a friend and the mother of a friend.
• Vacuum the deep recesses of my closet.
• Organize my exercise gear drawer.

And, most ludicrous of all, making a lemon-lime-mandarin potion with all the citrus in my fruit bowl that will go bad before we return. So, in addition to everything else I had to do to prepare for the trip, I spent time juicing several dried out lemons, limes and mandarins mixing them with simple syrup rescued from a remote corner of the refrigerator and luring my family to the kitchen for a refreshing glass of mystery beverage. I don't know why but using up that fruit instead of pitching it gave me a deep sense of satisfaction. 

Could it be the anxiety of all of the unknowns related to a big trip the energizes me? Maybe I control the things I can and that gives me a sense of calm. I don't know for certain why I allow the monster to appear but I will say that I am happy with the jobs I accomplished. 

Before we leave there are a few more jobs to be accomplished. As soon as I'm done I will close the door behind me and venture into the unknown of our adventure. I will do this calmly, confident that my fabric napkins will be well organized and predictably awaiting my return.

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P.S. It is not lost on me that in addition to everything else I have had to do, I wrote two blog posts in the last 24-hours. Like the six bullets above writing just suddenly felt urgent. 

Dusting Off the Old Blog

In just over 24 hours we will take flight for Singapore. The last time I posted to 'A Swift Adventure' the kids were 10 and 13 and were living in Spain. Now we are heading off on a 19 day adventure to Asia with two young adults.

We have taken several memorable trips since Spain but this one is a little different. We are are heading to Singapore to 'suss it out' as a sabbatical destination. Instead of just visiting as tourists, Mike will connect with colleagues at NUS, we will check out housing options and explore grocery stores thinking about what it might feel like to spend an extended time there. Unlike our Spain sabbatical, which was a real family adventure, this one will be very different since it will largely just be Mike and me. Our first empty nest sabbatical.

In addition to Singapore we will visit Cambodia and Vietnam. We had planned a trip to SE Asia in the spring of 2020 but that trip fell victim to Covid. While the sabbatical was the seed that got us thinking about this trip, we were so pleased that both Jacob and Lily's academic schedules lined up in a way that allowed us to visit Singapore and also finally take our long postponed Asia adventure.

Packing is such a funny activity. It seems to truly take the exact amount of time that you offer it. In this case we have had several days since everybody has been home and there were several days between the excitement of Christmas and our departure. While we didn't pack constantly, each day included trips to the pharmacy for scopolamine, ambien, and Covid tests, trips to Target for eye masks and sunscreen, trips to REI for I don't even know what, and of course Trader Joes for emergency snacks. In addition we had a family hunt to unearth travel gear that was misplaced in our move... mini locks, neck pillows, travel tags and binoculars. Everything was assembled in laundry baskets and today our belongings have finally been carefully and tightly squeezed into our carry-on luggage.

So, tomorrow morning we are off. First thirteen hours to Japan and then another seven to Singapore.
All in coach cause that's how we roll.

And away we go....