random truths – Day 1,057 (Tuesday) – progess and plans

More vacation prep progress has been achieved. Some of this stuff is time consuming. Monday night included time spent trying to figure out how to get my passport number entered into my profile for the ITA flight from Boston to Rome. There was an add-on option noted to choose a seat that wasn’t working, but it did provide seating illustrations for a half dozen different models of planes.

One of the friends I’m traveling with mentioned the return flight is through Delta and recommended signing up for their mileage program. He checked the flight home recently and most of the seats are assigned already. He and his wife are in the center seats of the center section of four seats.

Tonight, it was onto the Delta site to set up a profile, add my passport and TSA PreCheck info, and get a window seat assignment. Being a singleton paid off with that one, as the opportunities for seats together look pretty lean and are all in the middle section.

In my wild vacation travel fantasies and imaginings, I will be flying the friendly skies seated next to a fabulously interesting seat mate who is also a witty conversationalist. My friends all have spouses, so they are all set. While the odds aren’t great for the fantasy playing out, it happened once, a dozen years ago. Even after all these years, we still touch base with each other.

Despite having at least four suitcases in different sizes tucked out of sight somewhere in the house, I keep thinking I want a new suitcase. I looked at Kohl’s over the weekend, but there was some sticker shock. There were no suitcases tucked on a clearance rack. I should have spent the energy looking in the attic or the spare room or wherever for the ones I already have.

More importantly, I need to find the items the many click bait articles claim you “Must have when traveling.” The bread bag clips are piling up on the counter, though I don’t know why. Neither do I know why a red scarf is a necessary travel item, but I do know I don’t have one. 

All the articles I’ve seen on “What to Wear in Rome” list "comfortable shoes" which I have lots of, so that is easy. They also say a scarf is a must-have, but they neglect to say what kind of scarf. The jaunty around the neck kind, over the shoulders shawl kind, or the over the hair like a movie star in a convertible kind?  Packing is one of the most stressful activities I know of. I stress out getting dressed one day at a time, never mind planning clothes for a week. 

At least there is still time to set up a beloved spreadsheet and figure it out. Yes, I have done that before and it's comforting. It’s probably also time for the recurring nightmares to kick in. The most frequent one is the one about being late and on the way to the airport and discovering my passport is missing. Love that one.