We are flying out on Thursday for ten days to London, Edinburgh, and Inverness.

Were our vacation plans inspired by the Outlander books (read them three times) or the television series? NOOOOO. But I have to say that I did learn a ton about Scottish history from reading those books.

The weather is going to be crazy when we’re there. Ranging from the low 80s during the day in London to the low 40s in the Highlands at night. Because I prize high mobility, we’re only taking carry-on luggage and backpacks. We need clothes for mucking about during the day and different outfits for nice restaurants in the evening. So, packing must be done very sensibly.

The boys and Steve have finished packing (with a lot of oversight from me). I haven’t yet commit to my outfits. The options are draped over a chair awaiting final decisions. The color scheme is black, white, denim, and pink. I have a summer dress for London that will work with black tights and a sweater in Scotland.

Honestly, I adore packing. It gives one an excuse to buy new stuff. I like the exercise of reducing one’s possessions to the core essentials. I like figuring out how to re-purpose outfits. I like shrink-raying one’s toiletries into a little bag.

I even like the slight element of danger – what happens if it’s too cold and you don’t have the right sweater?!!! what happens if you get invited to join Prince Harry for Pim’s and all you have are some nasty shorts and a t-shirt?!!! Those anxieties increase the challenge level of packing, so that’s fun, too.

This year, I have invested in packing cubes. I explained them to Ian as dresser drawers for your suitcase. How anal retentive am I? Well, I’ll tell you…. I bought cubes in different colors for each family member. Green is Jonah, Red is Ian, Black is Steve, Pink is me. And then everything I bought for the trip – backpacks, power converters, travel toothbrushes, also conforms to the color scheme. Nice, huh? I can tell you my entire family sighed in deep relief, when they learned that there will be no mistaking their backpack for another person’s backpack.

(more later)