12th May (Sunday)
Finally felt the urgency to get down into action.
Flying solo
This trip, for the first time ever since 2002, I'm flying solo and I'm a little excited. Quite silly right? When the girls were younger I had to take care of them onboard, change diapers, comb their hair, clean up the ketchup stain on their clothes etc.. BUT I must admit they were really good travellers. As they grew older and in recent years I don't have to take care of them onboard, they started fiddling on their own the IFE at a young age. And although the IFE has improved over the years, kids are really fast learners so I don't have to worry about them.
I cannot say it's a solo holiday coz technically I'll be with che-che. I've said for the longest time I need a solo trip to rejuvenate; to go back to my younger carefree days where I can walk fast or slow; stop to take a break whenever I want; stop to take pictures of ants crawling birds flying; eat on the go and not worried if my companion is hungry.
Things I had to pack in
Cannot go empty handed to her graduation. This bouquet which I hope will still be in good condition and her card.
My drawing is so ugly. Now you know who the girls with their "untalented drawing" took after. The balloons were rescued drawing in an odd place. I wanted to do a calligraphy of her name but the brush was spoilt, which obviously I didn't check, and the "A" turned out horrible. I decided to draw balloons instead. Whatever she wants to interpret why the balloons on the floor I'll leave it to her. Haha!
Hmm.... Cannot forget this passport. So funny leh... we are helping lil' one to collect the stamps.
Bought 2 huge packs of Irvins salted egg chips for Sujin. Che-che said she likes it
Luggage in luggage. First time doing this kind of packing as never believed in overpacking. But I have no choice this time as che-che needs to spread out the weight of the items. Worst come to worst, then get one more luggage in the last station. The 3 of them have their own luggage and I'm always tompang-ing theirs.
Che-che has AIRTAG 1 with her and for the weirdest reason on 21st March I tried syncing my AIRTAG 2 but couldn't. This time round I learnt that by removing and putting the battery at least 4 times will help to reset it. I did 5 times! It worked!
Cannot forget Airtags. Because of the additional bag, I had to bring out another 1 as shown in this picture (and then later another 1 more without pulling out the battery tag - for standby purposes).
Orange colour is AIRTAG 3
Never ever leave home without Airtags
Final packing items
1. One dress for graduation
2. THilfiger dress for sightseeing and days when I need to do laundry. Cannot wear jeans mah... so will have to wear a dress for that purpose
3. 5 tops
4. Flat shoe to match the dress for graduation. I'm not packing high heels for sure, ah-nia canot walk far with heels now. And this shoe can be used when it's raining there. Yup! After checking the weather forecast, have to say that I'm so super suay that the rain follows me wherever I go. Duh! It's the first time I pack additional shoes for my holiday, not so hiao to do a fashion show usually but after last July's Japan trip... I kindda learnt my lesson.
5. Her heels coz after constant nagging in Jan to bring over, she didn't.
6. Dove bodywash in a small container for self. I hate to use hotels' supplies except for Japan's hotel supplies.
7. Brought more vacumn bags just incase she needs them.
8. Disposable slippers.
Other than that, I don't have much things to bring over as she has them with her. No need for washing clothes scrub or powder or laundry pods as she still has them. No need to pack First Aid Kit. No need to pack any facial wash, we'll finish up the last bit of Kiehls Calendula facial wash there and then throw. Argh! One container / one stamp less to recycle / collect in Kiehls. I think since the time she was there, she probably threw another 2 more Kiehls containers?
I feel this packing is much much easier. Usually I feel that I'm bringing things from various spots in the house into the luggage bag when I pack and then put them back after I return. Unlike flying days where my toiletry bag, the empty organization packing cubes, FAKit, misc bag is always inside the luggage bag. All I needed to do was to pack clothes and remove them once back.
What I wanted to bring and did I bring?
I used to bring cabin bag onboard or a duffel bag with the winter topcoats, thermal and sweater kept inside. And then start wearing the coat before disembarking. At the luggage collection area while the man collects the luggages, I bring the girls to the toilet and we make a change to the winter wear. Once we're done, he goes in and we take care of the bags before clearing customs. But for the last 6 years I stopped this practice, I only go onboard with my messenger bag and put my toothbrush, sample size facial wash inside. It's a huge risk to take, by right we should have at least one set of clothes on hand with us incase our luggages get lost in transit.
Cabin bag : This time initially was thinking if I should use my LV cabin bag (It's been years since 2002 since I used it. Has the leather strap disintergrated?) onboard as I'll be changing my jeans to my sports leggings to be comfortable for the 19hrs flight. I needed to pack quite a few items but not that alot to fill up the cabin bag. Using the lightweight haversack instead. Since it's a super long flight, I need my hydrating facial mask as well. The dry air is going to suck up the water on my face. If only the air can suck up my fats.
Packed leggings, Columbia jacket and LV scarf into my last compressed packing capsule. I passed all but the smallest one to che-che last year.
Burberry messenger bag : Is always my to-go travel bag. But this trip I will be in a dress for her graduation and it doesn't match so decided to use this LV bag after removing the sling strap. All just for one day of vanity. It's smaller than my LV bucket bag for sure but at least this is zipped up - pickpocket safe. Anyway, strangely I tried with just my passport, my Totoro thermos flask and an empty space for the small umbrella + lipstick. I've never liked to bring expensive stuffs overseas so this is really an exception.
Facial mask : Usually on our US long haul flights, I'll bring my toothbrush + sample size facial wash + sample size face cream. But this flight is going to be additional 3+hrs longer, I need my facial mask. There's no way I'm going to put a sheet mask on my face and scare the hell out of passengers around me so I'm going with my trusty Kiehls Ultra Facial Overnight Hydrating Masque with 10.5% squalene. I swear by this masque for our winter holidays. Put on face and I shall sleep with it then. It's not that obvious,really!
What I will not pack
Although I love my Airpod pro, I will never use it onboard. I have the Airfly pro adapter but was hesistant in using after one time. I sleep alot onboard, I can be watching a movie and suddenly doze off and I'm so afraid of losing my ear piece. True enough, I've heard of many cases where passengers dropped theirs into the deep deep abyss out of reach. No thank you but although I hate the stupid wire dangling and tripping me when I want to move around, I'll endure with the inconvenience.
New purchases
Normally I don’t buy new things just for holidays but I made an exception this time round, a little pampering for myself since I hardly spend anything on self.
Bought these as there’s no towel in che-che’s place where I’ll be staying for 3 nights. I don’t think she has any spare? Wait! Did I even pack towels for her to use and then discard before returning home? Is this an impulse buy? Not sure lor…. I’ve been wanting to get this after our hilarious Munich hostel incident. I’ve also thought that it’ll be good to have this if I have the chance to do a solo travel. A big IF, coz I like the simplicity of staying in hostels and they probably don’t provide towels.
I came across a long sleeve top from this brand COS, but I couldn’t find it in the shop here. On second thoughts, I think I should have shopped for it during the Autumn/Winter season.
Found this instead. Parted with a hefty S$175, I’ve never spent so much on a top before 😂. It comes in this colour and black, but I hate to wear everything black tho black is an easy colour to match. Looks like I’m mourning like that - black top, black leggings, black shoes, black hair, black Columbia jacket. The only saving grace is my red lipstick and almost red nail polish.
好了！All packed and ready to rock n roll
Weight of the luggage is 13.15kg. Light?
All ready for Tuesday
13th May (Monday)
Che-che messaged to ask how many slippers I'm bringing. I brought 2 but she asked me to bring 3. In the end decided to pack another 2 more. They're flat anyway.
Then she asked if I checked the weather. Uhhh...... her mother also check sunrise, sunset, asteroids for all our holidays, will I not check on weather? Said it might be cold for me, her friend's parents came in 3 layers. I packed my Columbia jacket for this reason, I love this jacket coz it's not thick at all but it does keep me warm. However to be safe, I threw in my red thin merino wool sweater. I think I won't feel as cold as her friend's parents right? I have so much blubber around me, can keep me warm.
I brought another 2 more empty containers for her to fill up her remaining Cetaphil to bring home.
Dunno what's the luggage weight now but it shouldn't be more than 13.5kg.
Phone matters
Transferred and deleted as many misc. photos in the phone as I can. Too tired to continue, so from 29000++ photos I'm left with 24833 photos. Massive and quick iMovies done (with lots of sacrifices made by cutting down on certain cleaning around the house. Most days just did a vacumn and mop and quick surface cleaning. How clean? I dunno.. just don't care anymore). Cleared almost 5K of photos and then it will be replaced with 6K or maybe more photos after that. Haha!
Okay. Blog done and it's time to clear whatever I can around the house.
