The final preparations have begun: checklist updated; luggage up from the basement; sorting through things to take; giving my son the list of things to do while we’re away, etc.
My process for packing involves moving stuff from their respective storage containers onto a temporary holding spot — a surface where I can lay everything out and see it — before putting it into the luggage. While checklists are helpful and I use them, I continue to prefer to have the visual. It is more tangible and for me it instills more confidence that everything is covered off. Yet it is too much to sort out everything in one shot, so I work through the checklist in groups: cloths, photographic equipment, health, personal items etc. Each groups is a smaller and more manageable part of the whole. As well, some things my wife and I pack individually (e.g., we each pack our own cloths), other things I or she will pack (e.g., I pack photographic equipment) and something we share and co-ordinate.
When I pack clothes the temporary spot is the bed; a large flat surface able to host every piece. Packing cloths, for me, is a fairly quick process. Clothes spend little time on the bed; out from the closet; onto the bed; confirm all is included; into the luggage it goes.
Photographic equipment is a different story. If I forget some piece of clothing I can buy something on the road. But for photographic equipment buying on the road cannot be assumed possible. Thus I feel the need to go over my list and see everything for a longer period of time (sometimes for days) to build up my level of comfort that everything is there.
From time to time I wonder if this sense of concern exposes a deeply seated phobia, a form of athazagoraphobia, focused specifically on forgetting camera equipment. I have had dreams where I land in some foreign nation only to find I’ve forgotten my camera. Somehow, then, leaving my camera in plain sight on my desk for a few days helps me overcome these fears. It’s not just the camera; it’s all those little things that are easy to forget. Sure they should be on the checklist, but what if I forgot to put them on?
So during this period my desk begins to accumulate more and more stuff, which really turns in to a big mess. My wife will attest that I manifest mild symptoms of ataxophobia. I attribute this to my heritage where order is bread in the bone. The end result however is a conflict between the need to see everything (and creating a mess) and the need for order and tidiness.
It is thus that Pre-travel Tension results.
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