More about packing

[ritaxis]

Everything failed the drip dry test except for one glorified t shirt with Escher birds on it -- I mean it's made of ultralight tshirt material and is cut halfway between a shell and a tshirt. Sometimes it looks good on me and sometimes it's hideous. Even the rayon things failed. I decided we can't buy new clothes for the trip, though I may change my mind if things turn out too heavy. Anway, I think we're just going to have to find a laundromat or two. A salutory side effect is that I have gone through my clothes and discarded maybe half of them.

My dragonfly shirt has a bleach spot and I'm not tossing it. I'm staring at it over and over trying to figure out how to save it.

I was a little dismayed at the advice to bring dressy clothes. Frank and the nice fellow are slobs. I can just take over the nice fellow's packing, and maybe Frank's, though that's a little weird at this stage of his life. I don't think I found but maybe one skirt (and no dresses) that I would travel with. But I have some nicer pants. I'm not worried about Emma, she dresses nicely left to her own devices.

My issue with my own prescriptions is that I take nine different pills and I carry two inhalers. This is a lot of packing space. I used to, when going to the mountains or someplace, just throw a bunch of pills into one bottle. But I've been using the compartmentalized pill container and it has changed my life in several ways. The drugs are not the kind that send people into paroxysms of self-righteous drug-war paranoia (unlike Emma's): two blood pressure drugs, two anti-cholesterol drugs, an acid reducer, two vitamins (one of the cholesterol drugs is also a vitamin), a thingy I take for forgetfulness,and baby aspirin to prevent clots.

One issue is that we need to keep things even lighter, because Emma won't be able to carry anything at all so we have four people's stuff and three people to carry.

Comments

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

How big is the bleach spot?

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

What *is* your drip dry test? What do you consider failure? I just finished hanging up my own wet laundry, including a flannel sheet. Sensible people do not consider that drip-dry, because it's so unwieldy. And it does take a long time to dry, but think it comes out acceptably and I'd rather wait for it than pay $4.50 to machine dry it. Will you be staying in a different place every night, or traveling in little bursts and staying in places for 2 or 3 days at a time?

I understand not wanting to buy new clothes for something like this, even if the ones you have don't quite seem to work. Do you have friends or relatives who wear similar sizes, who might lend you a microfiber shirt or broomstick skirt? I bought one microfiber t-shirt from an outdoor gear shop, for the hottest weather. Not only does it dry on me with amazing speed and comfort when I soak it with sweat, but it dries in less than 2 hours when I wash it in the sink to wear it 2 days in a row. (I'm not even traveling. My access to laundry is limited by the machines in the basement being expensive and not available late at night.)

>My issue with my own prescriptions is that I take nine different pills
>and I carry two inhalers. This is a lot of packing space. I used to, when
>going to the mountains or someplace, just throw a bunch of pills into one
>bottle. But I've been using the compartmentalized pill container and it
>has changed my life in several ways. The drugs are not the kind that send
>people into paroxysms of self-righteous drug-war paranoia (unlike
>Emma's): two blood pressure drugs, two anti-cholesterol drugs, an acid
>reducer, two vitamins (one of the cholesterol drugs is also a vitamin),
>a thingy I take for forgetfulness,and baby aspirin to prevent clots.

If I were you (and I'm very aware that I'm not), I'd get pharmacy bottles for the blood pressure drugs and the acid reducer. The inhalers are also critical, but they probably have pharmacy labels already. Those are the things that are really going to cause problems if security takes them away. (A friend of mine was not allowed to enter Canada with her seizure medication, so she had to turn around and go home. That was before Everything Changed wrt security theater.) I'd go through airport security and customs with 3 prescription bottles and the compartmentalized pill thingee...if you get searched and someone asks what the unlabelled pills are, you can say "vitamins." They might not search you. When you get to Europe, transfer the bp pills and acid reducer to the compartments so you remember to take them. If they give you a hard time and take your reminder thingee away...well, you can get aspirin and vitamins in Germany. Most pharmacists speak some English, and they are trained to give advice about vitamins and otc meds, not just dispense prescriptions.

Of course, your tolerance for risk and nuisance may be different from mine. I sometimes travel with unlabelled meds, and get away with it (but those are shorter trips, and fewer meds, so they fit in a little plastic case in the watch pocket of my jeans) because nobody notices.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

The drip dry test was: if I wash it and wring it out this afternoon, and then hang it on a hanger in the house, will it be dry enough to wear tomorrow morning? I didn't use line drying because that's not the conditions I'll be doing it in.

Nobody wears the size I do except for some people who are three thousand miles away. I hear you about microfiber: I think it's a miracle, a polyester I can wear without excruciating pain -- but I really can't spend any more money. I wish I'd been thinking about microfiber the last time I was buying clothes. Oh well.

All of my drugs are critical. I can skip the cholesterol drugs for a day or two but I can't go longer than that. I utterly fold when I don't take these things: I swell up, I become stupid and slow, I can't stop eating and I can't sleep, though I fall into a lower level of consciousness every time I sit down, and I just sort of ache all over.

I'll get a letter from my doctor too, I think.

[diminishedsheep.livejournal.com]

We should probably get a letter for my prescriptions. Especially the painkiller, but the muscle relaxant, too. And I suppose we should be getting it from the neurosurgeon, and isn't that weird? I have a neurosurgeon!

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Alas, it's an irregular oblong an inch and a half long and a quarter of an inch wide, right in the front close to the middle.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Yes, we're going to get the letter from Dr. Harper. You have a neurosurgeon, yes. Last year you saw your primary: an orthopedist: a back specialist: a chronic pain specialist: the neurosurgeon: and a series of physical therapists. You're a precious object, kiddo.

I'm still vacillating on whether there's any alternative for me to carrying nine medicine bottles everywhere I go.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I don't know how many dragonflies you have on it, but you could put a dragonfly/flower applique there. Maybe some more in other places just to make it look planned.

I'm heading away for the weekend in a few minutes, probably won't be back online until Monday.