I’m getting ready to go to Amsterdam tomorrow night.  Got a spankin’ new haircut after work today, and all the extra household chores and errands are scheduled for tomorrow AM. Then all I have to do is pack up my stuff and we hightail it to the airport around 4:30 in the afternoon.  Flight at 7-something.  I’m done with my job for a good long while and drawing anything is on hold.  Everything is on hold.  I think travel is wonderful and awesome, etc., and I’m really looking forward to getting to Amsterdam at last (truly one of the major “I’ve got to get there in my lifetime” places in the world for me - next up are Greece and Tokyo), but it is also stressful in a very particular way.  What will I wear?  What will help me present myself best to the denizens of The Netherlands?  Should I bring more short sleeve or long sleeve shirts, because after all it’s still up and down, alternately cooler-and-then-warmer spring weather over there. Can I fit my ultra-cool new raincoat in with everything, or should I go with just the windbreaker? (We’re doing just carry on luggage).  And shoes!  I love my Bjorn slip-ons, but are they good enough for all the walking we’ll do?  Are my REI sneakers too déclassé?  Will I look like a clueless American (and hey, how can I let it be known right from the start that I loathe and detest the Bush administration and I’m deeply embarrassed for my country’s wayward ways these past several years)?    Also, for the overnight trip to Brussels, I suppose I should have something nicer to wear, as it is more formal than Amsterdam (I think this is where my beautiful ultra-cool stylin’ new raincoat comes in).  

And what to read for the plane and possibly later, during a lull in the trip?  I’m currently re-reading Of Human Bondage right now, and enjoying it (why else would I be reading it again - duh), but I wonder if a more light sort of Stephen King-y sort of thing might be more apropos.  More Popular Fiction than Lit…?  

A lot of decisions, that’s what it all boils down to.  Thank god my passport is good through December - had a brief scare for a minute there (”Waitaminute, wasn’t it in 1998 that I…..(gasp)” (runs out of the room to rummage in drawers up in office)  

I’ve learned that John and I are different sort of travelers - he’s more the have-an-itinerary sort (his packing is pretty much complete right now, naturally), while I prefer to wing about 80% of the agenda.  I guess that’s why I always end up mildly stressing out about everything at the last minute too.  But I’m just set in my ways.  And it all works out in the end anyway.  At any rate, I’m really looking forward to this trip, looking forward to it all, to everything.