David's input

Heheheheheheheheheheh. Deliberate or not, that was very good indeed.

And yep - tenses/form. Have had/had. All of which would be totally relevant if my tongue hadn't firmy socketed into my cheek...

beth, excellent. We'll hook up.

but David's original statement was "I'll have a baby by then," rather than "I'll have had a baby by then."

Yup. It's still kind of mindboggling. Here we are, right now, with our home life composed of Hec, me, Emmett, and a bulgy spot just below my bellybutton that is playing havoc with my wardrobe choices. And we can look ahead just a few months to Jon and FAQ!Wife's visit and say, "Ah. By that time, we'll have a completely new human living with us." It's one thing to say "A hundred years from now, all new people!" But "Five months from now, an all new person! Right here in our apartment!"

We're both kinda boggly.

In re packing: multipurpose clothing is your friend, or anyhow mine. Three skirts and three tops of varying degrees of fancitude that all work with each other = 9 days' worth of clothing, at least two weeks' if you know you'll have access to washing machines and you don't mind wearing the same thing several times. Also, the smallest number of shoes possible, and strappy sandals are wonderful because they take up so blessedly little space.

Also also, wear as much as possible while actually traveling. If you have a hat or a big foofy-skirted dress or some other elaborate item you want to bring, wear it on the plane both coming and going. That way you never have to worry about how to pack it.

Signed, Took 5 costume changes plus a vintage dress with full crinolines to Vegas with just one carry-on and no checked luggage. Also spent two weeks in Spain with one carry-on.

And I'm currently asking myself whether it isn't utterly stupid to take my laptop all the way to MEET MY VIRTUAL FRIENDS IN THE FLESH. What, am I planning on sitting in a corner and typing to you all

Fay. You've been to an F2F before. There are laptops aplenty. It is laptop-o-rama.

Signed, Took 5 costume changes plus a vintage dress with full crinolines to Vegas with just one carry-on and no checked luggage.

No ... checked ... luggage ...

Nope, I don't understand those words.

I'm debating checking or carrying on. regrettably, one of the reasons to consider checking is shoes. When you wear an 11, they take up a lot of room in your suitcase.

No ... checked ... luggage ...

Nope, I don't understand those words.

My hatred of baggage claim knows no bounds. Comes of going to college back east and several times having to head up to school with nothing but the clothes on my back and a vague promise that my luggage would follow once they deiced the baggage hold door. Also having to wait a full day to get my sweet bunny back because they misdirected him to Memphis (he was fine -- slept and munched alfalfa nonstop for 36 hours; I was a wreck).

Signed, Took 5 costume changes plus a vintage dress with full crinolines to Vegas with just one carry-on and no checked luggage.

It doesn't count if your carry-on luggage is a TARDIS.

If I check one bag, I can carry my laptop and my purse more easily. And bring more shoes.

It doesn't count if your carry-on luggae is a TARDIS.

Pffft. Duffel bag. Plus one of those nice sturdy vintage makeup cases instead of a purse (big enough to hold the actual purse, makeup, meds and toiletries plus a paperback or Everyman novel, but still small enough to slip under the seat in front of me).

I am a MASTER of stripped-down, no-nonsense, Clean Sweep-style packing. Tremble before my fu.

If you have a hat or a big foofy-skirted dress or some other elaborate item you want to bring, wear it on the plane both coming and going.

Don't think that I haven't considered wearing the ballgown on the plane. Fleetingly. But I'm going for comfort - I'll be travelling for 16 or 17 hours.

Well, crap. You've done it, so it's clearly doable - and last time I went home to the UK I just took hand luggage, even though I was going home for a month. But a lot of my luggage is gifty stuff, you see - and sheesha pipes etc take up a whole bag of their own, and I've bought Egyptian pastries and chocolate-coated almond-stuffed dates and suchlike, which are delicious, but also depressingly bulky things. Insh'allah it'll be way easier to pack to come home (assuming I don't buy a corset & a pair of Dorothy slippers and a tiara and a big mountain of DVDs and CDs and...oh, fuck.)

Fay. You've been to an F2F before. There are laptops aplenty. It is laptop-o-rama.

I know - this is precisely why I hadn't even questioned for a moment that mine would get to come along and play with all the other USAian laptops. But now I'm realising that, actually, it's NOT a needful thing. I do have social skills. Most of the time. I can cope sans laptop. With only minimal rocking in a corner and making little Holly Hunter typing-on-the-table motions with my fingertips. Probably.

...incidentally, I know this has been discussed before, but - should I be bringing quite warm clothes? Like, sweatery, jackety clothes? Because I'm not really in the NotCairo mindset yet...