It's only three more sleeps until I fly to Melbourne for the 2015 national Romance Writers of Australia conference. I'm so excited - the conference is one of the highlights of the year and I love the Australia Romance Readers Association book signing that goes along with it. So it may come to no surprise to you that I've already packed. Well if I'm honest, I packed more than a week ago!
I know there are some people who pack the hour before they have to leave for the airport... I am not one of those people! I knew I had nothing to wear for the Friday night meet and greet cocktail party and I had little else to wear for the rest of the conference either. That's what happens when you work from home and your work uniform consists of jumper, tracksuit pants and slippers - your wardrobe kind of gets neglected!
So anyway I went on a massive shopping spree and bought a cute dress for the cocktail party, a couple of jackets to combat the usual arctic air conditioning, and a pair of pants. As I was going through what I bought, I figured there was no point putting it into the cupboard only to take them out a few days later to pack, so I dragged out my case and put them in there. Then I had to check my conference checklist (yes, I have one of those - I hate to forget things!) to make sure there was nothing else I had to buy. And while I had it out I decided I might as well add the bits that I could to my suitcase at the same time - I mean that's just being efficient, right?
I discovered there were a few more things I had to buy:
- cereal for breakfast. I pack those portion sized variety packs of cereal and buy milk when I get to the hotel. Conference is so busy that it's nice not to have to go out and find somewhere for breakfast, or to spend a fortune on the hotel's breakfasts
- a quick check at my makeup kit made me realise I'd almost run out of foundation and powder so I had to get those
- my book signing list reminded me I was going to buy chocolates to have on my stand to attract readers 🙂
Plus I needed to remember to pack my previous conference pins. Each conference you get a lapel pin with the conference logo on it. Members wear all their pins on their lanyards as badges of honour and so I threw my pins in with the jewellery I'd put together to wear at the cocktail party and awards night.
I'm going to do a final check tonight to make sure I've remembered underwear and to check all my clothes are clean and ironed. Yes, I was a girl guide and the motto was 'Be prepared'. I'll let you know if I forgot anything!
If you'd like a copy of my checklists, just send me an email. Otherwise leave me a comment if there's something you always forget to pack.
