Whee! I leave for the airport in two hours. It's kind of funny when the thing that lights up your life the most is a chance to flee the country for a few days.
(Having a girlfriend waiting on the other side helps, of course.)
Warning: rampant homage to commercialism follows.
Packed in main luggage: toiletries, a box of Puff's Plus (the girlfriend has a cold and it's hard to find good, lotioned tissue paper in Mexico), a tripod, and several days of clothing in a drastically oversized suitcase (there's enough room to toss my laptop bag in there as well, but I've decided not to bring it because I know if I do I'll spend part of my vacation trying to do research for and writing about a frightening, depressing Progressive Blogger Union entry, and I'm in dire need of a few days entirely being happy — I strongly recommend checking out next Monday's PBU entries, though, as I expect this to be a big one).
For carry-on: a Lowepro Pro-Mag 2 AW with my Canon EOS 20D, Speedlite 580EX, 17-85mm f/4.0-5.6 IS, 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 IS, 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 borrowed from my friend Bogdan, and a shiny new 85mm f/1.8 prime that arrived this morning on rush delivery after UPS lost the first order, along with extra batteries and the usual assortment of miscellaneous gear. I'm very tempted to spend my last hour or so wandering around with this last lens testing it out and getting used to it. I plan to take as many portrait shots of Lynne as I can without having her brain me with my own camera.
Worn: way the hell too much gear packed almost invisibly into a Scott-e-Vest, including my new medical supplies. For the first time in many, many flights, I am not wearing a fannypack, putting everything I'd normally put there either around my neck (Plane Quiet Mk5 headphones) or in the vest. I'm also not carrying my old PJB MP3 player, opting instead just for the music on my PDA, which would be significantly lighter except for the extra batteries I'm hauling with me to give me extra screen time for reading (with a large collection of e-books thanks to Fictionwise, the only place I know of that sells books in unencrypted formats). I'm also carrying "Fairy Godmother" by Mercedes Lackey in dead tree form, my concession to the pleasure of being able to curl up around paper that I have mostly left behind in favor of being able to carry around an entire library in my pocket.
Toys, toys, toys. This is the first time I've travelled with the new tech, so I guess I'm about to find out whether or not I got my money's worth. I intend to write reviews as time goes by.
