Summer diary - Kristina Chetcuti

Packing

Does the thought of having to pack a suitcase make your heart sink to the pits or does it cause a flutter of butterflies in your tummy with joy?

Do you pull out your empty suitcase from the bottom/top of the wardrobe with a heave and a huge sigh or do you magic wand it out and start filling it in with absolute delight? In short, are you a slacker-packer or a cracker-packer?

I’m a slacker. I even find packing for an overnight stay in Gozo daunt­ing. If only I could blink and all the right stuff would find its way in my battered carry-on, if only it could zip itself up, lock and all.

The anxiety mostly stems from the fact that I feel I have to de­cide a priori what mood I’ll be in when I’m away. How do I know if I’ll feel like wearing navy blue? What if I wake up really fancying wearing my only pair of high-heeled shoes which I wouldn’t have packed?

Apart from the outfits there are the toiletries, which every time I try to cram in 100ml bottles and make a veritable mess; there’s a multitude of electronics – chargers, converters, tablets, wires, sockets; there’s books (argh, what kind of fiction mood will I be in?); the rain jacket (do I pack or not? After fretful weather...