Are We There Yet?

I've packed, unpacked, packed, unpacked...packed...unpacked...and packed again.
It's a process, when it comes to trips I can-hardly-wait-for.
When I went to Spain I was packed four weeks before it was time to go, Mexico: three weeks, Morocco: two weeks, Singapore: two weeks. You get the idea.
Pre-India it was more like two months - but I was subletting my apartment and wanted to hide all the good stuff I wasn't taking along (she wore my stiletto knee high boots while I was gone anyway, but that's another story). In preparing for Iran I've had this strange obsession - trying everything on over and over again trying to decide if I need it, want it, can't live without it, packing and unpacking to try to fit yet another pair of shoes and the skirts I've ogled while shopping for gifts these past weeks that Hamid insists on buying for me.

I've been in India so damn long - two and a half years - I don't even really know how to get dressed anymore and I'm admittedly thrilled at the prospect of trying to figure it out again.

The issue is, because we've to stop in Bombay for a few days to pick up and validate my visa to Iran we're initially on a domestic flight from Bangalore. Domestic flights are notably lame as they allow only one third the baggage weight of international flights, at best, and so not only am I packing and unpacking trying to fit everything, but there's also the weeding-out process to be done. Fortunately Kingfisher Air (yes, the beer company now has an airline, go figure) charges only Rs.60 per over-weight kilo.

I've successfully removed ten items and one pair of shoes over the past two weeks. Not much considering what was stuffed in the massive suitcase to begin with. But it makes me feel like I'm actually accomplishing something, inching that much closer to arriving. In this respect I realize I've completely lost my mind when it comes to being in 'the now' but we've been waiting for what feels like an eternity and it's finally coming to fruition.

And so I sit, ready to go, like a little kid staring out the window, waiting; our tiny house filled to watch-where-you're-going with baggage - and I can see the washing machine is full of laundry needing to be done right away because surely there are things in there I need - and I guess it's going to be yet one more round of unpack/pack.