Step one.

Luggage allowance: 40kg in two cases, 1 hand luggage max 5kg. What I got away with: 24kg in each case, 2 hand luggage 6.5kg each. What a miracle.

I realise that packing gives me massive anxiety and as I find any emotion almost intolerable, this one is so pointless and impossible to get rid of using willpower. As soon as the cases are taken away I'm fine again but the anxiety has heightened with each trip. So, 3am and my flight is at 5.30am but as a punishment from the universe for making the plane heavy, the flight is delayed.

 One of my worst dreams I have is that I have to pack last minute and I can't find the things I want to pack or that I'm on a train with my suitcase and I open it to find 5 or 6 random objects in there rolling around. I think it might be due to my lack of spontaneity. When I was a teen I was full of it, but after getting a grown up job and a mortgage at 18 I guess that knocks it out of you. I guess planning to spend your summer at home with friends and family and then flipping your plans upside down to work in Portugal is a pretty good start. I will work on that.

Oh by the way, I have learnt my last lesson regarding information on blogs and data protection and hiding from people who just shouldn't read blogs. I will never mention the company I work for and I will give code names for everyone. It’s the safest way. And I will definitely love giving people code names!