I admit I am dreading my usual commute to Italy this weekend. Keeping my hell-raising two-year-old entertained without a vast arsenal of toys?cars, aeroplanes and trains, not to mention our trusted DVD player complete with Tom and Jerry’s Big Furry Race cartoon?is going to be quite an accomplishment.
Although delays and hand luggage restrictions are a small price to pay to ensure air travel security, the truth is that they are going to wreak havoc to the lives of business travellers and people like me, who commute regularly between their UK home and a foreign one.
For the foreseeable future, the Department of Transport is only going to allow a very small piece of hand luggage on board. Once you fill it with wallet, passport, keys and travel documents, it has very little room left for anything else. Checking suitcases in the hold is no alternative option either, because it would mean wasting a cumulative five to eight hours at the conveyor belt each month.
So I have come up with a survival strategy to travel as light as possible. First, I am going to keep a capsule wardrobe at both places to avoid having to carry any clothes. I may end up having to wear the same skirt two days in a row, but hey! At least I’ll get plenty of use out of my clothes.
I am also reviving my old laptop, so I can have one at either house, and will carry important files in a handy little USB keyfob that fits in my wallet. And I am downsizing my notebooks from a fat big A4 format to handbag-size A5.
I can’t do without a book but I have promised myself I’ll only bring one lean paperback on board?from now on, my definition of a good airplane read is one that that fits my handbag.
As for my little one, I found the answer on Easyjet?a foldable airport that comes with paper runway, a mini aeroplane and a gormenghast-sized helicopter, all for £10. And if it replaces Tom & Jerry for good, so much the better.
There is only one thing I am not going to do to respond to this emergency, and that’s to stop commuting between my two homes. Because it would mean giving in to terror.
To read more of Carla’s blogs click here.
Do you have any tips for travelling light, or keeping the children happy on board the plane? Share them on our forum.
