My travels inevitably begin with copious research and planning. I began this kind of planning long ago when I was very young and anxious to hit the road. Hours were spent pouring over junior encyclopedias memorizing the names of exotic-sounding cities---Addis, Ababa, Samarkand, Damascus. Lengthy lists were written detailing the most minute necessities: three pairs of socks, two pencils. Spare batteries, rope.

I looked at the piles of plates and cups, and kettles, and bottles and jars, and pies and stoves, and cakes, and tomatoes, &c., and felt that the thing would soon become exciting. It did. They started with breaking a cup. That was the first thing they did. They did that just to show you what they COULD do, and to get you interested.

I took only one suitcase, and a cosmetics case for medicines but I was worried about books. Solitude is all right with books, awful without.

I hate traveling with amateurs.

Packing is my pet hate.

Moominmamma had got up very early to pack their rucksacks, and was bustling to and fro with wooly stockings and packets of sandwiches, while down by the bridge Moominpappa was getting their raft in order.'Mamma, dar,' said Moomintroll, 'we can't possibly take all that with us. Everyone will laugh.'It's cold in the Lonely Mountains,' said Moominmamma, stuffing in an umbrella and a frying pan. 'Have you got a compass?'Yes,' answered Moomintroll, 'but couldn't you at least leave out the plates -- we can easily eat off rhubarb leaves.

Backpackers can pack much more meows than baggers. Beggars never feed stray cats as street cats are self-sustaining.

In London it had seemed impossible to travel without the proper evening clothes. One could see an invitation arriving for an Embassy ball or something. But on the other side of Europe with the first faint tinges of faraway places becoming apparent and exciting, to say nothing of vanishing roads and extra weight, Embassy balls held less significance.

There is always a sadness about packing. I guess you wonder if where you're going is as good as where you've been.

I had a dream about you last night... In it, we wondered why dogs come in packs but you can't pack dogs.