Getting ready to leave on a tour is a tough thing. First, you have to leave your family and pets behind. And what to pack? You should see how much I take when I’m gone for the weekend, I’m surprised the plane can actually take off. Music legend Patti Smith posted on her site what’s in her bag, and what she packs when she leaves. She has it down to a science. And like me, she looks for her passport last.
I always travel light. Besides my dungarees and my trusty Ann Demeulemeester black jackets, everything can be washed in a sink in a hotel room and laid out on a windowsill to dry. For instance 7 tee shirts (including 4 electric lady teeshirts) and 7 pairs of bee socks.
The worse part, besides saying goodbye to my daughter Jesse, is picking out what books to take. I decide this will be essentially a Haruki Murakami tour. So I will take several of his books including the three volume IQ84 to reread. He is a good writer to reread as he sets your mind to daydreaming while you are reading him. thus i always miss stuff.
I inventory Moleskin notebooks. seven small tubes of Weleda salt toothpaste. witch hazel wipes. Loquat leaf tea bags for cough. essentials like that. I guess I am ready.
Well this is the first entry of the Banga tour diary. I plan to keep sending entries on the road, from our tour bus, complete with pathetic cell phone pictures. I am starting right now, taking shots of my packing mess. Maybe more than you bargained for.
Now I gotta go look for my passport.
