I have been preparing for Sri Lanka this week. It has been insane.

It has been an endless barage of appointments, some business, most social. Every evening on my calender was obligated to a different occasion, as if the ability to assign it an available time slot somehow also indicated that I was physically and emotionally available.

I spent several hours at the travel clinic running up quite a bill on my company credit card, and being told that I would certainly get maleria and die if I stepped into any of the grey areas on any of the endless maps that were shoved into a folder and then shoved into my briefcase. I intended to look at them. Really, I did. A glance at least. Then the side effects hit.

So with one day left before I go, it is only the most crucially important things that bubble to the surface — like, what am I going to wear?

There just isn’t anyway to pack. The weather there is supposed to be between 80-100 degrees each day, with so much humdidity that it rains multiple times a day. I would typically overpack at such a deliema. That isn’t an option this time:

Yes, as promised. I have about 1″ around the big metal box that is filling up my suitcase to pack everything I will need for over 3 weeks, and most of it has to be squishy. As I said, packing for this trip is impossible.

Fortunately, the standards are pretty low. Just a few weeks ago, preparing for D.C., I stood over the same suitcase thinking, “packing for this trip is impossible.” The problem was the professionality. How do you pack 6 different business outfits, evening wear for the arts, and casual wear for the touristing into a space so small? Personally, I’ll take a server to Sri Lanka any day.

Tonight, 6:55pm: Salt Lake International Airport