Have Scrap, Will Travel

I'm packing to scrap at the moment. Can you believe it - the first family overseas holiday for over two years, and I'm taking a large carry-on (I hope!) art-bin thingee full of scrapping stuff, with the intention of scrapping around a lovely sunny poolside in a Club Med in the Mediteranean. Or Plan B - at least on the balcony on a hot balmy evening, when there is nothing better to do than blob out and read a book (my man-not-around-the-house, in this situation) or scrap (me).

I'm not sure I can get anything done, really. It's not like travelling to a crop where I can borrow the left-behind heat-gun if I really really must. Italy doesn't even have the same power supply. I'm going to turn around, after encountering a showstopper to my creativity, and find the solution tool still sitting forlornly at home. It'll be that tool - the one I've used once only since I bought it - but which I now desperately need to have brought with me on holiday.

Experts (and I'm one who's previously been quoted saying so, darn-it!) suggest that it's all in the power planning - so I virtually have to create my entire layout before going on holiday, so that I may go on holiday and create my layout? That's to ensure that I have all the hand-cut titles printed out in reverse, all the right papers to select from, all the right little bits and bobs - oh, and which must not take up too much space. There goes the layout with heavy metal thingamees, then.

Which reminds me - I must remember to put my cutting knife and scissors in a separate parcel in my suitcase. I remember going through Italy before, and being virtually strip-searched for the sake of a genuine Swiss army knife deep within my handbag. I'm not sure what security would make of my xacto, and cutter bees, but whatever the result, it would be a guaranteed annoyance to have to actually get out all my scrap-ware on a custom's table. And not that good for my precious photos, also. And did I mention that the same bag has to also cope with containing a day's toddler supplies also - nappies, nappy sacks, two drink bottles, some biscuits, one or two books to read, wipes, a change of clothing in case of travel sickness, several muslin clothes (now seen as comforter blankies) and finally - a little toy beany bunny, the holiest of grails of toddler toys. All of which must NOT be harmed by said scrapping supplies being biffed out onto a customs table.

Ah, now I've completely puzzled myself. Could a metal ruler be seen as a hostile weapon in hand luggage? Could really tacky tape be seen as a possible terrorist tool for gagging the airline crew? Are hermafix glue-dots okay 1,000 miles up? There I was, worried about travelling with a toddler for far too many hours, and have now discovered that there are more important things to worry about - my scrapping supplies are in jeopardy!

Blimey, I thought holidays - and scrapping - were meant to be relaxing?

Later Confession:
I didn't take it. None of it. I packed the carry-on, went to lift it and found I couldn't. After sacrificing the heavy stuff (who needs nappies, anyway?) I then found the essential stash items were still too heavy without contemplating a hernia or airplane overhead-storage injury. My decision not to scrap was a good one - there was no little parasol tables around the pool, so no hard surface to layout all the gear on. And we didn't have a balcony to scrap on either, at least one with a table or chairs. The ants, although interesting, also would have posed a threat to my hobby

Instead of the stash, I took four scrapbooking books and magazines to read.These have returned home all wrinkled from being splashed with pool water and some pages stuck together with beach sand. Funnily enough, the latest magazines had several layouts dealing with beach and pool summertime fun. I was so busy reading them that I missed the chance to take the photographs of me having some beach and pool summertime fun to create the layouts I was reading about.