Packing To Leave & Return Home

Packing box and see-through box. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Planning To Leave

I once came home with only one slipper. A popular modern saying which is set as an impromptu speech (a two minute 'table topic', selected from the table or screen by number) is 'We learn faster from our mistakes - do you agree?'

Yes. After losing my slipper, I learned to keep a list of what I packed.

What have my family left behind, or nearly left behind? The food for the jourrney left in the fridge. The toddler's toys in the hotel cot and cupboard. The pen, noebook, map, hat and gloves in the ca's glove box.

Packing lists are useful for three reasons. Firstly to check that I packed everything on leaving. Secondly, to be sure nothing went astray in transit on arrival. Thirdly, to be sure everything is with me on leaving the hotel or holiday home.

1 Packing Lists

1 Make a packing list before you leave. 

That way, when returning home, if the slippers are missing a tick on your checklist, you know to check under the bed or in the bathroom or in the cupboard.

For A Brief Trip

2 Addresses

Take the addresses and phone number of the place and people you are leaving, . Also make sure every member of your group has all numbers of those at the destination. This ensures everybody is organized. Your passenger can check or ring ahead if you are the driver, stuck in traffic, unable to check a phone number. Or you can separated on the journey. Or your jacket contained your paperwork goes missing.

3 Umbrellas

Pack an umbrella. Or keep one in the car. You can keep it in the glove box, the boot, under the seat. Remember it is there. Retrieve it from a hire car. Collect it from the umbrella stand at the entrance to a restaurant.

4 Fill the vehicle tank

Fill the car with petrol. 

If it is not full, allow time to stop and fill up. This applies when leaving 

Put the address in your satnav in the car and in your mobile phone. Get familiar with the car satnav and the google maps or other service such as Street View on your mobile phone.

Check for train cancellations. Check weather warnings. Check road motorway closures and diversions.

Packing

I have managed to leave all sorts of things behind. You may know the humorous song, because of battle the kingdom was lost, because of the horse the battle was lost, and all for the loss of a horseshoe nail.

What have I lost? A bathrobe behind a bedroom door. It belonged to my boyfriend. I was checking out while he was on the last day of the conference. That relationship came to an end. I married somebody else. 

A passport in a shoulder bag on the back of a dining chair of family friends in France. We never got to Italy from France.

Crockery in the dishwasher. Food in the microwave. The dictionaries - I have loads at home - why buy more, unless you don't want to carry them outwards, but then your packing is heavier on return.

Friends have left behind pets, which went missing. One family even had to cancel their emigration flight because a child who didn't want to leave went and hid.

To sum it up, packing needs preparation, and precision in planning, when you need to return home from a hotel or a winter home overseas, or moving country for a new job, or back home to look after parents or see grandchildren. Your mind is on your destination and plans. But you need a checklist of things you must take with you and do.

Let's start with the commonest situation.

Leaving A Hotel

Check items in the bathroom. And on hooks behind the door. On the shower shelf.

On the balcony. Items hanging over railings. Left on chairs. 

The Bedroom

Check under pillows, inside bedding, under the bed.

Empty the fridge. Ensure you have your food, drink, medicine. Check any food, drink, or pills, left downstairs in the hotel kitchen or bar.

 Check all the hotel drinks and foods are returned if you took them out to make room for takeaway food.

Reception Checkout

Check you have handed in all room keys. 

Pay bills, and check bills. 

Leaving A Ski Resort

Remove drying boots and clothes from balcony and radiators.

Check for any skis and boots and jackets left in a locker room. Return locker keys. 

Reclaim deposits on rented skis, boots, clothes, snowboards. 

Allow time to clean off ice and dirt, pack skis and boots and snowboards in zip up bags or special packaging, and large item check-in at airport.

Beach Resorts

Remove swimsuits, swimming hats, bath towels, beach clothes, wraps, and swim shoes from balconies or radiators and bathrooms, and lockers.

Pack children's beach rings, buckets and spades, or allow time to give them away. Unless the airport has an area for tourist to leave beach items for others, to loan and recycle instead of using landfill for abandoned items.

Leaving A Winter Home

Turn down heating. However, leave enough heating to prevent broken pipes bursting and leaking. Arrange for family to check property heating and plumbing

Leaving For A Holiday or New Home

Check all travellers have passports, o ID including driving license, plane or ferry or train or coach or bus tickets. 

Check neighbours will push in post.

Check all members of the party have address and phone number of destination, last check-in time, onward travel from airport to destination. 

Overnight clothes in case of lost luggage, photo of luggage to fill in forms asking colour and make of lost suitcases.

Arrange neighbours to water plants, or put plants outside, or add watering systems.

Check no items are left behind a front door or bedroom door. 

Rental Car

Check  no luggage or bag is left on the doorstep. Nor on the top of the car. 

No keys left in the front door.

No car keys left in the car - unless that is required by a rental company. Nor in the boot, or glove box

Leaving Your Old Home For A New Home or Holiday

Fridge

Empty fridge of milk, or take it to neighbours. If you leave it on their doorstep, warn them in advance, or leave a note or email to tell them it was from you.

Gas, Electricity, Lights

Check you have turned off gas, electricity, lights. Check you have set timers to turn on lights or sounds to deter burglars, or engaged house sitters. 

Insurance

Your insurance might have a limit on the amount of time the property can be left empty. They may extend the time 

1 f you inform them in advance, 

2 have relatives  and/or neighbours going in and out to make the place look busy, 

3 or are willing to pay an extra premium to insurance, if you decide this is cheaper than a house sitter. 

Expat? New Home? What Food Can You Grow, Cook And Talk About? From Grapes to Aloe Vera

Angela Lansbury

20 hrs · 

It's amazing what pleasure you can get out of making your own food.(Or letting others in the family do it.)

In a garden you can grow grapes. On a balcony you can grow aloe vera. On a windowsill you can grow herbs.

Even in a rented flat at home or overseas with a small area, you can grow food.

The USA - problem

I remember when I first arrived in the USA. Knew nobody. Didn't grow anything. Mistake.

Solution - Windowsill
Even if you don't have a balcony, you can have a windowsill. Entertain the children with watching a plant grow every day. You can grow from seeds. If you cant' afford seeds, save pips from fruit.

You could do the same with plants. Grow your own plants. Just start. Day one. Never mind how long you will be there. We moved into a flat in Singapore. Two year contract. We stayed there ten years. Grow plants. Leave plants wherever you go.

Singapore flag.

During my first six months in Singapore I was miserable. I was homesick and had no hobby and no conversation. When I met up with other expats, we simply made each other miserable by complaining. I have the answer to that.

Conversation Starter
No job, no friends? Homesick? Stuck at home alone with a partner at work whilst you wait for your work permit? Can't stop complaining? 

Here's a solution. Find something to do and talk about. Grow herbs or fruit or vegetables on a windowsill or balcony. Even talking to shop keepers, people at the bus stop, taxi drivers, it is a conversation opener, and a neutral subject. 

Aloe Vera
In Singapore we found one friend who was growing aloe vera. I admired it and she gave me a tiny one. 

We left it alone when we jetted home. I thought it would die. Instead it grew to a monster.

Strawberry Jam Story

Growing food and making bottled or frozen items can be a lifetime passion, or a rollercoaster.I don't cook now. I eat what my husband cooks and encourage him to cook from the plants I grow. I must admit that I have fond memories of when I was a child in London, England, when my mother used to make strawberry jam from garden grown strawberries. However, after a couple of years of this she was fed up with slugs in the garden, wasps on the apples. She did not want scalding hot containers in the kitchen. Sterilising. And hours of work. 

Instead we invested in buying the more expensive brands of strawberry jam which contained whole strawberries or at least bits you could see. However,strawberry making was nice whilst it lasted.

Why Wine And Beer But Not Spirits?

What happened when I left my parents home and first married in a home with a garden. Our next ventures were home made wine. Beer has to be made in big containers. Making spirits at home is banned because of the risk of ending up with poisonous methanol. Our early attempts at home made wines from kits were not successful. However, growing our own grapes was good.

Eating Garden Grapes

Even if you don't eat the grapes the leaves are attractive. 

The first couple of years in England we grew grapes which were too small to eat. When the vines matured we made our first batch of a bottle and a half of so so wine. 

The following year we could not be bothered and just ate the grapes. Small but good. Dual purpose grapes, eating or making wine.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on the miniature orange tree and making marmalade
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Canberra MRT station, new train station in Singapore with pictures of plants, fish and birds

The artwork - bigger picture at end of post.

New in November 2019, Canberra MRT train station in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Canberra, MRT station, Singapore.


Singapore flag.

Canberra MRT station is newly opened, one along from Yishun on the red line.

I could not find any up to date pictures of the interior and more importantly the artwork. I would have to go myself. Wow - I can have a picture exclusive.

First on the scene.

After lunch at a Toastmasters meeting I was at Expo, one stop away from Changi airport in the west. Canberra is on another line in the far north. Was it really worthwhile going all that way.

My mobile phone battery was running out. I would go all the way there and not be able to take a photo. However, half way there I was deciding which route was best. Obviously I was intent on going there.  If my phone died, I would ask a passerby to take a photo.

At the entrance to the station are the toilets, bright white and clean, with gleaming efficient shower heads attached to the wall at knee height at the back of the toilets for cleanliness and freshening up.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Upstairs on platform B where I arrived, around the lift and on the glass wall are animals birds and plants, a bit like a see through chessboard. Casting shadows on the ground, probably not intentional. A pity the pictures are not scattered throughout the station like the little drawings on Newton station.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.


Canberra MRT train station Singapore. Window artwork creating shadows. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I love the way the patterns on the glass make shadows on the floor. I don't know if that was deliber
ate or accidental. Either way, its something which could be copied.


Window artwork at Canberra MRT train station, Singapore. New in 2019. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

For even more pictures of Singapore's nature, specifically flowers and plants, see the bridge across from King Albert Park Station.

Canberra station is open, although the adjoining mall and plaza are not yet finished. Perhaps even more delights are yet to come. I shall keep you informed.

But so far, so good. The staff are a delight, all smiles. 

Red plants in colourful Singapore

These ornamental red plants are grown along the front of the block of flats and throughout the  grounds and in many public parks.

Plants To Repel Mosquitos - How To Remember Them

🤦‍♂️�‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Citronella From Corona Florist and Nursery 388F Clementi Road, Singapore. Photo courtesy of Trevor Sharot.

Problem
I want plants to repel mosquitos on the balcony in Singapore and now that we have global warming, even in London, UK, in the house and garden.

I keep learning the plants which repel mosquitos. How can I remember them if I want to replant part of an existing plant from a garden or balcony, ask a friend for a cutting, buy from a gardening shop, advise another person?

Answer
Start with the lemons, acidic plants, which the mosquitos won't want to suck?
citronella (citron - Ella)
lemon balm (lemon on a balmy night)
lemon thyme (time for a third lemon plant)

What else is strong smelling?

garlic - keeps away your friends but keeps away your enemies - those mosquitoes. Frightens off the devil and witches and also mosquitoes.

More food plants:
mint (no time - just a minute, time is money, mint it). Make a mint drink, mint tea.

Lavendar - lovely lavendar has a lovely aroma
marigold - golden colour - will Mary marry you?

Rosemary and Basil (Romantic girl Rosemary, smells sweet as a Rose, and her boyfriend Basil)

Catnip
Last but not least, Rosemary is cuddling her cat and I hope it won't nip her

I can now reconstruct the list using my memory aids:

citronella
lemon balm
lemon thyme
rosemary
basil
garlic
catnip
lavendar
marigold
mint
thyme

Let's put them in alphabetical order:
basil
catnip
citronella
garlic
lavendar
lemon balm
lemon thyme
marigold
mint
rosemary
thyme

Garden Centres
Singapore
Corona Florist and Nursery, 388F, Clementi Road, Singapore. (We bought a citronella plant, also balls to put on compost in pots and troughs to stop the sandy stuff blowing away.)
Goodwood Florist , 565 Thomson Road, Singapore. We bought balcony pots and compost.)

UK
Squires, Stanmore and other locations. Huge garden shop with gardening gloves, books, toys, cafe and outdoor area with plants and mini-trees and fencing and amusing plaques for the garden wall or outdoor house wall.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages. See my other posts on plants, gardens, garden centres and destinations.

How Does The Eco-bridge Help Animals Cross The BKE in Singapore?

Problem
As you drive along the BKE expressway in Singapore, your bus or car passes under the Ecobridge. What is it and how does it work?

Answers
BKE is an abbreviation for Bukit Timah Expressway. It runs north up to the causeway across the sea linking Singapore to Malaysia. You drive along it to join the PIE, Pan Island Expressway, which runs East West, to and from the airport, Changi Airport, on the East coast.

The Motorways And Bridges
Bukit is Malay for hill, the large hill in the middle of Singapore. The city of Singapore is gradually expanding across the island of Singapore. The Ecobridge was built across the motorway, as a link from one side of the jungle cut by the motorway, to the other side, for the benefit of the animals.

Why? We already have plenty of other bridges over the motorway. How does an Eco-bridge differ from the other bridges, carrying traffic and pedestrians?

The Eco-bridge
The Eco-bridge is exclusively for animals. It is not difficult to see that animals could be frightened away by the noise of traffic and accidentally injured by road traffic.

Pedestrians and Public Access
What about a pedestrian only bridge? Pedestrians could deliberately torment Animals. Others might kidnap animals as pets or to sell.  Well-intentioned families might accidentally injure animals, by trying to lure animals nearer to be photographed, offering unsuitable food.

But there's more to it than that. Just the smell of human crossing the bridge might frighten away some animals. So signs tell the public not to cross.

Plants
A concrete bridge is not attractive to all animals. The Eco-bridge has been planted with appealing plants which providing tempting food, shadows and shelter.

Cameras
Does it work? How do we know? Cameras have been set up to record the animal visitors. A video on YouTube shows you assorted bats and other animals.

Useful Websites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c18vo5Ybdio (Video of the eco-bridge in Singapore.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjCJvn__N5c (Animation showing worldwide problems and solutions including cows not crossing painted white lines.)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Rain in Singapore - The Good and The Bad For Travellers and Photographers

Problem
Non-stop rain in Singapore on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The TV announcers were out in the streets under umbrellas, paid to smile enthusiastically.

Answers
What's good?
1 EXPENSIVE OUTINGS ARE AVOIDED
Stay home and save money (if you haven't already paid for a night out).
2 UMBRELLA SALES INCREASE
Shops get fewer shoppers in the rain. However, those which stay open can sell umbrellas.
3 INDOORS INCREASES BUSINESS
Indoor bars and other places attract passers-by. People already in the restaurant stay there and order more.
4 Outdoor bars and balconies with parasols attract a few hardy souls.
5 WASHING DISAPPEARS
People who draped their sheets and underwear over balconies to dry had to remove them and return skyscrapers to elegance instead of looking like slums.
6 PLANTS ARE WATERED - DROUGHT AVERTED
WateredPlants on blaconies and in gardens and in the wild are getting watered and the city and countrside stay green.
7 NO SWIMMING OUTDOORS
When it rains, especially if there is thunder and lightning, pool attendants will vanish, or prevent swimmers from entering the pool for safety reasons.
8 WATERFALLS ARE AT THEIR BEST
In long hot summers, some waterfalls disappear altogther. The rain means you can see waterfalls afterwards.
9 NO REFUNDS
Some events specify that they will not offer refunds if rain causes cancellation or part or all of the event. Why? Because the staff had to turn up to work and turn down alternative work for that date. Because rain is like 'act of God', not their fault. Because otherwise they would go out of business. Because they are in business to make money and they make the rules.
10 SONGS ABOUT RAIN ARE REVIVED
Songs about rain pop into my brain:
Singing in the rain

What's bad?
1 PHOTOGRAPHY - POOR VISION
The camera you hired for four days for New Year photography will not get the best shots. If you were a wedding photographer you would have to deal with it. You could take indoor shots. Or make a feature of rainy shots, or contrast before and after or same scene in sun and rain.
2 CAR CLEANING STILL NEEDED
You may be tempted to give up cleaning your car in the hope that the rain is doing the job for you. Rain is not necessarily cleaning your car. It may be depositing acid which eats into chrome. You need to wash off the dirt, salt, bird droppings and remove damp leaves from crevices, dry off smears.
3 SLIPPERY ROADS
You also need to check your car tyres have good tread to deal with gripping wet roads.
4 SHOPS & RESTAURANTS WITH OUTDOOR TABLES LOSE OUT
An Indian restaurant owner complained that since he has half his business from his outdoor tables, in rainy times he loses business.

WHAT'S GOOD?
In my lists, the good features of rainy days outweigh the bad. Is that because I am a psoitive person?

When the sun comes out you don't complain the weather is too hot. You are grateful for the sunlight and appreciate its advantages. You rush out with your camera.

CHEAP UMBRELLAS
Cheap umbrellas are sold in Seven-Eleven. Only four dollars for a small fold up umbrella which you can afterwards put in your bag. You can buy similar for only four dollars, different patterns, in the drug stores such as Guardian and Watson and some supermarkets. One member of my family who lives in Singapore says:
"You get what you pay for. Cheap umbrellas won't last long. But even if they only helped you out ofr one trip or one day, they are only the price of a cup of coffee."

Useful websites
http://brandinsider.straitstimes.com/audi/essential-car-tips-rainy-season/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Snippets From Singapore's Airport: Terminal 4 opening; Terminal 5 building; Housing + Feeding The World; Airport Security and Food

Singapore Airport
Singapore airport is the best airport in the world. I am not the only person who says so. It wins awards and votes consistently.

Terminal four has just opened in Singapore's Changi AIrport, used for Cathay Pacific airline. 

Construction has already started on building Terminal five. It will be as large as all the other terminals combined.

So Singapore expects many more people to arrive. Where will they put all those people? In new hotels, if they are temporary visitors. But they will also need more restaurants and offices and places of entertainment if they are on business. No wonder you see construction everywhere in Singapore. Can our planet take all these people? 

We can build houses, but how will we feed everybody? Where will we find the land? Travelling to other countries, in person, or over the internet, shows us answers. Singapore's answer to lack of land is to extend the main island by building up artificial islands using unwanted waste, rubbish collections. Solve two problems, where to put your unwanted rubbish, and how to find construction material. 

Water and Crops
Singapore has pioneered growing plants in the air, in conservatories, plants living on the humid air and projected water.
Hydroponics.

Time to water the desert, use all those empty areas, miles of sand, uninhabited scrubland. 

What about the land occupied by cemeteries. The Jewish cemetery in Orchard road was removed, moved, to make way for what is now the Ngee Ann City skyscraper containing a landmark shopping mall on the lower levels.

More recently, another big cemetery has been cleared away. I think it was for a motorway. A member of Friends of the Museum was given an award by the government for organizing a project to photograph all the gravestones, for the benefit of relatives and historians, before they were moved.

Maybe it’s time to turn dead bodies into compost, woodland burials, to create trees giving the world oxygen. 

Trees

Speaking of trees, 

Plants

All plants create oxygen. At night they go into reverse and use oxygen, so it’s said, and hospitals tell you to remove plants. 

(Watering flowers is time-consuming. Maybe volunteers could do this task. Quicker to water plants if all the rooms looked onto a central plant area. Flowers for one person would brighten the whole floor, as they do in any multi-occupancy bedroom.

Airport Security and food boxes

In security, somebody was carrying leftover food in a cool bag. 

Security asked, "Have you any dry ice? Dry ice is not allowed."  

Presumably the reason is because this could go off accidentally and cause panic.

Berry’s of London

Berry & Rudd of London has recently opened and expanded their operations in Singapore. They began by sending their VIP London marketing and sales man to wine and dine the big spenders, the big wine buyers in Singapore, to fine dining. They also held a grand wine tasting in Singapore at lower prices than they would have charged in London. If you like wine and good food and matching wine and food, now is a good time to look for their wine tasting and dinners, whilst prices are so tempting.

More information from:
Changi Airport
http://www.changiairport.com/corporate/partner-us/changi-east.html
http://www.changiairport.com/en/airport-experience/attractions-and-services/information-and-customer-service-counters.html

Singapore tourism

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.