I recently won a trip to New York on a radio show. After the excitement wore off, I began to get pessimistic. (I am a -very- pessimistic person) I began to think what will go wrong? What if it's a hoax? And on and on and on. With the result that, a month before the trip, I still had nothing prepared. I'd spent so long focusing on the negative, that I'd almost forgotten the important, necessary things, eg money and completing the form for the Visa Waiver programme.

The Visa form was completed no problem. It only costed $14 which is E10. Money, while I did find it hard to pull back and not spend, I managed to save, so that I'll have something to spend in New York. But now, one week to go and I'm still not ready. I have nothing packed, no itinerary planned and I still need to print my boarding pass.

I'll pull it off, I'll print off the pass this week. Packing is usually done about an hour before I'm due to leave and is usually a hurried and messy progress. It's not that I won't have bothered to pack before this, it's the planning that most of us women have to, inevitably, do. "Do I bring this top or leave it?" "What if there's a night out?" "If I bring the top, I'll need these shoes", etc. "Can't leave behind the hair straightner"The last few days before we leave will be taken up with planning such as this. My "list of stuff to bring" will have changed many times before I eventually just pack what I can and rush out the door.

Ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to practicalities such as this, I become a disorganised mess, this is why I put it off for so long. I loathe packing for the very reasons I've stated above. What to bring, what to leave behind. Of course, the minute I've zipped up the suitcase and decided I'm finished, I'll remember some sort of necessity that I've forgotten, eg hair straightner, sensible shoes for walking during the day, etc. This in turn means that the suitcase needs to be opened, my entire system for packing has to be redone and everything needs to be changed around. Then, there's the dilemma "I need this straightener/walking shoes. But there's no room. What do I leave out?"

I like going on holidays, but I'm really dreading when the time comes to pack the bag....