Half the fun of these trips lies in the anticipation. Like the tourist brochures, one tends to focus on the good things, the parts of a trip that make travel fun, exotic and pleasurable. If we think of the expense, the tedium, the frustration, the petty officialdom, the industrial landscapes, the sleeplessness, the headaches and the general embuggerance of moving around overseas, we might not be quite so keen in advance.

But I think on the pleasures and I dismiss the grim details with a cheery wave of my mind. I pack the headache tablets, hoping I won’t need them.

On this trip, I don’t have quite the time to plan as I’d like. Family matters kept me at home indefinitely, and it wasn’t until mid March that I was sure that I could go at all. Once I saw Tessa, I had less than two weeks to get everything planned, to fill in the spaces between the flights. A flurry of emails and phone calls to arrange accommodation with friends along the way. And there you have half the pleasure of the anticipation right there. Chicago, for instance; I look forward to seeing a couple of old friends, staying with them, in fact. I had missed their wedding last October and it would be so good to see them as relative newly-weds, full of joy and love.

Not to mention the long anticipated delight in seeing some of the great art that I knew Chicago had hidden away. And architecture – home of the Prairie School, Chicago has some wonderful buildings. Walter Burley Griffin, who had laid out Canberra, came from Chicago. I put on Sinatra and dreamed of that toddlin’ town.

I teed up hostel and hotel accommodation in other places. London and Frankfurt, I’ve staid there before and I know what to expect. The London hostel is close by St Pauls – one wakes through the night to the sound of the bells, but oh, what an atmosphere! – and I love the cheap and cheerful nature of the bunkrooms and common rooms. Frankfurt is more of the same, but with the restrained nature of Germany.

I picked the cheapest of the hotels on the Tokyo airport list. Hard to judge from the Engrish of the website, and for around fifty dollars a night I wasn’t expecting grand lodgings, but at least it wasn’t sleeping on the floor of the airport terminal, which was a plausible and affordable alternative for the short night between flights in and out

The Singapore airside hotel was a similar price – for six hours. Convenience ruled my plans here. I could check my bags through to London from Tokyo, save myself the time and trouble of going through immigration (and the expense of a taxi) and enjoy the snacks and internet of the airport lounges, with a bed close at hand for at least a few hours. Comfortable though airliners are these days, nothing beats lying flat in stillness and dark. Planes always have lights and noises, not to mention the constant engine rumble.

Charleston, for the convention, I’d be sharing a room at the Marriott with a friend. Hard to beat the convenience of staying at the convention hotel – close by the sessions and meals, always people hanging around the lobby to make up a party for drinks or a walk.

The trip back I left as one big straight run. Charleston to DFW to New York, and then Qantas all the way back to Sydney via LAX. Forty hours airside. At least I could sleep when I got home on Anzac Day – I’d be no good for a twelve hour taxi shift.

I went out and bought a couple of guidebooks to cover the blanks. Istanbul was going to be a whole new experience, and I studied the maps of the Blue Mosque, Topkapi and Haga Sophia with oriental visions whirling around the dancefloor of my mind.

And then I was into packing, planning the stages of my trip, selecting clothes and what I would need in each place. I washed and folded the clothes I would wear, selected the books, loaded up my laptop with music and finally my planning and preparation time ran out and I was loading it all into the boot of the family car, hoping I’d remembered everything.