You may have noticed that I’ve upped the posting frequency recently. The reason is that I’m giving you material before I go away. I’m going on a three week holiday to California, USA and Taipei, Taiwan.

We’re going to California to visit my brother in San Francisco, then taking two weeks to travel around the state. Two weeks is not enough. California seems packed enough to be a country in itself!

All my life, my parents have been raving about Taiwan, which is where they went to university, where they met, got married and where we were born. I imagine that if I raised my children in another country, I’d also rave about Australia. In fact, I am amazed my parents have stayed away from Taiwan for this long. We haven’t been back since we arrived in Australia 19 years ago.

We’re leaving on Wednesday so from then on, you get to skip the ‘Reading Joan’s blog’ step of your internet initiation ritual for a few weeks.

I have almost finished packing. I have a large suitcase. I’ve taken Damjan’s advice on loading up on t-shirts. I made the mistake of not taking any t-shirts to skiing.

“Joan, that’s silly,” Damo said in that wise voice of his. “T-shirts are the staple of any wardrobe.”

One day, I will be a world-weary traveller, able to travel with nothing but a knapsack but until then, I will trundle on behind me my bright blue luggage.