Back in the old days, the three things you always had to remember to check before you left on a trip were Tickets, Money, Passport.

At least 90%, probably more, of the flights I take these days are e-tickets, where you get the paperwork issued to you at the terminal on presentation of proof of ID. It is quite unusual to have to worry about a paper ticket as I rush out the door.

Because it is much easier to get money out of an ATM on arrival, and in any case credit cards are almost universally accepted, I literally cannot remember the last time I went to a bank to get foreign currency before I travelled. Of course, a lot of my trips are to euro-zone countries anyway, so I don't even have to engage "foreign money" gears in my brain.

Of the three, passports remain essential for most international travel. Yet here again, at least in the EU, things are shifting: my flight this morning from Brussels to Ljubljana is within the Schengen zone, so if my Belgian ID card had come through (I'm still waiting for it) I could have left all my various passports at home. If the American authorities were smart, they'd be looking at how to work towards some form of similar arrangement with other countries, rather than continue to inflict ritual humiliation on us at immigration.

In fact, these days it is not so much about what you should remember to bring, more what you should remember not to bring. Specifically, fluids in the hand-luggage; I've lost several cans of shaving gel to airport security in the last few years, not to mention the Macedonian wine confiscated because I was not going to risk packing it in my suitcase to get broken in the hold. It's not just fluids of course - Rosi challenges us to identify a way of hijacking a plane using nail clippers - but that is how it has affected me most.

Hopefully the next generation will catch themselves on about security without losing the conveniences we have accumulated over the last few years.

13) The Time Out Guide to Rome

Invested in this in Brussels airport, and it was worth it - good background essays, very good restaurant recommendations, a sensible approach to navigating around the sights. My one complaint is that the maps are not tied to the text awfully well, and actually allowed us to go seriously astray when we looked for the catacombs along the Appian Way.

A rather glorious break in Rome, leaving the in-laws in charge of the small beings and exploring the Eternal City ourselves.

( getting there )
( Saturday: the big sights )
( Sunday: bits and pieces, and failure at the catacombs )
( food )
And so back home on Monday morning; have been writing this on the plane, while Anne gazed out the window at the Alps. Back to work tomorrow.

The signs in the famous Adria plane on which I have spent much of today are in English, Slovenian, and one other language.

A Special Prize for the first person to guess what the third language is.

So, on an afternoon when I am being bumped around by a peculiarly named small airline, wondering if I will reach my destination, I happen to be listening to The Faceless Ones, a 1967 Doctor Who story about people disappearing from aeroplanes owned by a peculiarly named small airline.

I just thought you should know.

The bad news: Brussels flight due to take off from Ljubljana at 1830; my incoming flight landed at 1838.

The good news: Adria being a rather small airline, it is the same plane going to Brussels as got me here; so I will get home this evening!

My flight was supposed to take off twenty minutes ago, but we are still in the airport lounge. I have just seen the incoming flight touch down, so we should at least have a plane to take off in.

However the connection time in Ljubljana was already pretty tight - just over an hour - and I reckon we will have lost at least half of that. I comfor myself with the thoughts that fortunately Ljubljana is a small airport, and also I would bet that Adria will hold the Brussels flight for those of us trying to make that connection, rather than deal with the need to find food and accommodation for us.

Well, we'll see...

Apparently these are the top 50 tourist destinations in the world. Have bolded the ones I've been to.

( 50 places, of which I have visited 22, and nearly been to another 3 )

(Thanks to blonde222, who raises some reasonable questions about what is and isn't included on the list.)

Home. Tired. Reading Jack Vance.