Unlike my one time close family friend George Clooney, I do not like traveling. While not all introverts can be called hermits, I am a proud member of this club. You know that cliché about home being where the heart is? Well, to my people home is where the safety net is. Force us to travel and we get a tad bit nervous. And since I am traveling tomorrow, I’m even more nervous than I have been for the past month, since I booked my flight.

Other than not liking to chitchat with strangers or use public facilities, there are a few other reasons that I am dreading this particular trip. Here’s my handy-dandy list:

TMI ALERT! I have IBS. If you don’t know that is, you are lucky. I won’t go in to great detail, but, basically, this is my life. As you can imagine, travel makes my condition worse due to my anxiety about travel and eating different food. Really the whole IBS and travel thing is a chicken or egg argument. Does traveling make my IBS worse, or does IBS make travelling more difficult? The world may never know. And no, natural foods people, probiotics do not do diddly. In fact, they make me feel worse. I’m traveling for work at a time of the year when my family cannot go with me. I’m going to a great city to attend and present at an interesting conference. If my husband and my son could go with me, I would be three kinds of jazzed about this. Anyone who has ever watched Greys’ Anatomy knows that most people have their person. Well, my husband and son are my people. I don’t like being away from my people. Flying frightens the bejesus out of me. When it comes time to fly anywhere, I become Rain Man. It just doesn’t seem safe to put people in metal tube and send them a bazillion miles up in the air. Who invented this torture anyway? YES, I KNOW who invented flying. I live in Ohio. (Shakes fist at the Wright brothers)

Well, I’d better go try to pack all of the comforts of home in a duffel bag and a computer bag. I’m carrying on so I can get the heck out of the airport faster. There will be a part two to this when I get back. Enjoy your homes, everyone.