Tomorrow is the day. The day and night before leaving for an extended dive trip to the Philippines, and usually the time I realize something important was overlooked or left undone, and there is no time to fix it now. So far, all is well, and I am getting ready for packing.  From a packing standpoint,  I feel confident I will be able to pack tomorrow night without too much trouble.  Anyone who travels at all will tell you it is  best to pack, check, and double check.  I will do that, except it will all be mostly tomorrow night.  The bulk of my dive gear is already there in the Philippines, so lesser things like clothes, toiletries, small accessories, and more important stuff, like camera gear, passport, and plane tickets. I have learned from the mistakes of past trips. My best/worst head slappers in recent memory was using the laptop in my living room just prior to leaving for the airport.  With everything else packed, I  tossed the laptop into the backpack, as my ride arrived to catch the airport bus. I was in the departure lounge at Logan Airport when I fired up the laptop, saw the low battery warning, and began searching for the power cord, which was still plugged in back home in the living room.  Now I have double checked that the cord is packed, but I am wary of creating a new mistake. Packing aside,  I always have a building anxiety in the days before I leave on a long distance trip. A fear of the unknown, perhaps, a fear of distance, the feeling of being uprooted, even for a short time. There is a subtle pressure that builds like the gasses accumulating behind the bullet in a gun barrel, until the pressure overwhelms the resistance of the lead and the bullet is expelled at high speed in the direction it was aimed. So anxiety aside, I find myself  at some point, bags in hand, hoping to hit my target successfully.