Hasta la vista, baby!

It is just about time to leave - I would be lying if I said I'm not nervous. In fact, I am apprehensive to the point of terror...I don't know why, but I suspect it is due to the fact that I haven't been anywhere in three years. I was due to go to the US two years ago-but we all know how well that worked out!!

I'm packing. Frantically packing. I finally made lists last night: what to take, what to buy, what I need to do before I leave...and I'm still scared. I can't help thinking I will forget something crucial, and I'll get to the airport and won't be able to leave. Silly, eh?

I'm not worried about flying - I'm worried about landing. It's the landing that'll kill you!

I'm just joking. Really! My worry is that I will get to Heathrow and security will jump me because of needles, syringes and a nebulizer they have never seen before - and I'm afraid they'll cart me off to prison, or somewhere, and start ripping everything apart because they think I might be carrying a bomb. Eeeek-they will see medication and read my consultant's letter-so they should (in theory) let it go, and start looking for real terrorists! Who knows, though?

I will write from New York. I always have jet lag in both directions, so I will probably be awake all night for a couple of nights-I will certainly be awake very, very early!! And the hotel has a fitness center-so I will be able to work out and do my exercises.

Do I have the discipline and motivation to work out while I'm on holiday? I have to; my balance will be completely gone, this I already have been told by Dr Dimples, my lovely (but, sadly, married, so no longer attractive!) neurologist. So I need to do some compensation work very quickly, so I don't suddenly topple over in front of a moving bus.

I will be very careful while I'm there-I'm thinking about the medical bills if anything should happen (and that, believe me, makes me shudder just to think about it). I'm also thinking about all the food! Oh, yum!! My friend Diane works on Fridays, so (jet lag notwithstanding) I will be headed for Zabar's Deli on the upper East side. And Barnes & Noble, the best bookstore in the world. When I'm not seeing my friends - or working out, or stuffing my face - I can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the MOMA, or the Guggenheim.

I'll have a great time once I stop myself from being so needlessly fearful. I'll see my friends. I'll go to museums. I'll hit the bookstores. And - I'll eat! I might need two seats on the plane back to Blighty-but who cares!!

We all only live once, so - hasta la vista, baby!!