I’m sure, as avid readers of my blog, you will recall my post a month or so ago announcing that I was getting on a plane. I know, I know… no biggie for most people, including the former-me (who once travelled a bit for work). But – as I said in the previous post, I’ve felt a bit paranoid about my weight and aeroplane seats etc for a while now. I’ve never had any danger of not fitting into them before, or fitting the belt around me (although it’s been stretched to its limit), but I read such horrible online comments from people about others’ travelling that I’ve been scared shitless.

However, I agreed to travel down to Melbourne (here in Oz) with my brother, sister-in-law and niece and my mother for a five-day holiday. My niece is participating in a beauty pageant and – given the recent loss of my dad – it was decided it might be a nice ‘family’ thing to do. Plus my mum hasn’t ever been to Victoria or Melbourne before.

It’s at this point I must confess to YET ANOTHER foible: I’m actually not a very good tourist. I get bored easily. I don’t appreciate ‘things’ as I should. I’m like: “Meh, another lion,” or “Another castle… like you know, W-O-T-E-V-A!”

I haven’t travelled a lot but if you’ve seen one scary animal, you’ve seen them all – in my books anyway. I far prefer to just soak up the culture of a different place. My first overseas trip was to Portugal (enroute to work in Mozambique) and sure, there are a lot of impressive monuments and stuff; but I just loved the cobblestone streets and apartment buildings which were SO different to Australian suburbia.

Fortunately, inner city Melbourne will not offer us the complexities of travelling o/s. The family is also completely okay with me ditching them when they visit zoos and things I have no desire to see. I may well just want to hang out at fabulous cafes with my laptop blogging away. Or something.

I don’t even have a ‘things I want to do / see’ list. But… I’m told I need to do some shopping. I don’t really ‘get’ it I must say. Although my hometown of Brisbane isn’t as big, it probably has most of the same shops. It seems a long way to go to buy something to lug back here. Nevertheless… because people will ask me (on my return) what I bought, I have to buy something.

As I’ve commenced my 4-day working week, the new frugal me is also aiming to be a bit more strategic in my purchases… so I have a list of 5 things – all of which I could buy here (or online from the comfort of my desk chair), but in keeping with the spirit of things…

1. A new pair of jeans. My old jeans are too big – as I’ve had them for a couple of years. Since losing the first 20kg, I have – naturally – waited to lose the next 15+kg to buy new jeans… but over 6 months has passed and the scales haven’t budged and, quite frankly, every gal needs a pair of jeans for winter.

2. Black winter boots. I’ve only ever had one pair of long boots and – I must confess – I actually bought them second hand on eBay. Given my hatred of shopping, I was – at one point – a rabid eBayer… and had certain brands of stuff (Nine West / Mollini / Midas shoes; Nicola Waite or Chocolat clothes) that I bought in a somewhat obsessive manner. ANYTHING to avoid having to go into a store. Unfortunately I have A LOT of too-small Nicola Waite stuff sitting in newly repacked boxes in my walk-in wardrobe.

My old (used) boots are great but: they’ve never zipped up (overly fattened calves, despite no prodigal son / man of any kind on the horizon); and they’re a bit too high to walk around in all-day.

3. A case for my Macbook Air, which I tend to just lug around naked. I do the same with my iPhone, but given the cost of the laptop I should probably take more care. Again this is something I could buy locally, but have never just got around to it!

4. A black skivvy/turtleneck. A very boring purchase indeed, but I’m way overdue as my old faithful one has a hole near the neckline I’ve been covering up for years. Again, only laziness has prevented me doing something about this!

5. A fabulous jacket of some kind. I’m loving Nicola Waite’s latest lines… so if I’m keen enough to drop a hefty chunk of money, I may well visit her Melbourne store to have a look.

In case you haven’t seen it, I just wrote a post about a recent fashion precinct party I went to – noting (several times) that I’m not much of a fashionista; and my inability to fit into mainstream clothes is the key culprit.

The fact I’m still having to wear plus-sized fashion will make my Melbourne clothes-buying even more complicated. I can’t just walk into any store to make a purchase – even when it comes to shoe-buying given my bloody calves are too chunky for normal people-sized boots!

However, in light of my agreement to STOP putting my life on hold and ‘waiting’ until I lose weight; I won’t defer purchases any more… and will let you know how I go.

Have you been guilty of delaying purchases or other commitments, until…..?