💬 I check my bag 3 times before every trip

I check my bag 3 times before every trip. Doesn't matter if it's a flight to Dubai or a bus to Warangal. The first check is the real one. Checks 2 and 3 are just me standing there touching zips. My sister timed me once. 11 minutes of unzipping, looking, zipping again, then 1 more look for luck. She said I should get paid for it. I asked who pays a man for standing in a bedroom. It started in 2016. I went to a cousin's wedding in Nizamabad and left my formal shoes at home. I wore slippers in every single photo. My uncle said nice slippers with a completely straight face. He brought it up at 3 more weddings after that. Nobody else even remembers the groom's name. So now I check. Shoes, charger, 2 shirts, and the little bag of tablets my mother packs for me. Last Friday the cab was already outside. The driver honked twice, so I did my third check in 40 seconds. My brother in law stood at the door and said, it's packed, I watched you pack it. I said I know. He asked why I was opening it again. I didn't have an answer for that one. He has a point. I still did the third check and the cab guy still waited. Here's the funny part. I reached Vijayawada fine and the bag was perfect. Shoes, charger, everything in its place. The printout of my return ticket was lying on my bed back home. It was never in the bag. So the thing I check 3 times isn't even the thing I forget. The phone ticket worked anyway. The bag is already open on the bed for next month.

Slippers in every wedding photo is a good enough reason to check 3 times. I once forgot my phone charger on a 2 day trip to Vizag and spent half of it hunting for a shop that sold the right one. My fix is a small paper list in the front pocket, ticked off one by one. It takes 2 minutes and saves me from standing in the bedroom.

Mine is a spoonful of sugar. My mother puts it in my hand at the door, no explanation. Last time I refused because I was late, and the train ran 3 hours behind. I'm not saying they're connected. I'm saying I take the sugar now, every single time. Your slippers in the wedding photos made me laugh. My cousin once lost a shoe on stage.