Tonight it’s time to prepare. To pack clothes, check my washbag, run through the flight details, check my wallet and passport are in place, and – because I’m paranoid – check and re-check everything umpteen times until I finally get in a cab tomorrow morning.

I do the travel thing fairly regularly as part of work (and for pleasure) and I’m only gone for nine nights, so I’m mostly on auto-pilot. I’m travelling alone so I don’t have to explain why I want to be at the airport at least three hours before my flight, or haggle over what time to leave tomorrow morning. I can get up, have a coffee, run a final quick check and call a cab. I’ll be ridiculously early but at least I won’t have to stress.

What sometimes takes the longest is choosing which books will accompany me. I still don’t have an e-reader and don’t read anything longer than a journal article on a screen. Yes, I know – convenience, weight, yadda yadda – leave me alone. I like physical books, particularly when reading fiction, and even when travelling.

But this time even that was relatively quick. There’s a new Stephen King out, Mr Mercedes. Decision made. I’ve been reading King since my friends and I first discovered Skeleton Crew in Year 6. Though his books are often flawed, he is a fine storyteller and his narrative voice is so familiar I know I will let him lead me happily through to the end, regardless of whether he’s at his best.

And I have a book about museums in the digital age, and a laptop with a pile of journal articles on archives, digital humanities, libraries and more, to fill in the gaps.

See you all tomorrow, when the real story of the last third of my #blogjune begins.