After a couple of months of travel planning, the reality of my forthcoming trip to Sweden ramped up a few notches today.

Sometime last week I installed a number of “Swedish Apps” on my mobile phone, includng one which lists the 4-day weather forecast for Sweden. And today, for the first time, it actually meant something. The weather forecast for Friday popped up earlier this morning, with predictions of light rain and an early twenties temperature forecast.

The arrival has flow-on effects. It meant that when I came home tonight I began to focus a little more on what clothes I would take with me. It’s meant the potentially-faux North Face jacket I bought in China last year – which provides protection for both the wet and the cold – is now definitely on my list of clothing to pack.

Not that I have a list or anything. For the last week or so I’ve just been throwing potentially suitable clothing into a heap on the lounge-room floor. There’s a bunch of shirts, a couple of pairs of shorts, some underwear, that kind of thing. I suspect I’ll look closely at everything tomorrow night and make a final decision then. I’m undecided between the pros and cons of then doing a big wash myself, as opposed to popping down to my local laundromat and getting them to do it for me.

And aside from that, that’s all I really need to do, as I feel pretty prepared for everything else, which is just as well, because work is quite busy at the moment, with a bunch of things I’d like to accomplish by Wednesday, which include making sure everything is okay for while I’m away.