We were ready to begin a two-week cruise, traveling with good friends.  Since they lived closer to the airport, we were invited to spend the night before we were to leave with them.  It was a great idea. We went out to a wonderful dinner and then back to their home for them to finish packing.  That was when the “fun” began.

The two guys were in the den with a large suitcase and two weeks’ worth of clothing, plus a bottle of red wine.  Folding clothes, telling stories, drinking, and then — whoops! Yes, a full glass of wine went out of our friend’s hand and into his suitcase onto his clean and folded clothes, and most of which were light- colored.

The frenzy then began as the two of us tried to pull the shirts, pants, socks, shoes, jackets, hats and underwear out of the wine.  Then it was a mad dash for the laundry room, plenty of ‘spray and wash’ spritzed on the stains, and into the washer.  When the first load was done, we added a second and got out the iron for getting out the wrinkles.  The few items that had to be dry-cleaned we had to put aside and hope that in a couple of weeks the stains would still be removable.

The trip was a great adventure but we will never again try packing a suitcase while drinking red wine.

Location:Oakland, CA