Ohhh the muffins!
Once upon a time I baked a kettle of beans and FORGOT THEM and came home from a week away, and - yeah, it looked about like your muffins.
A friend didn't empty the trash before her two-week vacation in July. Hot, humid. Flies in the trash bags in the attached garage.... and on returning, they had a wall-to-wall carpet, several inches deep, of MAGGOTS in the garage....
"Travel light," they say, but your cast iron skillet and chef's knife could come in handy for more than cooking. A rug! Dog supplies! Computers and more.
I hate flying too - more time is spent in airports, waiting, or rushing madly to a connecting flight, and hoping we aren't separated from our luggage (that happens far too often).
Happy Trails!