T minus four days and counting!
When I think about how accustomed we are to traveling with a
35-foot travel trailer, our packing “goal” for this trip seems unreachable: Each of us gets to bring (1) carry-on + (1)
backpack. For 10 weeks. Hmmm… is that even possible?! Then I think about walking through all the
cities, over 100s of bridges in Venice, through the metros, onto the trains,
and then squeezing into our rental car- and I think bringing anything more than
a backpack is quite generous!
I’ve packed my clothes but now I’m unpacking it. My suitcase is full from just clothes alone,
and I’m still looking around at the other unpacked piles of necessities! The concept “pack what you think you need,
then remove half” is surely a joke - unless you start with some outrageous
amount, like four suitcases or something!
I am struggling to remove four items - which buy me about half a pound
at most. Whew, I feel better now.
Through this unpacking process today, Greg taught me something new. Standing at REI in the travel bag
section, it occurred to me that I could fit more in my bag if I put some of my
clothes in a “space maker” compression bag.
When I texted my brilliant idea to Greg, he replied, “Just because it’s
compressed doesn’t mean it’s any lighter.”
Ohhhhh…really?? That’s why I have
Greg around – to remind me of the obvious.
I’m not the only one unpacking. Poor Jeremy has absolutely nothing to wear to his final 3 days of
school. “I like to have things when I
want them.” He is going to drive me
crazy with last minute loads of laundry!
Kate’s packing motto is “I need enough for two months” –
there’s a teenager for you! After
zipping her suitcase closed, she anxiously took it to the scale for the
weigh-in … and was pretty excited when her bag came in 3 pounds less than
mine! While she was calculating the
pounds, I was calculating too – what other of my piles around the room can I fit into her bag? It quickly turned into the joke between Greg
and me: Are we bringing that? In Kate’s bag?
Packing with Chris was easy-peasy, as most things are with
him. I’m quite certain he could get by
on one outfit, so having over five is excessive for him. He just had one complaint – he didn’t want to
bring the red and white checked shirt I bought for him unless it was to use for
picnics. Ok, fine. (In all fairness, the shirt looked great on
the online model!)
By the end of the day it felt pretty good to be all packed –amazingly
finding a spot for each of the piles. Of
course “all” does not include Greg’s bag (or Jeremy’s dirty clothes). Not sure what he is waiting for, but when he
finally gets around to it, I’m thinking my space saving idea is going to be
getting another popularity vote!
