Packing!

It’s taken a surprisingly long time to pack!  Part of this might be because I escaped a couple of times (buy some Bon Jovi for our drive down the west coast of the USA) and stood daydreaming out of the window for a ridiculously long time.  Once we both got down to it today, it’s actually gone fairly well.

I downloaded a chapter of ‘Travel the world without worries’ written by Marek from the Indie Traveller about packing which had some great advice and I’ve tried to keep this in mind whilst packing – the part that has stuck with me most is to try and leave my bag a quarter empty to be able to fill up if needs be.  I also have to remember that I can buy most of the things I need in Canada (although being on a farm in the middle of nowhere for the first month probably limits this a bit), for example, I’m not taking a towel and I’m going to buy a travelling towel during our day in Calgary before we head north.  I’ve been trying to keep my bag as empty as possible which I think is potentially more difficult as it will be cooler weather so I am taking fleeces which are bulky but I am going to wear the bulkiest luggage on the plane….flying in work boots, fleece and a huge coat from the army surplus store!  I can take 23kg and I am at 14kg which I am very pleased with!  Lots of space to fill up with cowboy boots and hats and maple syrup!!!

I’ve got some AMAZING packing cubes by eBag which my wonderful friends got for me.  I read about them on Adventurous Kate’s blog and she really raved about them and I absolutely love them.  For some as pedantic and organised as I, these are a godsend as I can put my stuff into sections and each cube holds a surprisingly huge amount.  I was given three medium cubes and three small cubes and they are great sizes – I’ve used two of the medium cubes for all my clothes and two of the small cubes for all my underwear and pyjamas and electrical cables and camera etc. I have given the other two to himself to use.  If you choose to buy them for packing a big suitcase or backpack, I wouldn’t recommend the large cubes as I believe these are pretty big and so may be too bulky.  Obviously I haven’t travelled with them yet but they look like they are going to be great – I’ll keep you posted!!

We’ve cleaned mum’s house and I’m currently just uploading the last of some CDs to iTunes (including Bon Jovi!) before we head off tomorrow lunchtime….sleep beckons soon….