Gearing Up

Packing is hard.  I do not like to pack.  I know you are thinking that I must be a pro at it now, however that is not the case.  I will do anything rather than pack. . .organize my closet, my sock drawer, go through my change and sort of quarters according to their states, and even write a blog!  This trip has been a little different because Jeanna likes to get started packing early, so I thought I would try it her way and reduce the anxiety about getting ready.  So last Tuesday I started to gather the clothes and equipment  I would need for this trip. . . starting to build piles around the bathroom. . . Jeanna started in the living room.  The thing is that you cannot bring out the suitcases too early because the dogs, especially Greta gets very anxious when she sees the suitcases.  

Deb's Packing Central

 This trip is especially tricky because we are often moving every 2 days and a couple of times only stay one night in a location, this necessitates packing and unpacking a lot!  We have used packing cubes in the past but the trouble was you can't really tell what is inside them. . .so Jeanna came up with the idea of velcro labels!  The idea was quite genius and I sewed all the packing cubes with velcro strips. . .thank you high school sewing home ec!

The Packing Cube

Packing Cube Labeling

 The other difficulty of packing for this trip is the varied activities that we will be doing during the trip and the different climates.  London, Turkey and Bhutan will be chilly. . .think down jackets, hats, and gloves and Africa, Maldives, and India will be warm.  We also have to have special pants for the gorilla trekking, they needed to be heavy canvas to ward off the stinging nettles, plus you need hiking boots, gators, and garden gloves to protect you hands from the nettles!  You can see Jeanna's gorilla pants in the picture below. . .very fashionable!  I am still insure about the stinging nettles but at least we will be prepared!

Jeanna's Packing Central

We then were advised by some friends who recently travelled to Morocco and rode camels that bike shorts and Chamois Butter would be a good thing to have to prevent camel butt blisters!  A welcomed tip for sure but more things to pack for a single event, although the bike shorts might come in handy in the Maldives for riding bikes on the island.

Next is the snack collection. . . I could be stuck in the middle of the desert and would be able to live for a long time with the collection of snacks we have in our bags!  At least we will have room coming back for trinkets in the suitcases after we have devoured the snack supply.

We also have to carry all medications that might be needed in a 21 day period!  We have over the counter drugs for colds, sore throats, upset stomach, and aches & pains.  We have yet to go away without catching some intestinal bug so we have prescription drugs to kill those!  We are in malaria territory so we have meds for that as well!  I can only hope that we have everything we need for the trip.

We are now down to final toiletry selections and electronic gadgets and cameras. . . remembering all power cords, adapters, and extra photo cards. . . earphones, ipods, ipad, mac air . . . .cameras, flip video, good video camera. . . we will be ready for anything!  The rule is the cameras don't stop rolling. . . I can't wait to see the big Silverback Gorilla approach Jeanna!

So it looks like after many trips to REI, Best Buy, Orvis, and numerous online retailers we are almost ready to go!  So with less than 48 hours to go I am 95% packed which is a record for me!  I am still not sure about starting the packing early. . .but I know that Jeanna feels better about it so that is good enough reason for me!