February "To Do" List

• SAVE!
• Research & purchase travel insurance
• Wash sleeping bag, wash & re-waterproof shell
• Determine forwarding address & change all mailings
• Scan & print NZ Field Guide
• Get full physical @ Family Medicine
• Eye care:  new glasses, replace bridge pads, adjust sunglasses
• Backup computer, encrypt external HDs, pick what music to bring
• Purchase bus ticket to NJ on 2/19
• Get final dental cleaning
• Sew day bag
• Sell full-spectrum light
• Clean out file folder box, scan everything useful
• Rehome plants
• Pack & move stuff to storage
• Sell car (title, DMV, send receipt -> insurance)
• Bank (deposit checks, withdraw some US dollars)
• Give cell phone & fire safe to Dad
• Pack backpack
• Hug my friends & family
• Get on a plane
• GO!

The Obligatory Packing List: Introduction

This past weekend, I started packing up my (few) belongings in the lakehouse and putting aside the things I'll bring with me on this trip.

Now, if you're gonna have a travel blog, you pretty much gotta write about what goes in your pack.

Part of me strongly dislikes this.  If everyone is doing it, that's a sure-fire indication that I'm not going to want to do it (I'm a brat like that), or at least won't do it without an inordinate and unnecessary amount of soul-searching.

I mean, the point of this trip is to get rid of all of my stuff, to think less about stuff and the acquisition and maintenance of said stuff:  to transcend stuff, if you will.  Won't I be the backpacker with the microscopic pack at whom everyone looks in awe and whispers, "She's on the road for three years, and all she has is a small Ziploc baggie, a toothbrush, and a book of Psalms," as if I were a Buddhist nun with a well-stamped passport instead of an alms bowl?

The other part of me moonlights as "The Packtress."  Ever since I was a kid, I've always enjoyed packing for trips.  I love fitting items together in a container like a life-sized, somewhat compressible Tetris game.  I reflexively take charge of packing the trunk for a car trip.  I'm the freak that re-loads the dishwasher, just so everything fits like it "should."

In the end, The Packtress won over the passport-toting Buddhist nun, and I wrote this series of posts.  But first, a few notes before we open the drawstrings and peer inside.

• First, this packing list is greatly informed by my experience backpacking in Peru in 2009.  It's great to have a "trial run" to see what you really need, versus what you think you need. 
• Second, I am thoroughly convinced that you don't need special travel gear to travel comfortably.  (One thing I noticed was that many Yankees I encountered in Peru were decked out in "travel gear," while most Europeans and South American tourists were wearing their usual (trendy, nice) clothing.)  I will reference items I already had and items I found in dollar stores as frequently as I mention the Peru trip.
• Third, if you can sew, you can make or modify anything made of a sewable material.  This skill takes up no space in a backpack, but I wouldn't leave home without it.

On to Part I...

The Obligatory Packing List: Part I

This is Part I of a four-part series detailing the the list of crap I'm carting to the other side of the world.  Don't know what I'm talking about?  Read the intro.

Let's start with with clothing.

The Obligatory Packing List: Part II

In this installment of "What's In The Backpack," we'll cover drugs, gadgets, and other crap.

If you missed the intro or the first installment, clicky the linky.

So, let's talk about drugs.

The Obligatory Packing List: Part III

This is the final post in a four-part series on The Obligatory Packing List.

Check out the intro, part I, and part II.

Paring my possessions down to the contents of one backpack, there are a multitude of items that don't make the cut.  I considered taking the following items:

January "To Do" List

• SAVE! - Done
• Bank stuff:  open second back-up checking account, link accounts, request balance statements - Done
• File 2009 taxes - Done
• Apply for NZ visa - Done
• Mirena check-up and annual exam - Done
• Change W-2 withholdings - Done
• Give professional notice of resignation - Done :-(
• Inventory all stuff already in storage - Done
• Sell bike, stereo, old backpack, old hiking shoes - DONE
• Figure out how to lock up backpack - Done
• Spend time with family - Done

Days until departure:  30

December "To Do" List

• SAVE!!! - Done
• Make lots of extra passport photos for visas - Done
• Sew stuff sacks (this was a fun project; I love to sew!) - Done
• Sew compression straps onto backpack  - Done
• Draft and sign will - Done
• Draft and notarize financial power of attorney for Pops - Done
• Pay for storage space for 2010 and arrange "local contacts" - Done

Days until departure:  59
Months until departure:  2

November "To Do" List

• SAVE!!! - Done
• Purchase NZ & Australia plane tickets.  No turning back now!
• Sell computer - Done
• Order prescription sunglasses - Done
• Change Mirena - Done
  
  

Days until departure: 90
Months until departure: 3

October "To Do" List

• SAVE!!! - Done
• Get eye exam - Done
• Send application materials to Earthwise Valley - Done
• Reduce 401k contributions - Done
• Start Blog - Done
• Update/ upload resume, writing samples, references list - Done
  

Days until departure:  120
Months until departure:  4

September "To Do" List

• SAVE!!! - Done
• Determine tentative itinerary - Done
• Determine tentative budget - Done

Days until departure:  151
Months until departure:  5