Packing!

Sunday 12th September 2010 @ 11:35am

It's Sunday but more importantly it's a Sunday before our immediate departure next Friday which means... it's a packing Sunday! This week we have sorted out our travel money and I have just found out that some of our dollar bills are old and wouldn't be accepted in Tanzania. Just when we thought everything was sorted, another little issue comes up. But back to packing.

I wonder why there is a little tension in my stomach when I only think about the packing... I know I've tried to fit the stuff into the rucksack before and it went more or less well but since then more stuff was bought and I've also realised another thing. It's not just packing of clothing and medicines and toiletries into a rucksack - it's packing of all the time we spent preparing for this trip and all the experience we have gained. The hours we walked and talked and discussed, the time we spent researching and of course the money we spent. We're now packing all the bits and bobs that got us here from spring last year when we started to plan this holiday adventure.

So here we go. I don't know where to start so I remove all boxed items like bandages (tubegrips), batteries, medicines and similar from their paper boxes and put them into a sealed plastic bags. While doing this I am developing (in my head) strategy as how to fit everything in and still be within 20kgs. I am fully in control of the situation :-) but what I need first is... a tea!

12:20pm

Two teas later. All little bits are now safely in plastic bags so I am ready for any rain that could sneak upon us. Having said that I have just re-checked that my rucksack has a big rain cover (as advertised) so all the stuff inside it should be safe anyway. Time for the big items. It's not just taking the clothing out of the drawers and stuff them into the rucksack. It's important to decide what should be in the hand luggage, what will I wear and what needs to be in the rucksack. For that purpose I have a colourful spreadsheet showing all items I am taking and which location I have appointed to them (rucksack or Camelbak). Sounds like stocktaking! :-D

Does it look like I am still in control?

13:30

Most of the clothing is in, some space is left, didn't have time to worry about the weight yet. Need a break. Tea and a bagel.

I checked the KLM website to find out that the allowance is up to 23kg. For hand luggage we are allowed 12kgs, however my Camelbak doesn't fit the maximum hand luggage restrictions so this is going to be interesting. It's only a few cms (1.6 to be precise), hopefully they won't notice. Although it's great that KLM allows generous luggage allowance we shouldn't forget that our porters are only allowed to carry 15kgs and the same we can take with us to Zanzibar. The more I take the more I will have to carry myself then. Who said packing for holidays was fun??

14:17

Ugh. Almost done. Space-wise ok. Weight-wise not sure. Going to put all the stuff I marked for hand luggage to the Camelbak.

14:35

Camelbak was easy, plenty of space left and currently only has 5 kgs. I shouldn't forget that with the full bladder it's going to be 8kgs though!!! Still am starting to be more positive about all this luggage thing. Also starting to appreciate porters' job! I have tried to put the rucksack on my back and lift it and boy what a struggle it was not to fall backwards! So that's packing for now, I need to call home and probably leave this until Tuesday/Wednesday evening. There is still some washing to do, I still need some strong(er) painkillers for my potential hip problem, oh and I need to prepare and pre-pack mixture of nuts & dried fruits!

One more picture showing a voodoo doll of a Traveller which I got from my dear cousin Iva for good luck on our travels!!!