Most of the jobs on my list of “things to do before we leave” are completed. We leave the house on our journey in six hours. I find myself oddly reluctant to tackle the last one–finish packing. Normally, packing makes the trip seem very real, very close; it gives the feeling of “I’m so excited, it’s actually going to happen”. But not this time.
There’s so much riding on the decisions of what to take and what to leave behind. Everything we take, we must carry. There have been months of preparation, articles to buy, camping equipment to sort through, advice to either accept or reject.
373 gm of Jok-R-ummy. Too heavy to carry!
In some ways it’s rather funny. Did you know that the game of Jok-R-ummy (with extra deck of cards) weighs 373 gm? Far too much for a frivolous game we may or may not play.
Other decisions feel much more serious. How much ibuprofen should we bring? K has been having a foot issue and has been swallowing the stuff quite regularly. Which footwear should we bring? Should we buy new boots? What about at the end of the day, what will feel good on our feet? Hurray for $6, Walmart, croc knock-offs!
This little computer weighs about a kilo. Do we really want the extra 2.2 lbs so we can maintain our blogs and feel connected to home? Definitely!!!
During our practice walk in Montreal, we walked with our packs fully loaded, as if we were on the Camino.
What to take? What to leave behind?
Mostly we were happy with the weight of the pack and felt we had made good choices of what to bring. Except for one…. During our camping trips in recent years, we’ve been sleeping on inflatable pillows. I don’t know if you’ve ever had the experience but it’s not the most comfortable pillow. This year, with the Camino in mind, we bought ourselves really comfy, compressible pillows made by Therma-rest. I was looking forward to using it, I could imagine it being the highlight of my day–resting my head on my own, clean and comfy pillow and drifting off into a good night’s sleep.
It is not to be. Although compressible, the pillows took up too much room in our packs, leaving no room for essentials like snacks, lunch, etc. Pillows are provided by the hostels (I hope), so they’re not essential. I’m leaving my little bit of luxury behind.
This is it!
In the end, the packs are packed, the carry-on bags are ready, clothes are laid out for tomorrow. K will be carrying 19.5 lbs (he’s got the computer!), while I will be carrying 16.5 lbs. It’s a little more than the recommended 10% of your body weight, but I think we’ll be OK.
If everything goes smoothly, my next posting will be from a completely different time zone.
Beyond 
…..fantastic packing job…..
have a great time……….
[…] good at deciding what is essential. We’ve done enough cycling, canoeing, and hiking, (remember this?) to have figured it out. But it seems every time we go on a trip the configuration of how to pack […]