5 pairs of shoes, one pair of jeans, 3 skirts, 3 tank tops, 5 shirts, 2 bathing suits, 15 pairs of underwear, 4 bars of soap, 18 pairs of contacts, one bottle of shampoo, OH MY!
How does one prepare for an eight month journey and pack as if you are only going to be gone for a couple weeks? If I was traveling on my own to another country I’d probably only take one backpack but packing to live on a ship is a completely different challenge – I need work clothes, dress clothes, travel clothes, clothes for hot weather, clothes for cold weather, computer, work materials, photos from home, first aid and medicine, beach towel, and on and on. And I have to fit it all into two fifty pound bags!
It’s no easy task but believe it or not it’s one of my favorite challenges. I’ll say it – I’m a good packer. During my last voyage I was quite proud because I used 99.9% of what I took and didn’t feel that I was missing anything significant – I was dead on in my choices. This time around has been a little tougher only because I had to move my life into storage last month and have been living out of boxes and bags since then. It is a real bitch when you start pulling things to pack and can’t remember where you put something or realizing that it’s packed in some random box at the back of your storage unit. I’m so thankful that I had it so easy the last time around – I think I would have gone crazy if I had to pack in this manner last time (THANK YOU to Mark and Trista for allowing me to keep my home in Maryland with them in 2005).
You never know until you are there what you’ll really need – what the cabin will be like, what the ship will offer, what ports will have toiletries you need, etc. but I’ve been fairly ok with the frustrations of packing after moving to storage just because I do have a solid idea of what I will most likely need and want with me. It’s also been a comfort to know that my dad is meeting me in Hong Kong in December (exactly half way through my eight months) so anything I desperately need he can bring along to me.
I just finished packing my bags and would you believe that they both weigh about 48 lbs? I wasn’t even trying that hard – resigned to the fact that I might have to pay an overweight baggage fee on one of them. HA HA – what luck! Not a bad start.
Now I’m off to shower and then head to the airport. I don’t know how soon in Greece I’ll be able to post something because we dive right into training as soon as we land but I’ll try and post something when the ship leaves Greece on September 5th.
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2 comments:
I can't wait to hear about the first leg of your adventure, Christy! I am very inspired by your packing skills. :) I hope your flight(s) to Greece went smoothly, and that you sail off without a hitch!
Love from the States,
Nikki Zack
I'm not the least bit surprised that you only had 48 lbs total. I was at that exact same amount for the Peace Corps, the lowest in my group. We are kindred sisters in this regard! Much love, Karen
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