Okay so today is the day (the day before I leave). The day I have been putting off for weeks (hence why it is the day before I leave). This is the day I finally packed my back pack for travelling. Talking about cutting it fine, eh? Well, I can tell you, it has been absolute chaos. It has been the most stressful, mentally challenging and emotional experience of my life. In fact, here is a picture of me actually crying trying to pack (and also because I pulled a muscle in my shoulder whilst trying to zip the bloody thing up and it was really sore). Look at the emotion? It's so raw! I mean, nobody's face could be that horrific unless they were really upset. Thank Christ the wind didn't change.
The final straw was when my strong attachment to my five pairs of £1 Primark flip flops was challenged and I was told that I had to narrow it down to one pair. And before you ask, yes, I have tried putting them in my jacket pockets to save room in my back pack but I just resembled a 'looky looky' man and I actually want to make friends on this journey.
Here is the famous 80L backpack. My new arch enemy.....
Narrowing your possessions down and ranking them into two categories of 'most important' to 'Natalie be serious when will you ever ever use those, I mean the expiry date says 2010' is hard. I look around my room and suddenly everything I see seems important. Especially these....
Personally I think these are extremely important travelling
utensils. Like, what if I want to set up a mini office where ever I am to, eh,
write letters to all my pen pals? I had one in primary school and I am sure
Pierre from France would love to hear from me ten years on? Or maybe I will be
asked to be the CEO of an elephant sanctuary in Thailand, I mean a CEO needs
pens and sellotape? A CEO needs stationary, what kind of CEO doesn't own their
own stationary!?
And this is why I have been putting it off. Deciding what
to pack is hard, bloody hard. That t-shirt you haven't worn since Christmas
2004 is now suddenly your favourite top of all time that you cannot live
without. You find yourself packing numerous pairs of jeans when you know you
are unlikely to be wearing them in the Australian sunshine and one pair will
suffice. You spend your Friday night testing out just how many clothes you can
wear on your body at once so you can wear them on the plane (people thought
Joey was stupid but honestly I think he is a genius). And then you realise you
won't be able to get a hold of your favourite sweets and chocolate so suddenly
you may as well stand at a corner, open your bag and start your own shop with
the mound you have brought with you (I promise to sell freddos and space
raiders for no more than 10p).
So how have I decided to tackle these hoarder issues? I roped somebody into help, that somebody being my more sensible and intelligent (and beautiful and just over all perfect) sister. I think that getting somebody else to help you pack is the best idea. When they are looking deep into your eyes and asking you with a serious expression 'Natalie, will you really wear this full pink shell suit' you are more likely to tell the truth and get rid. This scenario went on for a good hour before I finally managed to finalise my backpack. Okay, I still have far too much and I am taking an extra mini 10kg suitcase for my carry on but at least I got the bloody thing closed. So here it is, my list of everything I am taking with me:
1 x water proof jacket
1 x jeans
2 x trousers (harems and my tartan ones because I can't live with out them)
2 x jumpers
7 x vest tops (will double these up as gym tops and the are small so don't take up much room)
5 x dressy tops
5 x casual tops
2 x skirts
4 x deniem shorts
2 x playsuit/jumpsuit
2 x dresses
1 x PJs
4 x bras
100000 x knickers and socks (never to many the more you can squeeze in the better)
4 x bikinis
1 x towel
Some jewellery; necklaces, earrings and a few rings/braclets
2 x mini shampoos/conditioners
1 x mini moisturiser
1 x mini face wash
2 x packs of make up wipes
2 x deodorant
3 x toothbrush
1 x perfume
1 x hairbrush
1 x pack of bobbles
1 x pack of kirbys
2 x sunglasses
Straightners
Travel hairdryer (will ditch this at camp)
2 x runners (I am a fitness instructor at camp so need them and will wear them
In Asia)
1 x converse
1 x flip flops
1 x boots (wear on plane, it rains at camp quite often)
Make up - mascara, BB cream, eyeshadow & lipstick/balm (not a make up person as you may know from my previous post)
1 x factor 50 sun tan lotion (SUN TAN LOTION DOES NOT STOP YOU TANNING IT STOPS YOU BURNING!!!! This is one of my pet hates, wear sun tan lotion people!)
1 x skipping ropes
3 x resistance bands
80 x green tea bags
2 x family dairy milk bars
30 x mini packets of millions
5 x curly wurlys
1 x bag of minstrels
2 x multipacks of chewing gum
1 x note pad & pen
3 x 150 pack of globesquatter business cards
All medication
Passports, copies of all my documents (visas, flights, insurance etc)
Purse and money
Phone
iPod
Tablet
All charges
USA outlet
Okay so I have got A LOT of stuff. The reason for this is because I am going to camp for 4 months prior to back packing so I am planning on sending a lot of this stuff home, to Australia, or dumping it/donating it to charity. I will do another post on what I am taking purely for when I am backpacking through Asia and over half of this stuff will be gone (hopefully, I really need to learn to part with things). However, for now, I look like a turtle.....
I would have posted this blog earlier but I decided to go to the pub instead. Sorry but the lager shandy was calling me!
Exercise equipment
As you can see on my list I have packed a pair of skipping ropes and three resistance bands (two rubber and one with handles) that I will be a lot when I am travelling. I am lucky enough to have a state of the art gym at my camp that I actually work in and take fitness classes everyday but I am aware some camps don't have gyms at all and for everyone already back packing they may be expensive to go to and few and far between so I will make sure to incorporate these in to lots of my routines!
If you are wanting to buy some bands of your own the are reasonably inexpensive. I got two rubber bands for £5 and one with handles for £7 out of sports direct. My skipping ropes also only cost me £3 off of amazon and I found a few decent pairs of bands on eBay for £20 or less. Here are a few I would recommend.....
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