Packing Day! A week to go!

Yesterday was packing day! Yes, we were still 8 days out from the trip, but when you are trying to pack one backpack for four months on the road, you need to do a little extra prep work. As a long-time business traveler, I've become pretty efficient at packing a bag. I can usually make a carry on work for a trip of up to a week. You start by picking one color scheme and then pull together coordinating outfits. A few pairs of black pants/skirts and one pair of black shoes with a multitude of light, bright tops and you are done. As you might imagine though, this packing situation is a bit more complex.

To start with, we are going to be in Europe from late August to mid-December. That means we will basically be going from the heat and humidity to snow. We will also be traveling to many different geographies. In the first two weeks for example, we will be traveling from the city of Munich, to the mountains of Austria and Switzerland, to the black forest in Germany, to the Alsace wine region of France and finally ending in chic and lovely Paris. And that is just the first two weeks.

Add to all that the fact that we have been effectively homeless since June 1st. When we sold our house we were all about getting rid of our "stuff" as well. We did a great job of selling, donating and storing everything, but we kept almost all of our clothes on hand. So our bins of clothes moved with us from Lynn's condo to our home for the last two weeks, my sister Maura's house. At first everything was neatly stored in closets and the basement. But as we started to prep for packing day, we were doing laundry and pulling things out of bins and just generally creating chaos. What you see here is a picture of our starting point yesterday. UGH.

We didn't start the process blindly though. We both had a basic idea of what we were taking. We will be checking these backpacks when we fly, but my old carry-on guidelines still apply. A few pairs of shorts, pants and skirts in neutral colors. Lots of light, colorful tops and sweaters that can be layered as it gets colder. A pashmina type scarf for me that can double as a light blanket on trains/planes. The only real specialty item we are both taking is a lightweight hiking shoe that can double as a walking shoe/snow boot. Neither of us are bringing winter coats- they are too bulky. We figure we can get one at a second hand store in Paris as the weather turns colder.

The one saving grace for us is that we will be staying in some apartments along the way that have a washer/dryer. So, not to get to personal on you, but as long as we have enough clean underwear to last about two weeks, we should be able to travel fairly lightly without having to spend much time in laundromats. Laundromats can be an enormous time-suck when you are on the road like this. Our first apartment is in Paris on September 5th, so the goal was to have enough stuff to travel lightly, but make it from August 23rd to September 5th without needing to do wash. I also have a few small Tide laundry detergent packets that can be used in the sink in case of emergencies.

Here is a photo of Shaun's stuff all laid out on the bed pre-packing.

And here is his packed backpack with everything in it. First try for Shaun was a winner!

I had to make two attempts, but in my defense, my bag is much smaller than Shaun's bag! It is also seven years old and a lot heavier than the ones they make now so we may have to upgrade. That's one of the best reasons to do a "practice pack". Your backpack is the most important piece of gear you will have and you don't want to come to these realizations the night before you start a four month trip! Regardless, all my stuff fits so a newer pack will just make it fit better and lighter.

This was one of the biggest tasks we had to take care of for the trip, especially in terms of how much time it took. It feels great to have this behind us. One week from today we will be on a plane to start this great adventure!