Pausing Here and There

I think I have finally accumulated all the little odds and ends neccessary (I hope!) for my travels, or should I say travails: the wind proof fleece on sale at REI and a borrowed down sleeping bag (to defend against my fear of the cold), deet laden bug spray (to defend against my fear of bugs), and a stack of cheap paperbacks (to defend against my fear of boredom). I’ve decided to also bring a yoga mat so that I can practice while travelling, though I might end up regretting this decision, who knows.

Today’s task was to somehow fit all of these items, plus clothes, toiletries, etc… into one backpack and a daypack. Though I have enjoyed rolling my t-shirts into tight little coils, shoving them in gallon baggies, and compressing all the air out vacuum-seal style, I’m reluctant to actually put everything in the bag. It seems horribly overwhelming and scary. What if I am never able to fit it all in there again? I keep telling myself that there are disposables. The 5 New Yorkers and 8 paperbacks–brought to fend off solitary boredom and useful for trade, the Luna and Cliff protein bars Lynni recommended, and the 18 raggedy t-shirts (all the t-shirts I own that were probably another 3 months from goodwill) are probably all overkill. Still, I can’t seem to give them up! It feels like a bad reality tv show.

What will make the final cut and win a 7 month tour of Central America? Stay tuned to find out!

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 21st, 2006 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.