The packing project has been progressing more slowly than originally intended. Glen has his bag packed and sitting in the living room, with the knowledge that there may be an item or two swapped, added, or deleted before our departure date. I have yet to get anywhere with mine, although I have a good idea of what I will be bringing. Packing up the contents of our now-sold condo has been taking up most of my time, and has left me with little desire to pack a travel bag.
We do need a good, highly compressible daypack. Right now I'm waffling between the Eddie Bauer Packable Backpack and Rick Steves' Chivita Day Bag. Both of them pack down to next to nothing. I'm slightly inclined towards Rick Steves' bag, as the pocket design looks a little more functional and the microfibre material strikes me as being a bit more durable, but I would have to order it online. The Eddie Bauer bag claims to have a bit more carrying capacity, but I'm uncertain about the durability of the nylon material. I'm not too sure if Glen and I should each have one, or if one would be enough between the two of us. Really, there's only so much gack one needs to carry around on a typical day, so one would likely suffice.
In other purchase-related news, we finally bought our flight tickets! I've been eyeballing the flight options for some time, and noticed that the sales centres had already started to post promotional prices for September. Plus, the fancy flight options for the period of our travels had started spiking. I managed to land tickets on beautifully scheduled flights as one of the most reasonable prices I've seen. The total tab came to $2,700 (taxes included) for return flights for two people. It may be possible to locate cheaper tickets out there, but I didn't want to take the risk that we would pay more for lesser flights.
Part of the flight will be through Lufthanza. Apparently they provide complimentary booze!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Everyone has Baggage
Travel means baggage. Our Australasia adventure taught us that it is indeed possible to comfortably carry all the clothes and gear you need for several months' tramping on your back. Our trusty, well-weighted, comfy-hip-strapped, shoulder-padded backpacks were quite large, however. Even though we had no trouble carting them around, they did require checking at the airport. Any form of pack large enough to need checking will also be far too large to tote around little shops, comfortably stash in train station lockers, or shove under a table in a restaurant.
During our last trip, out large-but-portable bags did not pose a problem. We usually stayed in one place for at least a week, and in the hostels either had our own locked room or a large luggage locker. In New Zealand we had our sleepmobile and locker-on-wheels, the Subaru Legacy station wagon dubbed "Sparklypoo." Germany, will involve a great deal of bouncing from place to place to place. The less space we take up, the easier this will be. It will also prevent unfortunate happenings involving backpacks sweeping breakables off tables.
This means we will be going the carry-on route, a-la Rick Steves. Yup, one piece of carry-on luggage each. Glen was skeptical at first, but then we came across a lovely box of Swiss Army brand backpacks in Costco, similar to this guy:
Glen liked its look, its fit, and its pockets. He wanted the backpack, but needed a reason for the wanting; our trip was the perfect excuse. At a mere $40 each, we walked out of there with two ideal packs for the trip. Over the next few months, he became gradually more accepting of the idea that we can indeed make those bags small enough to fit the carry-on luggage requirements.
This week's task is to tackle our packing plans. Normally we wouldn't be doing this so far away from our flight date, but we've also just sold our condo and need to pack up everything and move out by the end of April. We'll be back in Glen's Mom's basement for a little while while we hunt and/or wait for possession of our Yet-To-Be-Located New Home. Trimming our wardrobes down to the bare minimum has therefore become a necessity, and we need to make sure we don't inadvertently put something we need for travel into storage in some nameless bin at The Shop.
The Great Baggage Planning Session will appear on these pages, complete with photos. I don't think it will be that difficult of a task. After all, when we were overseas, I only wore about 1/3rd of my clothes on a regular basis.
During our last trip, out large-but-portable bags did not pose a problem. We usually stayed in one place for at least a week, and in the hostels either had our own locked room or a large luggage locker. In New Zealand we had our sleepmobile and locker-on-wheels, the Subaru Legacy station wagon dubbed "Sparklypoo." Germany, will involve a great deal of bouncing from place to place to place. The less space we take up, the easier this will be. It will also prevent unfortunate happenings involving backpacks sweeping breakables off tables.
This means we will be going the carry-on route, a-la Rick Steves. Yup, one piece of carry-on luggage each. Glen was skeptical at first, but then we came across a lovely box of Swiss Army brand backpacks in Costco, similar to this guy:
Glen liked its look, its fit, and its pockets. He wanted the backpack, but needed a reason for the wanting; our trip was the perfect excuse. At a mere $40 each, we walked out of there with two ideal packs for the trip. Over the next few months, he became gradually more accepting of the idea that we can indeed make those bags small enough to fit the carry-on luggage requirements.
This week's task is to tackle our packing plans. Normally we wouldn't be doing this so far away from our flight date, but we've also just sold our condo and need to pack up everything and move out by the end of April. We'll be back in Glen's Mom's basement for a little while while we hunt and/or wait for possession of our Yet-To-Be-Located New Home. Trimming our wardrobes down to the bare minimum has therefore become a necessity, and we need to make sure we don't inadvertently put something we need for travel into storage in some nameless bin at The Shop.
The Great Baggage Planning Session will appear on these pages, complete with photos. I don't think it will be that difficult of a task. After all, when we were overseas, I only wore about 1/3rd of my clothes on a regular basis.
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