Packing

Well the time has almost come for my departure to Auckland. Yes, of late I've had the fun of packing. That pile of things I intended to bring has had to shrink by ~ 3/4 in order to fit into my 60 L backpack. What I learned- a 75 L backpack would have been about perfect for my secondaryl thoughts about what I need. Nevertheless, the 60L will have to do. It weights 25-30 lbs depending on the scale's accuracy. It contains important things- running shoes, the essentials, almost a weeks worth of pants- a mix of dress and casual, as well as just over a week of shirts, a swimsuit, a hat, pjs, flipflops, and a few important toiletry things. (Note that I also point out that annoying bag I bought to contain toiletries was far too space consuming. I had to switch to 2 ziploc bags.) Time will tell whether I overpacked, or not. Also whether I packed the proper mix of attire. The pack (see photo) was purchased online. Rah rah, whatever the former employer's online personal assistant was called- oh yes, thirstymuse, that was it.

My flight departs from Saskatoon tomorrow at ~6:30 am, so mom and dad and my brother and I are heading to Saskatoon today. I arrive in Auckland ~5 something am on the 27th. NZ is 18 hours ahead of us, so that will be ~30 hours of travel. (A good chunk of it is at LAX airport).

I also overshopped on books to occupy myself on the long wait in LAX. If any of them don't catch my fancy, they will not complete my journey. My selections include a Nicholas Sparks book "Three Weeks with my brother", Victoria Hislops' "The Island", and Nelofer Pazira's "A Bed of Red Flowers." My initial plan was to bring a tote bag in addition to the pack, and while my change of clothes and books did fit into that, I realized that if I wanted to run around Auckland with it, I would have nowhere to put everything in it. As such, I depart not only with my 60L backpack, but with a duffel bag containing the stuff from my tote bag, as well as my tote bag to take out later.