At the airport

It's the final countdown!
Steve was gracious enough to drive me to Sydney and I'm sure he regrets it as it was a white knuckle drive the whole way fraught with torrents of rain. Thanks Steve for being so awesome...I'll see if I can bring you back that llama.
I'm at the airport - gone through customs (my carry on was 0.7 over but the kind lady let me go through)
Boarding is in 30 min so I thought I would jump on to this lovely free internet service provided by Optus.

I only slept 2 hours last night and have had less than my 7 hours every night this week - I'm completely knackered. Hopefully, I'll be asleep as soon as I hit the seat.
See you all on the other side!

Packin' it in

Lately, people have been asking me, "So, what are you bringing?"
I'm visiting both equatorial jungles (hot and humid) and some very high altitude mountains (can be quite cold especially at night) - so I picked through my wardrobe carefully, and chose clothes based on very scientific, well defined and researched criteria...making the range quite impressive.

Anyhoo, I have two bags which I could use:
Exhibit A: a backpack I bought when I went to France 25 years ago. Can't tell you its capacity, it looks deceptively small, but it holds more than ...





Exhibit B: The pack I bought before coming to Australia. This is a specially designed pack for women with a notch at the back for your head and straps that adjust to the nth degree. It's got about 70 l capacity.








Each has pros and cons...which I shan't go into 'cause, well, I'm sure you all don't really care, you just want to know what I'm bringing - SO, back to my scientifically researched...

...oh who am I kidding? I made a big pile on my bed of all the stuff I thought I might "need" under various circumstances. It was a monolith of clothes - and I hadn't added the shoes yet. Or accessories, or electronic gadgets, or books, or any other sundry items that I may or may not use. I tried to envision myself trudging along with all this stuff...at altitude -where your legs weigh a ton, let alone anything you might be carrying....
That was when I thought that perhaps less is more, or at least, lighter.

....so what if I only brought a carry on sized bag?

Enter my new bag: a 38L pack that (allegedly) meets the carry-on specifications.

Now, to pare down the colossus...

I'm down to:
2 pairs of pants; 1 long sleeve shirt, 1 t-shirt, 2 tanks, 1 dress, 1 sweater, 4 pairs of socks and undies, 2 bras, 1 pair of sandals, 1 travel towel, and my hiking boots, which I will have to wear whenever I travel from place to place because they take up 50% of my bag space if I pack them.
In the accessories/gadget department, I'm bringing my travel diary, a Sudoku puzzle book, my camera, my iPod (it has iSpeak Spanish on it - with handy Spanish phrases), and possibly my eReader (the jury is still out on that one).

It's funny, seeing it all listed like that. It looks like both too much and too little. Maybe that means it's just right. Or do you reckon I've missed something vital?

6 more sleeps...