So I went to bed way too late for a change so that not even the time change made the night long enough.
I still did the complete morning routine and opened the manuscript for the first time since Tuesday or so. Yeah!
The plan was to call my mother, clean the house, finish my packing course homework and help the boy with another proofread.
Well, cleaning didn’t happen again. I also didn’t plan the week which always leaves me feel a bit unmoored but I can plan today, no problem. (When I put that on my list each week it makes it look like it takes ages but in fact it’s probably less than ten minutes. I look at the calendar, take note of things our of the ordinary and jot down exercise, errands, grocery shopping and cleaning to get a feeling for the week as a whole.)
Husband and I talked about music and the CAGED method for guitar over breakfast. I called my mother and we talked for a while, I did all the dishes from the day before, and then started putting my different kits together for the packing class and took pictures until it was time for lunch:
Mmh, homemade pesto. And this time I didn’t have to chop up everything, my husband did that. And realized that it’s better to chop the basil and the pine nuts separately and not all the basil leaves at once.
After lunch I started putting together pictures and text for the different homework assignments for the packing class and then the boy showed up, ate lunch and after that we sat down at the kitchen table and read through his thesis together, one of us reading out loud and both checking for formatting errors and typos. It took us about two hours, maybe a little longer.
By then it was already time for dinner because my stomach doesn’t know that it’s only 6 pm, it thinks it’s 7 already. So I ate dinner, then finally finished my packing homework, including packing up the whole bag and donning my travel outfit:
That is a 10.5 liter bag and there is still a little room. I was able to actually squeeze the raincoat in with everything else, ha!
I spare you detailed pictures of all the different kits I brought, like downsizing from two notebooks to only one and weighing my fountain pens which told me that the small Lamy pen weighs twice as much as the Kaweco travel pen. I also decided to leave both the iPad and the Kindle at home and make do with only my phone and a foldable keyboard. I even tested blogging and watching C-drama on my phone.
I was able to cut my toiletries in half (maybe even smaller) by using different containers. I also didn’t take the electric toothbrush and some other things like my MagSafe charger.
Here is a picture of everything in pouches and ziplock bags. Oh, and I also pulled stuff out of my humongous wallet and used a rather small pouch as a placeholder for a new, small wallet.
I did use a lot of placeholders. The containers for shampoo, conditioner and soap are empty as is the water bottle. That one is rather heavy but I don’t really want to use plastic, so I might keep that one.
So here is everything I would have taken on my imaginary trip to Prague all laid out on my bed, everything in pouches and packing cubes and such:
The small red packing cube hold my toiletries, the orange one all my clothes (two t-shirts, leggings, change of underwear and socks), the pink pouch hold a tin with my prescriptions meds for a week, there is one ziplock of cables, a plug and a power bank, and another with bandaids, pain meds and tummy meds and there is an almost empty package of tissues. Oh, and the box with my estrogen spray, that one was a little awkward to pack.
Anyway, doing the course and the homework made me really happy. The other students were rather nice and seeing their pictures was really inspiring. Oh, I forgot my knitting on this picture but I did put it in the bag and I also added a small foldable grocery bag that usually lives in my purse.I own two, one lives in my purse and the other one in the backpack I use for grocery shopping.
Thigns I’d like to get eventually: a different powerbank that is a bit more powerful and can also charge my earbuds and smartwatch, several pouches including a new toiletry bag and especially a smaller wallet.
Oh, and one interesting idea I had was that instead of bringing a backup pair of glasses (I did include my reading glasses because reading with my regular glasses is really tiring for my eyes, I packed sealed new contact lenses. I can’t really wear them for long but if my glasses broke I could put them in and then go out and buy contact lens solution and a new case so I can clean them. Way more lightweight and small than another glasses case.
In all the years I’ve worn glasses I only had a pair break once while visiting my parents and I had to use the very first pair I got that were way too weak. Peering at the reservation signs on the train and not being able to read any signs at all (while standing all the way to Munich because I was too cheap for a reservation) left a lasting impression. My reading glasses only work up to 1.4 meters, so definitely not good enough to drive a car or read a street sign. (Something I find hard to do with my best, most up to date regular glasses as well. I’m basically in waiting mode for cataract surgery at this point.)
Anyways, the whole bag packed up was 2.8 kilos which is marvelous. Even with all the containers filled up it would only be less than 3.5 kilos. The Kindle would add about 350 grams if I took it.
If this were an actual trip I would probably want to add the Kindle (but maybe not, I mean I could try how it felt for a week and 350 grams are nothing to be sneezed at) and I would probably use my 16 liter backpack which is much comfier to wear. I might also add a small lightweight purse if I wanted to go out for dinner or a concert and I could stuff both my cardigan and my raincoat in as well.
And there would still be space for souvenirs. Or snacks. Or a fork.
Thinking about just taking the phone made me rather anxious. What if it broke? What if it were stolen? But then I realized that I could always go out and buy a new one and could probably buy a cheap prepaid SIM card and download most of my data and apps from the Cloud again.
So, a major inconvenience but not a disaster. Even if I had all my tickets and information on my phone.
Sorry for being so wordy about packing, this is actually a special interest of mine.
After finishing my homework I decided to skip the dishes again and the bullet journal, I played a bit of Genshin impact (also playable on my phone, by the way), started writing this post and was super late for bed yet again. Yawn.
So. Today I need to do all the things including teaching quite a bit. I also want to walk/run, take a shower and put all the packing stuff back where it belongs. And plan the week. And today.
And good news, my mother said her birthday present already arrived. That was fast, I sent it off Friday and she had it on Saturday already. Fun!
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