What to pack or not to pack? Part 1

Packing for a journey has always been a challenge for me. At the beginning, I always feel the excitement, as it offers me the opportunity to daydream about the period to come. And it is a reason to go through my stuff, see what I have, and pick what I might need in each place and situation. It is as if I’m already on my journey, anticipating the great times to come.

What to pack or not to pack?

So then comes the time of picking and sorting. By this time, Jim is often already sitting with a beer, to toast our new adventure, and he’s wondering what’s taking me so long, while I am making sure we take all these small and essential things, such as cables, first aid kit and solar panels to recharge phones and laptops. Things, which Jim, in his rush to get finished as quickly as possible, (conveniently?) had forgotten about.

And there I am, on my own, struggling with the choices I have to make, while Jim opens a second beer, and slowly gets annoyed about me being indecisive. At that point, I am trying to see if I cannot fit in a little bit more, rethinking the trip, and wondering whether I really need a sleeping bag, or so many shoes to be comfortable.

The beers I dream about while packing.

After a stressful hour or two, I finally succeed to fit everything into the bags I had planned for (maybe cheating a little using some of Jim’s space, since his bags always seem that little bigger than mine). By now, I am not sure anymore whether I have everything we need, but then who cares? All I want is a cold beer, before they are all finished and before Jim gets too annoyed and goes to bed.

And when finally enjoying my beer, I wonder why I have once again let myself get caught up in all this fuss. Especially now, that we are working worldwide as ‘digital nomads’, I just have to realise it is not possible anymore to bring everything or be prepared for everything, and that we will need to buy some things on the road. So, in the end, it is a matter of making sure we have all our documents, our office equipment, a few set of clothes and some other basic things. And if there is something missing, it is never something major, just small things that we can buy in the shop around the corner or borrow from a friend.

It might be that Jim has another story to tell or has some advice to give. Or it could be that he sees it from a different perspective. I am curious to see what I can learn from him, so that the next time he doesn’t have to wait so long for me to join him for a beer.

Tagged as: mindfulness, travel, travel planning