What Can I Leave Out?

I’ve been staying up until 3:30AM or later for the last few days packing and organizing and I only just realized that late nights and mornings are going to help me avoid jet lag in Asia. The problem is now that I’ve finished most of my packing I don’t have a lot to do to keep me up late…at least until Saturday Night Live comes on.

So, as part of my campaign to kill time and stay up late, here is an itemized list of everything I’m bringing in my pack. Feel free to critique and make suggestions. In fact, there is an important question at the end. I expect everyone to participate!

Almost everything in my pack is inside of another bag of some kind.

REI Day Pack

• Sleeping pills
• Journal
• On the Road, Jack Kerouac
• The Prophet, Khalil Gibran
• Lonely Planet Tokyo guide
• Camera user manual
• iPod touch and makeshift case
• Headlamp
• Jet lag pills (thanks Debbie!)
• Small notepad
• Hand sanitizer
• Sunglasses and case
• Camera
• Waterproof, crushproof camera case

Eagle Creek Pack-it Tube

• 4 pair Socks
• 3 pair briefs (NOT whitey titeys, thank you very much)
• iPod charger
• Camera battery charger
• USB camera cord

Eagle Creek Pack-it Cube

• 1 T-shirt
• 2 Polos
• 1 Gym shorts (jammies)
• 1 Regular shorts
• 2 Pants
• Extra ziplocs
• 2 Space bags (able to push air out of them – for dirty clothes in transit)

Eagle Creek Medium Sack

• 3 Charmin to go (TP)
• Malaria pills
• 2 prescription antibiotic meds in case of gastrointestinal….issues
• Wet wipes
• Tide bag fresheners
• Immodium AD (for the inevitable runny day)
• Pepto pills
• Ibuprofen
• Sudafed
• REI Jungle Juice (100% DEET suckas!)
• Neutrogena hand cream (I cannot rave about this stuff enough)

Eagle Creek Shoe Sack

• Chacos (best sandals in the world, hands down)
• Flip flops

Toiletries Bag

• 2 oz. Shampoo
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Zinc supplement
• Multivitamin supplement
• Deoderant
• Soap and case
• 3 oz. shave cream
• Razors in cartridge and handle
• Floss

First Aid Kit

• Premade kit with all the normal bits
• Safety pins
• Rubber bands

Here’s the question: What can I get rid of?

Every tiny thing makes a difference in a 40 liter pack like mine. In the comments section, give me some ideas of things I might be able to leave out and thus save the space and weight.

Packing Up

Here are some photos of my late night packing adventures (which, now that almost everything has been bought and sorted, mostly consists of me going through every single item in my pack and agonizing over whether it’s necessary). The photos are oh, so interesting:

What I'll be living on for the next 4-6 months

As best I can, I'll be organized.

A certain aunt of mine will have to notice my use of Eagle Creek pack-it cubes and tubes and other various accessories. I definitely took a trip up to the Container Store in Cinci yesterday. The pack-it cubes come highly recommended on quite a few backpacker forums.

All together now.

It’s almost 3am. If my nerves allow, I’m off to sleep.

4 Days and Counting

I’ve been a busy little beaver today and yesterday, getting all packed and organized. I’m a few days behind schedule because of a wee little setback on Monday… I threw up for about 8 1/2 hours straight. Turns out getting a sandwich at a gas station in southern Wisconsin staffed by burly redneck women who chomped loudly on their pink bubble gum while responding to customers with limited variations of “uh huh,” “uh uh,” and “Iohno” was probably a bad idea.
Since I’ve been back to normal, I’ve been rushing around the Cincinnati metro trying to pick all the last minute items I need. I’m at the point where I have almost everything together and I’m trying very hard to pare down the number and weight of items in my pack.

Trying to put everything I’ll need for the next 6 months in a pack is a very serious business. For catharsis, here are a few scenes from my favorite TV show, Arrested Development (forgive the music):

Equifax, Schwab, Allina, Blue Cross/Blue Shield

I want to take a dump on all of them. Today I wasted three hours of my life listening to automated telephone services and incompetent reps trying to help me figure our various bills, new accounts, and insurance payments. Even though I have perfect credit, Equifax gave Schwab a reason to reject my new checking account (which I was very excited about… free ATM withdrawls worldwide=lots of $$ saved). Blue Cross/Blue Shield misled me to believe that the travel clinic I’ve visited three times would be covered under my plan. But apparently it’s not.

Alas, I leave for Tokyo in a week. There’s a light up ahead and it looks so, so good.

Update: I just found out Schwab gave the wrong social security number to Equifax. We’ll see if they can get my account set up and a check card sent by next Monday. It’s been a month long process so far; something tells me they’re not going to be able to do it.

A Whole Lotta Anecdotes

I’ve had some rather interesting experiences in the month preceding my departure:

A teenage guy and his mom came over to my storage unit to look at the drumset I posted on craigslist. As we exchanged pleasantries, she asked me what my plans are now that I’m done with school. After explaining my plans to teach English in the Middle East and backpack through Southeast Asia and India, she stared at me, dumbfounded. Obviously full of incredulous responses, she seemed to take a moment to compose herself and then chose what had to be one of her more innocuous options.  “You know,” she said patronizingly, “there’s a pretty large market for English teaching here in America.”

I’ve woken up around 6:30 AM  maybe a dozen times to my housemates screaming in a high pitched voice “BUSTER!! BUSTER!!! HI BUSTER!!!” Buster is their 5 lb toy poodle. I don’t think they realized how thin the walls are.

Walking my housemates’ 180 lb. Newfoundland down the street, I came across three teenage boys, probably 12 or 13 years old, on their way home from school. They were startled to see Olaf, the bear of a dog that I had just led onto the sidewalk in front of them. They stopped and I did the same so I could grab Olaf’s leash to control him. One of them stammered, “Wha…What kind of dog is that?” “Newfoundland,” I said. “He’s big, isn’t he?” “Ye…yeah…does he bite?” “Oh no not at all, he’s very gentle,” I assured them.  As I began walking toward them, I said cheerily, “Do you want to pet him?” Almost immediately after Olaf moved their way, they jumped back, seemingly terrified at the thought of this dog coming any closer. Quickly though, after realizing they looked pretty foolish, one of them blurted out, “Nah man, we’re cool. We’re cool.” The three attempted to save face by strutting over to the other side of the street.

I’ve somehow found time to watch an entire season of the West Wing with my housemate, Dan.

I’ve been working at an underground parking garage in downtown Minneapolis as a valet parking attendant. I never ceased to be amazed at how confused people could become as they pulled into the drop off lanes. The two lanes are very clearly marked, along with large, bright signs above them reading, “WELCOME LEAVE CARE HERE” and “STOP HERE, WAIT FOR VALET.” These Minneapolis professionals, who had to be very intelligent people, would often drive right through those signs and try to park themselves (and then get pissed when we told them the valets had to park their cars), drive into the middle of the two lanes as if we were in a parallel universe where people drive on the lines rather than between them, or drive very, very slowly with a quizzical look on their faces and, as they finally stopped where they should, would say something like, “Umm… do you work here?” I wore a uniform complete with black pants, a white dress shirt with a large “CENTRAL PARKING” patch on it, and a black bowtie. I felt like saying, “No, ma’am, I don’t work here, I’m simply standing here attentively waiting for you because I love hanging out in dank underground parking garages and wearing BOWTIES!”

Saying goodbye is expensive. I’m afraid to look at my bank account after the numerous nights in the last 9 days that began with a call like, “Hey man, we’ve got to go out tonight so I can see you before you leave!”

I’ve got 24 hours left in Minneapolis-St Paul. I’m off to stay with my parents in Cincinnati for a week and a half before I begin my adventure. I’m sincerely looking forward to the 11 hour drive (read: sarcasm).