Pondering the packing!!

How was your weekend? Did you have a good one? Other than brunch with Deesha today at Braeburn in the village - just okay, the food was kind of bland, but maybe I made a bad choice - I've been consumed by cleaning my apartment - how on earth does it get so untidy when I'm rarely here? - and packing for Peru. I was supposed to see H - as in OK Cupid H, we are going the friends route for the time being - for dinner, but he got caught up doing Brooklyn stuff and to be honest that was fine by me since it was disgustingly humid out for most of the weekend. Right now we have a corker of a rainstorm going on. Seriously it's bouncing off the roads and set to continue into tomorrow morning so I'm already thinking it will be a taxi to work for me tomorrow morning. I need to get in early anyway, so it's just as well.

Trip wise I'm getting ohhhh so excited now that it's only a few days away, but packing is giving me a headache. Why is it that no matter how prepared I feel for a trip I always end up having to order something critical at the last minute? For Chile and Iceland I ended up ordering boxes and boxes of walking shoes from Zappos. For this trip it's the rolling duffel bag I purchased from REI.com this weekend - it should arrive Tuesday - in the hope that I'll only need to take one bag after Liz at work reminded me on Friday that you can't have anything loose attached to checked baggage - duh, what was I thinking assuming that I could attach the self inflating mattress pad I'd bought to the outside of my bag - and I realized the backpack she loaned me wasn't going to cut it.

Aaarrrrgghhhhh!!!

Typical!! I was congratulating myself for being so organized in advance too, although I think no matter how much time I have there will always be something. If, by some weird freak of nature, I ever decide to get married I should never ever ever plan a wedding, I would be a total Bridezilla I am sure of it.

I stress horribly when it comes to packing, I just hate to overpack, or under-pack for that matter. Right now I have all my stuff laid out on the bed in the spare room, sorted in complete outfits including undies - nothing that's in danger of giving me a wedgie as I am hiking the Inca Trail. Seriously you have to consider these type of things, comfort is everything when you travel.

It doesn't look like a huge amount does it, but I'm pretty sure it's more than enough. Well of course it is, realistically I know have an outfit for everyday plus a pair of sweatpants (a recommended inclusion by the tour company for some reason), a couple of extra t-shirts and the ugly thunder-thigh promoting convertible Northface pants that I bought cheap and have kept 'just in case'...check 'em out

Below is a photo of me with relatively normal looking thighs, if a little knock knee'd looking. Seriously, is that how my legs look to other people? Good Lord!! The camera adds 10lbs, the camera adds 10lbs!!

And behold...one pair of Northface pants later and Thunder Thighs is born.

Not pretty!! Hideous in fact. Still, convertible pants may come in handy and since they were only $40 I decided not to bother returning them as petite hiking pants are few and far between, but take my word for it, these petite REI pants are infinitely more flattering and I may well be washing and wearing them over and over. Yup, even going up a mountain I am somewhat vain!! Well, you never know, there could be some good eye candy in our tour group - she says hopefully ;-)

Phew....I need to stop stressing and think about carrying all this crap. Besides I have my Tide hand wash sachets just in case, although I am wondering about opportunities for doing laundry while there. I was reading the itinerary this weekend and we seem to be permanently on the go. At this rate I shall be rigging up a washing line on the boat when we sail across Lake Titicaca ;-)

I'm also wondering whether I need to take a warmer coat with me given the temperatures drop to 39F overnight. I have a thin waterproof jacket, but I am thinking I might need something slightly more substantial, so I am pondering one of the fleece lined jackets I have, despite the fact that I have layers and layers of clothing available to me.

Hmmmm!!!

I'll see what I can fit into the bag when it arrives!!