Lopa has an exam tomorrow!

Bills have been paid, accounts closed, flights booked, even secret pockets have been sewn into cargo pants, yet i still feel like i haven't gotten much done. Sounds strange, but not if you could see the current status of my house right now. 36 hours and 45 minutes before Lopa leaves and Lopa hasn't packed a damn thing. There are clothes for winter, clothes for summer, bath products, clothespins, cameras, duct tape, safety pins, books, papers, handy wipes, shampoo, drugs, drugs and more drugs ... but nothing is actually in the pack yet!

Feels like i'm in college again, procrastinating till the night before, speaking in the 3rd Person, leaving everything till the last minute. Although this time around the stalling has more to do with the fact that it makes leaving all the more real to me. The leaving I don't mind so much, it's the leaving people behind that stings a little. I know I know, as someone was nice enough to point out - it's not like i'm moving to another state, i am are coming back. But nonetheless, its going to be very difficult to adjust to not having even the littlest of daily interactions with the people in my life

The amount of support, excitement, good wishes, blessings (and a certain 'I NEED CASH' donation box) I've received from friends and family these past few weeks has been overwhelming. Just listening to you talk about how excited you are for me gives me the reassurance that i need that i haven't completely lost my mind. Thanks for telling me i'm not crazy :) I'm going to miss you very much

Okay, so before the waterworks start again i'm going to switch topics back to packing: Here's how i've envisioned it

Box to Sydney - since the first 6 weeks of my trip will be spent in the southern hemisphere i'll need to carry winter clothing. which of course means the summer stuff for the rest of the 7 months will have to be shipped to Sydney where i can pull a switcharoo (you know like kangaroo, the hoppy animals found in australia...haha... oh shut-up i thought it was funny) and then ship my winter stuff to the UK so its there when i arrive in london in feb 06 just in time for winter. This pretty much contains clothes, plus extra contact lenses, a book, etc... think it weighs around 15lbs. All thanks to The United States Postal Services and Ron and Marea Lanham :)


Everything else - so surprise surprise i've decided to utilize the millions of pouches i've acquired as a frequent flyer on various airlines and organize everything into categories and then label them so i know what's inside the pouch without having to open it. Yes, i know, I'm very clever and very sick

So far we've got pouches for
electronics - camera charger, ipod charger, wires, card reader, converter pins
bath liquids - shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, etc
bath dry - 5 days worth contacts, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, razor, pill case with vitamins, advil etc
health dry - extra contacts, razor blades, nail clippers, tweezers extra vitamins, etc
health liquids - sunblock, mosquito spray
meds "i'm in a 3rd world country" - we've got meds for constipation, diaharrea, headaches, allergies, acid reflux, viral infections, flus, heart burn, malaria pills, saline solution, bandages, cotton balls, you name it i got it
beauty - okay come on now this is the smallest pouch i swear and it only consists of 1 lipgloss, tinted moisturizer, mini hair brush and thanks to my mom a miniature bottle of clinique happy perfume, lipliner, and blush.
Handyman - leatherman (thanks again patrick!), flashlight, mini sewing kit, safety pins, these suspender things that help keep sheets in place and can be used to hold up curtains etc, universal sink plugger for handwashing in sinks. duct tape, very handy self-velcro strips, clothes line, hook screws, clothespins

I'll use my daypack as my carryon for the flight, but while traveling hope to only use it when i don't have to carry the big pack. I'll have a messenger type bag as my purse which will have my passport, money, wallet, notebook, guidebook etc in it. I do have money belt for passport and cash for when i'm travelling around as well.

Also the bottom of my pack now has a perfectly fitting rubbermaid container which can be used as a bucket for whatever reasons one might need a bucket (is it me or does it seem like i'm going to be spending all my time doing laundry). I have a combination padlock (don't trust a place that doesn't let you use your own on your room) and also one of those new Travel Approved locks that they can open and lock back up at the airport. Although there really isn't any way for me to lock up my backpack. I'm sure i'll come up with something.

I was debating on getting one of those metal mesh locks to cover the whole pack, but after a bunch of research, decided that although it might deter someone from stealing my bag, it was also going to be a royal pain in my arse to get it on and off and most likely would just get shipped home or left behind.

That still leaves me with clothes - should be the easiest but its the worst. I keep pulling things out of my closet and now i have way too much stuff sitting in a pile on my floor. The plan is to pack less than half of it. I mean worse comes to worse I can buy it if i need it - clothing is the most useful and cheapest form of a souvenir that i can think of. I purchased a bunch of those vacuum seal bags to try and pack with. The ones where you can supposedly take a stack of sweaters 5 feet high and press them down to like 5 inches... i'm a bit skeptic but i'll use them anyways.

Old habits die hard, so i'm going to leave the packing of all this stuff for tomorrow and go update my IPOD

Sweet dreams :)