Packing

By Claire
With two days to go before lift off, We decided to face the task of packing. I knew it was going to be tricky fitting everything we want to take into our 8 bags. That's right; 4 large wheelie bags, 2 small carry-on duffels, and 2 backpacks. In spite of trying very hard to cull our Europe wardrobes, it's daunting to try to pack light for 4 seasons, many of them wet and probably cold. The down comforter we crammed into a stuff bag takes up most of one bag. I know we'll appreciate it when we need it from November through March, right? We'll be camping out one night in the desert in Egypt and were told to bring wool long underwear, (they'll provide the camel blankets) so what does that tell you? I found out it can get down to 32° at night in February when we plan to be there, without the camper. I hope that means the scorpions go into hiding.

Claire's bags--failing miserably at packing light.


Chuck thought he was doing great until he discovered a box of things in his closet needing to be packed. The orange stuff bag is holding the comforter.


You'd think we were traveling to a third world country. Among the items we are taking besides our clothes are:
Laptop cable locks
Some good knives
Can opener that we know works well
Pepto Bismol (do they sell it there?)
Multi-use screw driver
Bungee cords
Glue sticks (for our handwritten journals--great for pasting in postcards as we go along)
2 forks, 4 spoons, 2 knives (could we buy them in small quantities? We don't need place settings for 8)
Stick-on hooks for inside the camper ("holds 3 lbs"!)
Our favorite tea strainer
Trekking poles
Hiking boots and hip packs with water bottles
and much, much more.....

[edit]...I came to my senses and we pulled the comforter out of Chuck's bag. We can pick one up at IKEA in Amsterdam.


Thankfully we can store our luggage with BW Campers.


When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~Susan Heller