Packing is not one of my strong suits. I always forget my toothbrush, some mystery liquid always leaks in the suitcase, and I always have this nagging suspicion that I am forgetting something. Even now I’m wondering what I will forget. I get distracted on the eve of new journey—I’ve never been south, never seen the Southern Cross myself, so I am relying a hundred per cent on my travel agency. Yes, one folds the socks and shirts, packs underwear, gets the suitcase ready, but packing is really about getting ready to leave home on some new adventure, and that's what I am about to do--go to Peru with Millennium Tours of Texas. Thank goodness they specialize in southern destinations, and they have put together a customized tour to Peru for professors from Baylor University who are studying pre-Columbian civilization in that area. We are going to Machu Picchu, of course, so packing has become a little more interesting than other times when I am just going to Spain for the summer. For this trip I need a raincoat, an umbrella, bug spray, comfortable shoes, sweaters, long-sleeve shirts, short-sleeve shirts, a hat, a coat, sunscreen. Since we are going to both Lima and Cuzco, and this is March, meaning they are leaving summer behind and heading into fall, which means that in Lima it will be summer-like and warm, but in Cuzco it will be cold in the mornings and less cold in the afternoons. The weather will be all over the place, and I suspect that we might see three seasons during our one week visit to the land of the Incas. I am leaving the wool socks at home for the moths. Packing, then, is complicated because I will need clothes to stay warm and clothes to stay cool, but I don't want to take forty pounds of stuff either. I can't forget my glasses, contacts, medicines, toothbrush, or razor, either. I always forget the floss. Or my emergency trail mix in case of travel delays where food might be scarce or unavailable. I always take two or three sets of reading glasses because they are never where you want them when you want them. Ditto for sunglasses. And all of the chargers for all of the electronics. I am not taking keys or garage door opener. I am taking a few nuevos soles, which is the money they use in Peru. I am taking the Ipad and the Ipod, and the cell phone. Packing is a sort of nervous marathon of second thoughts, doubts, rethinking, and forgetting. One almost feels like a character in a Borges story, which is told in California about a guy from Texas who moved to Peru to study the indigenous people and stayed for thirty years, endlessly searching for El Dorado. I once went to Long Beach, California without a coat, and they had their two coldest days in twenty years. Needless to say, the leather jacket is going with me, as is a warm hoodie and an all-weather impermeable weather shell to ward off cold rain. To pack or not to pack, that is the question, to carry one more sweater or to risk getting caught out in the cold, that is the question.
Friday, March 08, 2013
On packing for a trip
Packing is not one of my strong suits. I always forget my toothbrush, some mystery liquid always leaks in the suitcase, and I always have this nagging suspicion that I am forgetting something. Even now I’m wondering what I will forget. I get distracted on the eve of new journey—I’ve never been south, never seen the Southern Cross myself, so I am relying a hundred per cent on my travel agency. Yes, one folds the socks and shirts, packs underwear, gets the suitcase ready, but packing is really about getting ready to leave home on some new adventure, and that's what I am about to do--go to Peru with Millennium Tours of Texas. Thank goodness they specialize in southern destinations, and they have put together a customized tour to Peru for professors from Baylor University who are studying pre-Columbian civilization in that area. We are going to Machu Picchu, of course, so packing has become a little more interesting than other times when I am just going to Spain for the summer. For this trip I need a raincoat, an umbrella, bug spray, comfortable shoes, sweaters, long-sleeve shirts, short-sleeve shirts, a hat, a coat, sunscreen. Since we are going to both Lima and Cuzco, and this is March, meaning they are leaving summer behind and heading into fall, which means that in Lima it will be summer-like and warm, but in Cuzco it will be cold in the mornings and less cold in the afternoons. The weather will be all over the place, and I suspect that we might see three seasons during our one week visit to the land of the Incas. I am leaving the wool socks at home for the moths. Packing, then, is complicated because I will need clothes to stay warm and clothes to stay cool, but I don't want to take forty pounds of stuff either. I can't forget my glasses, contacts, medicines, toothbrush, or razor, either. I always forget the floss. Or my emergency trail mix in case of travel delays where food might be scarce or unavailable. I always take two or three sets of reading glasses because they are never where you want them when you want them. Ditto for sunglasses. And all of the chargers for all of the electronics. I am not taking keys or garage door opener. I am taking a few nuevos soles, which is the money they use in Peru. I am taking the Ipad and the Ipod, and the cell phone. Packing is a sort of nervous marathon of second thoughts, doubts, rethinking, and forgetting. One almost feels like a character in a Borges story, which is told in California about a guy from Texas who moved to Peru to study the indigenous people and stayed for thirty years, endlessly searching for El Dorado. I once went to Long Beach, California without a coat, and they had their two coldest days in twenty years. Needless to say, the leather jacket is going with me, as is a warm hoodie and an all-weather impermeable weather shell to ward off cold rain. To pack or not to pack, that is the question, to carry one more sweater or to risk getting caught out in the cold, that is the question.
Have a great trip.
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