Packing: Priorities, Planning, and Procedure

15:45, Sunday, 26 Februar - To put myself in context, so that I may better explain the difficulty of packing, I have a tendency to buy unique items from places I travel. Usually, what I buy are small things that are easily carried but there are occasions when I have bought ungainly, cumbersome, fragile things that must sometimes be worn on my person to get them home to safety. These things are great mementos but I plan on visiting many places and so if these delicate treasures become too many I will be in an expensive predicament come time to return home. Hence, I write this as both a way of sharing useful packing techniques and to help myself visualize what I should and should not bring.

To start, I have comprised a list of things I actually do need. High on the list is hygiene since I want to smell good when I meet new people. So teeth, skin, and hair stuff. Got it! Next, I must let you know that I hate clothing. I'd rather be naked. It just seems and feels so natural to observe and exist in my habitat just as I evolved to do, albeit I'm sure we started to wear clothes when the mischievous, biblical serpent whispered in our ear that naked people can have sex, the result of which could throw you out of paradise. Not much of a paradise at all then. Well if clothes have any connection to deities, spirits, totems, or providence who are anti-banging, an act which is a manifestation of love and peace, then I want nothing to do with said clothes. But sometimes it's cold... and regrettably I must shed my pride and wrap up in layers. At this point I humble myself to the realization that humans are simply genius for having discovered a method of making it through the iceages and making it this far; hey, they've even managed to make some clothing with sex appeal. Therefore, I'm bringing clothes with me!

As mentioned in this post I will be packing a rain coat, and camera. I'm a little nervous about the safety of my camera, a Nikon D40, with the amount of rough travelling I will do, so I will also be taking along an old, and much worn and abused, Nikon S210. That is the camera that brought you Astrophysics in India. Fear not though because the D40 is wearing armour and will be just fine. Yes, armour!

Now, other than these few things I have yet to decide what else stays and what goes. Let's group them by category: Musical Instruments; Shoes; School Paraphernalia; Things To Trade Europeans For Their Stuff.

Musical Instruments - A very important category, most definitely. What can I bring? I am flying with British Airways and they have no policy with musical instruments other than that they may take the place of one of my two baggage allowances, maybe. They state that they may accept oversized baggage and many instruments would fall into this category. I really want to bring my acoustic guitar, my Epiphone AJ to be exact. This is the same guitar that mysteriously obtained a crack on its body one night during a shindig at 63 Chartway. My only concern is that the -55C temperature in the luggage compartment might further damage my guitar, this time also damaging sound quality. If I can sneak it into carry-on I will, otherwise I will need to get creative in my packing. I might as well throw in some harmonicas. They should be safe with flight.

Shoes - Slightly less important but equally troublesome. Various adventures and climates call for different shoes but shoes are bulky and steal luggage real estate. Do I take fewer adventures? Or should I give up some of hygiene for hiking? I expect to walk and run pavement, dirt, and steep rocks (aka mountains), as well as cavort on the dance floor, and shuffle into classrooms. I'd like to do all these this as elegantly and efficiently as possible. For running in warm and dry climates I have these wonderful shoes with toe receptacles. They are light and flexible, and thus easy to fit. For casual shoes I'm going to have to mix classy with comfortable and go with my square toed Steve Maddens. For cold and wet climate shoes I have no answers as every option is clunky and single purposed, and neither elegant or efficient. What if I wear boots there and then use them to the point of being discardable? Then I can simply toss them and head home in the warm summer wearing sandals. Summer! I nearly forgot, I'll be bringing some flip-flops for the beach without hesitation; I'll put them with my toothbrush if I have to.

School Paraphernalia - Not that this isn't a necessity, but I think it's a tad bit less important. I'll bring a laptop, wishing I had a tablet, and that pretty much sums up things necessary for school. Coffee, being the other major player, is readily available in most countries at this point of globalization. I may bring a book or three but they are subject to harsher space limitations. I think I can pretty much sum up all the things I need to know with Albert Messiah's "Quantum Mechanics" and Wikipedia. Would a Kobo be useful?

Things To Trade Europeans For Their Stuff - As we all know, Europeans have a huge fetish for acquiring the last fashion trend in USA and maybe Canada. Thus, it almost makes financial sense to hit up Abercrombie, and Lululemon knowing that I can trade it for some fancy European shoes. No, what I place in this category is everything else that I bring and which maybe I can give it to people over there so that they will remember me.

So what category does my longboard fit into? I guess it makes sound, and music is sound, so maybe its a musical instrument. So here's my plan to increase the safety of my guitar and get my longboard there and back. I will stow to wheels of my board in my luggage, a small sacrifice of space, and duct tape the board to the case. Then, I'll wrap all that in a plastic bag and duct tape some more. Hopefully this reinforces the case and stops humidity from fluctuating too much. Even with this extra little bit of protection I'm still nervous about the safety of my guitar. Time will tell.

Also, I need to bring a kitchen knife, spatula, and I'll be eating with chopsticks and spoon. When I get there I'll buy a pot-pan (aka Wok), which I can eat out of, and some cups for drinking. Finally, I won't have a pile of dishes to do! I will probably buy a french press and kettle for coffee too. I bet that I will end up having a full kitchen set before I leave since I like to cook and bake.

On to the packing techniques, many of which I'm sure you're already familiar with. Of course this section depends on what luggage containers you have and what stuff you want to bring but here I can take you through a few pretty simple rules.

Roll your clothing. Not only is it super easy to do but it also forms a nice little baton for whacking rude people with. I wonder which country I will have to whack the most people in. I bet France or Finland. Something about "F..." countries. To form a clothing roll start by laying clothes flat and folding into a quadrilateral about three hands wide. Then roll it up nice and tight and stuff it into its place. Notice that the end result, when held in your hand, still has two hand widths protruding to whack rudelums with.

Compartmentalize your belongings. So keep your boxers separate from your briefs, if you swing both ways, and keep your sweaters from your jeans, and so on. Also keep heavy things on bottom away from light things, though it can be hard to say where the bottom is with the way to luggage handlers fling about ones bags. This is more of a convenience thing but helps if you do frequent travelling. I actually have these little clothing bags that serve this purpose. Really I use them to keep bed bugs out of my stuff while staying overnight in shady rooms.

If you haven't worn it in the last 6 months just leave it. I find that when I travel I tend to wear maybe two to three sets of clothing in cycles due to time constraints. I suppose this applies more to on-the-road travelling but even as I go to Germany and know that I will have a home base I still feel that I won't worry if I don't have an old favourite T-shirt to wear or loose fitting pair of jeans that once looked good. Besides I'll probably pick up a few things there.

What this really comes down to is:
- 5 or 6 pants (jeans, dress, cord, lounge)
- 5 or 6 shirts (undershirt, long sleeve, dress, polo)
- 2 or 3 sweaters
- 13 socks (according to shoes)
- 13 underwear (boxers, briefs, onesies)
- 2 or 3 shorts

That is for five months and if I take trips I will likely only bring 2 sets of clothing and an extra pair of socks and quick-dri fabric briefs. Note that two pairs of pant and shirt permutates to four unique sets of clothing. Having said that, I may actually bring more clothing as I have a secret weapon yet unrevealed.

Vacuum bags are amazing. Basically, suck the air out of your clothes and you end up with a little clothing nugget, that looks like a raisin, only half the original size. With this I could bring my whole wardrobe and indeed I did a test pack with all my clothing just to see. I'm going to have to use a large vacuum bag since the xtra-large and jumbo-sized are too big to fit in my suitcase. But I can still make all the clothes I need into the size of a pillow, albeit a 10kg pillow.

Besides these tips, remember that hollow things can be filled if you need more space.

11:29, Monday, 27 Februar - Today is two months until my birthday. I always resonate with the twenty-seventh of every month. Today I am going to get a hair cut. At the moment my hair is fifteen inches long and is pretty healthy. I know that many people like to get a fresh and dazzling new hair style just before taking a trip but I'm not so sure that's me. I'll just keep it to a trim and maybe have it gently layered.

The rest of my day is full of signing documents and arranging affairs. I also have to finally pack everything. I've said bye to everyone I could and now it's time to leave.

Prior to Departure

Porter airlines supplies free espresso and snacks in the
departure lobby.

13:00, Friday, 24 Februar 2012 - I am aboard a domestic plane heading from Ottawa to Toronto. There is turbulence. I leave for Germany on Tuesday. Just as I once before wrote of my travels in India, now I give to you an ongoing description of my travels in Germany. I will write of Europe, art, love, and my specific experiences. What am I expecting? Good food, beer, and people. I expect them to be very unique from country to country and even town to town. I am going with English and a basic grasp of German. I hope to return a champion of both languages and with an introduction to many more. I expect that expenses will build up exceedingly quickly and time will go swiftly at first and then slow down as the universal drag of school takes me. I am already preparing for the knowledge I must learn. I fear it is not enough. Time will tell.

Some inclusive food on plane:
wine, pita, salad, dark chocolate.
Clearly, they know me.

Presently, I have just said goodbye to a dear friend. It was the last time I shall see him before I leave for Germany. It was with a hint of sadness that our hands hugged one last time. Hand hugs are like high fives but the thumbs do a tiny hug at the end, as if to say "It was an honour". Hand hugs are just as good as full hugs. I gave him one of those too though. May we find ourselves in many more situations together in the future, sir.

There are several people that I wished to say goodbye to and yet whom fate conspired against me from seeing. One of these is Jacob who has given to me a task while I'm in Europe: to become a community garden liaison, spreading peace and equality and ideas. I will do my best.

There was stormy weather on the way back from
Ottawa.

The plane is beginning descent and I must hold these thoughts for later.

07:34, Saturday, 25 Februar 2012 - I am aboard a train travelling from Toronto to Woodstock where I will meet my mom and finally arrive at home. The sky is a bleak grey but as the sky gets brighter and brighter so too does my attitude towards life. I haven't had coffee today yet but sunshine always seems to do the trick. I am focused now on packing my bags for my looming journey ahead and I have gathered all my emotional baggage that I have here in Canada and will safely lock it away when I leave.

Ontario/Quebec border is there somewhere. Taken just as
we descend into Ottawa.

I think that it is best, for anyone who travels, to leave behind certain thoughts and memories that might hinder an open mind while abroad. One does not travel so that the world may learn from you. One travels to learn from the world. Things that one should bring, and which I will be bringing, are pens and paper to jot down thoughts, a rain jacket, and optionally, a camera, though I would love to take the chance to work on my drawing abilities.

For the record and for the opportunity of future direct comparison with European trains, here is a brief description of the Via Rail train experience in Canada. The train cars are somewhat spacious and have ample leg room. The over head compartments are large and store your goods well. There is a checked baggage service that allows you to take large parcels with you as you travel. The motion of the car is slightly bumpy with a constant swaying motion and occasional jarring jolts. The trains and stations are clean and well organised. Trains are rarely late. The availability of a train ticket is rather easy and the customer service is great.

Today I am riding an early morning train because last night I decided to stay in Toronto overnight. Thirty minutes before my boarding yesterday I called Via Rail and informed them that I needed to switch the ticket and voilà, they made the switch and I was granted an extra twelve hours with friends. I made good use of my time but it was all thanks to Via Rail's flexibility. On the negative side, the food is quite expensive with a paltry breakfast coming in at between $6.00 and $12.00 depending on your choice though I must say it is absolutely delightful to eat breakfast in the observation car; watch Canada stream by as you eat a muffin and yogurt. Overall Via Rail has earned my continued patronage and I really should become a points member.

Taking the train is still the most civilized method of travel to this day. Average time to travel between Toronto and Woodstock via car: 1.5 to 2 hours. Average time to travel via Via Rail: 1.5 to 1.75 hours. Cost to drive: at least $20. Cost to take the train: $27 to $30. Safety: I've never had a technical or otherwise ill situation in a train, with cars I'm up somewhere around a dozen in just the past few years.  It's not the time-delayed, baggage-losing, human-herding, constrained experience of flying. It's just as fast as a car, more scenic, nearly as inexpensive, and less of a hassle. Not to mention the history of the train is far more interesting.

A quick picture I was able to snap from the train of a
beautiful winter river.

The winter scene outside is in contradiction with the normal climate these days. Lately, the wind has begun to blow and the sky has begun to cry tears of snow. In the past month it has seemed more commonplace to find a brisk autumn breeze then a bitter winter cold as it should be. Perhaps it will linger forever and we will suffer this indecisive season until we leave the earth for space, finally, at last.

Last night I found that Tequila is not as bad as I once thought it. It might even be good. I still place dark strong beer and dry red wine at the forefront of my drinks of choice. Being in Germany will be good for my soul then as my favorite drink can become the first drink of the day. The history of beer is also amazing. Countless times more interesting than the automobile and it even supersedes the train.

The second, or perhaps third, pre-
departure espresso.

I am near to arriving now in Woodstock. As a final thought, I'd like to question how viable my lifestyle is for future continuity. Can I really live life to the fullest even as I age and grow slow. It's sad to think about and yet it's really a moot question to pose because I know that this lifestyle is today not the one I will want tomorrow. Nor will I grow slow if science is really all that it's cracked up to be. So the question really is, can I build resolve and never accept easy when faced with opportunity? The future will certainly rest on such decisions so I only hope I don't gamble away my desires for fancy imagination and impossible dreams, and rather realize some medium that strikes me just right.