We managed to get it all into two backpacks.
After nearly a week of packing, shopping and organizing; we got everything that was sprawled all over the living room stuffed into our backpacks. At 28 pounds each, they’re not that heavy; I have learned some things since my first backpacking adventure in Europe 11 years ago. Back then, I think the enormous Mountainsmith Frostfire 6 backpack that I had engulfed nearly everything I owned, including enough clean laundry for two full weeks! I remember being on a train once, straining under the weight of my pack while trying to put it into an overhead compartment, when a nice Italian man offered to help. He grunted under the weight of the pack, but somehow managed to heft it into the overhead storage area, meanwhile muttering in Italian. Despite the shoulder aches I would have after walking all over a city to find my youth hostel with pack in tow, I don’t think I left much of my 80 pound load. Now though my pack is less than half the weight, I am already scheming ways of dumping stuff and trimming corners. The first casualty of travel came at the security checkpoint of LAX this morning when a pocket knife was found in my purse, and had to be left. I’m trying to decide if we’ll really use our sleeping bags, thermarests, tent, stove, and raincoats. If we shed our camping gear, we’d gain A LOT of space in our packs. However, then we would have to rent those items on many occasions, and they would likely not perform as well as the ones we have packed. So, I guess they’ll stay.
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