Ten thousand zippers

I have come to realize that of late, I am a terrible packer. I pack too much, not the right things, I pack clothes I have barely ever worn with the hopes that in another country I will become the person I thought I could be while wearing that hat/top/dress from Victoria Secret that looked super hot on an 85 pound model.  So this time being that I am away for 72 days I thought I should look into this little problem of mine.

The best website I found so far was called Her Packing List which really digs deep into the reality that wearing the same clothes for months on end can lend one to feel like a total frump.  It tries to do so with a minimalist mantra so you’re not that sweaty girl lugging a backpack that weighs as much as you down a cobblestone street  (right now in Kathmandu it’s about 30C so I’ll be that sweaty girl no matter what).

So that was a great find, I now know what to pack so I don’t look like a total mess.  I also plan on going shopping in the first few days so I can get a few traditional tops and really try and blend in and also hopefully show a little bit of respect for the host culture (Nathan also plans to do the same for Bangladesh and I can’t wait to see what he gets!).

The next issue with packing is the backpack thing—how do you keep your stuff organized?  Many people purchase these net bags or “stuff sacs” from MEC (smaller bags that compartmentalize your stuff within the backpack), which are an amazing idea, but I get a little annoyed at the price they charge for what appears to be easy to make. So I bought 10,000 (or 75, give or take) zippers from Amazon and took to making my own “stuff sacs” out of the pile of random fabric I had lying around.

I made a few extra for current birthdays, upcoming birthdays and Nathan even got two of the best ones which are made out of fabric I got in Japan a decade ago. 

A few other handy things I’ll be packing are:

-The Swiss army knife and nifty little flashlight that my neighbours gave me.

-A SteriPen UV light water purifier and micro filter— the best birthday present ever, safe water no matter where I go!

-A Polaroid camera that prints out the picture for gifts for the people I meet.

-The support from my amazing Capacity Development classmates who threw me a lovely ‘good luck bonfire’ last night!

So this is about where I am at, working out the details of what/how to pack and still plugging away at making appointments and contacts for when I get there.

Thanks for reading!