Santa, Suitcases and Sentimentality

So packing is not my forte.

I am not a neat person by nature. I hoard things, I'm notoriously lazy, and I don't mind a bit of mess.

My family however, does.

They mind rather a lot. It goes without saying that they haven't been the biggest fans of the hostile takeover that's been occurring in our lounge this week.

 I think my dad is also about to blow a gasket over the appearance of our hallway, where all my 'crap', as he describes it, has resided for the last month and a half, since I moved out of my Wellington flat. So with Christmas tomorrow, and my departure looming three days ahead of me, it's crunch time. I now have to reduce my belonging to 23kgs worth of stuff, that will fit into this suitcase.

Only slightly daunting.

I think the issue I have with throwing things away is that I'm a very sentimental person. All my belongings, even the stuff that other people would consider 'junk', has memories or emotions attached to it. For example; do I need five different travel journals (when I'm also planning to keep a blog)? Probably not, no.

Am I still going to take them? Of course I am. They were all given to me by close friends and family members, and all of them have touching, loving, handwritten messages in, that I want to take with me. The logical part of my brain says that I could simply take these pages out of their respective homes and just take one journal, but then I would feel as though I were playing favourites, and the decision would just be too hard.

So now you see my struggle. I'm having a breakdown already, and I haven't even packed anything wearable.

Right. No more procrastinating. Down to this packing business.

Although I am quite hungry...

Right, okay, grab a quick snack and get on with it.

...As soon as I've mended this little hole in my dress.

And actually, these rice crackers are pretty dry, I definitely need a drink.



Okay, half an hour later, here we are.

So.

Where do I start?

Heavy stuff that's liable to move should probably go at the bottom, right? That seems sensible.

Alright! That's done. Good start.

Now... I should probably go with... Shoes next?

But wait. Shit. Which shoes am I wearing on the plane? Because I can't put those in yet. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna wear the ones I'm getting for Christmas. Which isn't til tomorrow. So I could just pack my other shoes... If I hadn't just waterproofed them and put them out to dry.

Okay, so not shoes then.

...Got it! Travel hair dryer. BAM. Sorted.

So the rest'll probably go in order of when i'll need it. I think.

Oh my god this is so stressful, I think I need a break.

...

A short interlude later and I've actually made some progress. But now I'm really struggling. My major dilemma is...

How many socks is too many? Because I'm currently sitting on 18 pairs and I can't decide if that's excessive or just cautious.

Hmm. Having weighed up my options (but not my bag - yet), I've decided to throw caution to the wind - or the opposite in this situation. The socks stay, but I am most definitely going. It's only kind of sunk in these last few days that I'm really going. The trip I've talked about since the age of 13 is finally happening, and - while I'm scared absolutely shitless, I'm pretty proud of myself for following through.

So while my efforts at blogging these last few months have been absolutely abysmal, I hope to keep my vast audience (of roughly three people) entertained much more thoroughly for the next year or so.
Tell your friends, tell your families, and most of all tell them not to get their hopes up.

In the spirit of the season - a Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

xx Bri