Frantic Trip Preparations
Mar. 16th, 2014 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogI had a lovely weekend in Evanston and Chicago, through which I was mostly able to relax and not stress. I think I needed that.
Now that I'm back home though, I'm angsting about all the stuff to do to get ready, and about the school work I want to dig into and other stuff. Part of it is that I realize I only have three days to accomplish things, and then I'm away from everything for a week.
I spent most of this evening getting stuff together and packing my backpack. I ended up taking the backpack (a Kelty external frame pack I've had around, unused, for at least a decade) entirely apart to figure out how to collapse the frame down and make all the suspension adjustments. At its smallest, I'm pretty sure it will fit as a checked bag. I sure hope it will, 'cause if it doesn't, I'll be in trouble!
I tried packing my clothes a few ways, then ended up rolling them tightly into cylinders. I have a couple jars of peanuts and some protein bars to eat. There's a bottle of Dr. Bronner's soap that was my part of the pool of products we'll be sharing. Other folks have insect repellent, sunscreen, and other things.
The thing that's stressing me most is my sleeping bag. If I wasn't going by plane, it would just strap to the outside of my bag, no problem. But that makes the bag too big for the plane, and it takes up almost the entire inside of the pack. The professor has the same issue with hers and suggested taking it as a carry on, but I'm taking my camera gear as a carry on. It does not go in checked luggage. So hopefully I can get it all into a bag of acceptable size. I'm not sure how other people are going to manage all their stuff, because I don't feel like I've got that much; just two parts of pants, two pairs of shorts, two shirts....but it all takes up so much room. Oh no, I haven't packed my towel yet! I need to make sure I know where my towel is.
I'm going to be good on my trip. I'm going to live in the present and take in what I'm doing and where I am. It may be a long time before I can take a trip like this again.
---
I just finished a little schoolwork I had to do for tomorrow, and am about to get to bed. My brother's going to drive me to school in the morning, with a stop to get my bloodwork results, so he can use the car for the day.
I hope I can get to sleep. My mind is flying through things I need to do.
Now that I'm back home though, I'm angsting about all the stuff to do to get ready, and about the school work I want to dig into and other stuff. Part of it is that I realize I only have three days to accomplish things, and then I'm away from everything for a week.
I spent most of this evening getting stuff together and packing my backpack. I ended up taking the backpack (a Kelty external frame pack I've had around, unused, for at least a decade) entirely apart to figure out how to collapse the frame down and make all the suspension adjustments. At its smallest, I'm pretty sure it will fit as a checked bag. I sure hope it will, 'cause if it doesn't, I'll be in trouble!
I tried packing my clothes a few ways, then ended up rolling them tightly into cylinders. I have a couple jars of peanuts and some protein bars to eat. There's a bottle of Dr. Bronner's soap that was my part of the pool of products we'll be sharing. Other folks have insect repellent, sunscreen, and other things.
The thing that's stressing me most is my sleeping bag. If I wasn't going by plane, it would just strap to the outside of my bag, no problem. But that makes the bag too big for the plane, and it takes up almost the entire inside of the pack. The professor has the same issue with hers and suggested taking it as a carry on, but I'm taking my camera gear as a carry on. It does not go in checked luggage. So hopefully I can get it all into a bag of acceptable size. I'm not sure how other people are going to manage all their stuff, because I don't feel like I've got that much; just two parts of pants, two pairs of shorts, two shirts....but it all takes up so much room. Oh no, I haven't packed my towel yet! I need to make sure I know where my towel is.
I'm going to be good on my trip. I'm going to live in the present and take in what I'm doing and where I am. It may be a long time before I can take a trip like this again.
---
I just finished a little schoolwork I had to do for tomorrow, and am about to get to bed. My brother's going to drive me to school in the morning, with a stop to get my bloodwork results, so he can use the car for the day.
I hope I can get to sleep. My mind is flying through things I need to do.
