Pack it up, pack it in.

This was my last weekend at home before I jet off to the other side of the world to temporarily experience life Down Under.  I planned a good mix of catching up with friends I wanted to see before I disappear to the land of kangaroos and koalas for while and some much needed downtime for more AU planning.

I also blocked out all of today in my calendar for one thing and one thing only.  The all important task of packing.

When it comes to trips, I pride myself on being a pretty decent packer.  I can usually eye the pieces in my closet that will give me the most wear and tear while I'm meandering through a foreign land, know which clothes will show the least amount of spills and stains, and what I can mix and match to make it actually look like I packed more outfits than I truly did.  Let's face it - if once upon a time I spent three months backpacking with nothing more than three pairs of underwear, two pants, a t-shirt, a tank-top, and a sweater, the opportunity to pack any more than that always feels like a luxury.

For some reason though, packing for Oz this afternoon was a real challenge.  (Look, I know it sounds silly - first world problems and all that - to be talking about the fact that packing for what promises to be one of the coolest trips I've ever been on was not one of the easiest things I've ever done, but well, hey.  To be fair, my packing anxiety was a bit compounded by the fact that our whole trip isn't finalized yet...I swear really, I'm trying not to stress out about it but I am slightly panicked about the fact that we still don't definitely know what we're doing after Melbourne...

What I'm getting at here is I'm the kind of girl who likes to know the plan.  It's just the way I'm wired.

When I first texted my brother last month, telling him that the tickets had been booked and I was 100% definitely going to Australia in June, he wrote back with congratulations.  In his text he mentioned that because he and I have both been lucky enough to travel to Europe on a few occasions we pretty much know what to expect - give or take - when we land in Continental Europe.  Australia, he continued, well...that feels like I am traveling to an entirely different planet.  And I rather agree with him.  There's no language barrier of course, and I call plenty of wonderful Australians my friends, but there's something...just sort of mystifying about this whole adventure.  Partly because it takes a hell of a long flight (which involves complicated time travel) to get there and mostly because it is the other side of the world, both literally and figuratively. I can't quite get my brain around that bit; nor can I adequately prepare it for the adventure that awaits.

Anyway, the packing.  It really stumped me.  Particularly since I normally pride myself on packing smart and chic and with room left over for souvenirs.  This trip has the extra added "challenge" as it were, of extremely varying climates - Sydney will be mild, likely with temps in the mid 70s, where as I expect Melbourne to be rather chilly, and if we head North from there - likely to The Great Barrier Reef at this point - we'll be seaside and warmer. Add in the fact that we're gone for almost a (woohoo!) month and that's a lot of costume changes. 

After an afternoon spent hemming and hawing and stressing more with each pace between the suitcase I'd laid out on my living room floor and my bedroom closet, I finally decided what I needed was a Target run.  I'd wanted to purchase a electric converter anyway, and a few moments outside of my apartment seemed to be just the thing  the only thing my brain needed at the moment.  I decided I'd walk to my neighborhood store instead of driving so I'd have a few minutes more to clear my head.  And of course getting away from the problem for a little while helped - just like it always does.  By the time I walked back into my apartment I'd ruled out three "maybe" outfits knowing I wouldn't get enough multiple wears out of them and had pretty much narrowed down the shoe dilemma.

(Have any of you been to Australia, or more specifically the cities I'm going to in June?  Do I need the pair of boots I'm debating on taking? Will it actually be that cold and I'll be glad I have them?  Or will I be annoyed that I have boots taking up very valuable boomerang and possibly smuggling out a kangaroo space in my luggage if I bring them?)

The good news is as I sit here at my kitchen table, attempting to fight off the Sunday blues like mad, I can lean back in my bistro chair and see my almost completely packed suitcase tucked neatly in a corner in my living room.  There will be last minute additions of course, and I'm sure to arrive in Sydney with a wrinkle or hundred in each outfit despite the fact that I rolled everything because I've packed so far in advance, but clearly - as this post evidences - I'm going to sleep far better tonight knowing the hardest part of the packing is behind me.

All in all, I think my mixing and matching combos are going to come together just fine and I'll happily blend right in with those stylish Aussies.  Though I sure hope you guys like navy, black, and white.  Because I promise you'll be seeing a lot of those colors when it comes time to show off my photos from the grand adventure.  Okay, and maybe you'll get a splash of yellow once or twice too.