Time to pack. Must finally choose!

About 4 and a half hours until we leave. The laundry is almost done. The house is clean. (Well, pretty clean, by our standards. Contrary to how I sound here, I am not a clean freak. I just like some amount of order.) My sweet Jan vacuumed and cleaned the cat box and watered plants. He humors me -- that is good.

I have not yet packed. I want to have all my options available, so the laundry must be done first. I know. Too many options just makes it harder to decide. Especially when we are trying very hard to take very small bags. What am I saying? We will take very small bags! (I have already considered six different suitcase/rolling backpack options and four different day packs. I think I know which ones are making the cut -- but sill see for sure in a few hours.)

I have many items of clothing that would like to go with me. I really want to be that person who takes 4 items of clothing and makes 25 outfits out of them. I am not that person. But I do like to travel light, in all meanings of that word. (I even dislike having hotel reservations -- I want to be free to explore at my own pace. But traveling with three other people forces me to commit.) 

Jan has already packed. He has packed all the medications, first aid supplies, ipods, netbook and I don't know what else. He is a gear head and wants to be prepared for any eventuality. He was a Boy Scout, as you might guess. And he will take care of all of us, for which we are all grateful.

But I think he will have to unpack everything and start over. He has many pockets in everything he is taking. His clothes. His daypack. His duffle. He already can't find something. I'm sure it is stashed away in some pocket inside of a pocket.  

He is running last minute errands. I am signing off to fold laundry and begin the painful process of choosing what will go and what will stay. Hasta pronto!