Packing

We leave tomorrow and we still have a million and one things to do, including the arduous task of packing.

A couple of notes about the volcano...it has officially stopped erupting! This eruption came almost exactly 1 year after another Icelandic volcano eruption, which cancelled flights to and from various parts of Europe for almost a month. It is important to point out that last year, airlines and travel insurance companies were not sure how to handle rerouting, compensation, and other travel fees and they were reluctant to cover passengers' costs. However, the European Union has strict regulations regarding passenger rights and airlines were forced to comply.

It is very important to know your rights before you purchase any tickets and/or travel insurance. Read the fine print and familiarize yourself with passenger regulations before you travel. BBC News (www.BBC.co.uk/news/business-13514190) proved to be an excellent resource for EU passenger rights and regulations.

Now that we know our flight is set to go tomorrow it's time to get packing. We decided since we are moving around the country so much that backpacks would work best for our travel needs. If you plan on using a backpack, I highly suggest going to an outdoor store (like REI). The employees there can help you get fitted into the right style of backpack for your body, they can help you pick the most practical pack for your trip, and they can even show you how to pack your bag to evenly distribute weight. Being able to walk around with a weighted bag before you buy it is essential to getting a pack that is comfortable.

Backpacks are obviously not for everyone. Your luggage choice will depend on many factors including: the type of trip you are taking, how many places you are visiting, and how much you really want to bring with you. Many travel gurus recommend packing your luggage and walking around for a few hours, when you realize that you have packed too much empty half of your luggage and do the exercise again, continue removing things out of your luggage until you are comfortable carrying it around for a few hours. This is a great exercise if you have time to pack your luggage multiple times. Like most people, I don't pack my luggage till the day or a few hours before departure, making it easy to over pack. I'm avoiding over packing this time by restricting myself to a certain number of outfits, remembering that I will likely go shopping and leaving room in my bag is essential, and realizing that anything I forget or leave out can be bought if need be. A common mistake people make when traveling to Europe is to bring their whole house with them, not realizing that Europe is a civilized world with pharmacies, grocery/convenience stores, department stores, etc. I am trying my best not to fall into this trap by bringing only the bare essentials.

The packing will begin tonight and will hopefully end tomorrow morning as I still have last minute errands to run. You'd think leaving for a month would be easy, but in this case it's more about what you are leaving behind instead of what you are taking. Getting bills, mail, laundry, etc together has proven to be more of a hassle than the trip planning itself. It will all be worth it when we arrive at the airport tomorrow.



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