Zen and the Art of Packing

10pm (Singapore time), Changi Airport, 26 July 2009

I had planned to write a lengthy post about my packing process, the philosophy behind travelling light and the various choices and discoveries I made along the way – the theory being that as you've had a tour of the bag, then perhaps you might be interested in the contents. I had drafted the begginings of a post on this already, but sitting here now in Changi Airport waiting for my flight to London, it occurs to me that this would make for pretty dull reading.

Even my Dad, a most venerable Sensei of the ancient art of packing lightly and effectively, probably wouldn't bother to read it.

Rather than bore even him to death, I'll give you a very quick run-down of what I've got, and maybe follow it up in a few months with some thoughts on whether it was effective. As well as the bag I blogged about a month ago, and the red shoulder bag I'm using as a carry-on, I'm having two packing boxes shipped to me in Sweden by Air Freight.

My bag has all the usual suspects: socks and jocks, pjs, two shirts, two t-shirts, two pants, two jumpers, raincoat, light jacket, shorts, bathers, scarf, hat, travel towel, toiletries, books, sleeping sheet and a lunch box full of small useful items like a clothes line, pocket knife, spork (which I think sounds like a Swedish word...imagine the Swedish Chef saying it. See, it does, doesn't it?), plastic bags, torch, sewing kit and the tiny screwdriver which I need to put the lenses back into my glasses when they fall apart. Oh, and gaffer tape. One should never be without gaffer tape. Or a towel, obviously...

That came in at 13.6 kilos (13.8 out of Singapore courtesy of one small addition which I shall mention later...) which is a weight of which I am quite proud. “Very good Grasshopper” said Sensei Dad.

My carry-on has books, laptop, camera, flash hard drive, iPod, chocolate (thanks Hannah!) pen and paper, address book, ear plugs and sundry paperwork. That weighs about 5 kilos, I guess, although I haven't actually weighed it.

As for the boxes, after an initial attempt to pack what I actually wanted to take:



I decided to settle for most of this:



It looks like a lot, and perhaps it is. Time will tell if it's too much (or too little) but I stand by it for now. Buying enough clothes for 7-months in Scandinavian Europe, including all of Autumn and Winter, was not really an option given the prices. Plus, without my wooly jumpers I loose all my powers.