Abby and Elise are fully engaged in getting ready for our upcoming move to Africa. Abby is in charge of keeping the packing list up to date. Elise is the quartermaster. We cleared out shelves in our basement to warehouse stuff. I’m not one to leave packing to the end, making a packing list and staging the gear is one of my favorite tasks. Hold over from boy scouts, packing for the troupe. I just can’t get enough of preplanning and execution. One of the ways we get the kids engaged in an adventure is to let them be in charge of gear list and staging the gear. They love it. remember how fun it was for you as a kid, planning for adventures with your friends. It’s even better for them when it’s real. It also helps take some of the load off diane and I and it turns out after a couple of runs through they are pretty organized at it. It also helps them feel a bit of responsibility as they don’t have much to whinge about if they pack for themselves. Sometimes we end up with a down coat in Hawaii, but most of the time, they get it right. Even if they get it wrong, they never make the same mistake twice.
One of the tricks is that each has a backpack that they are responsible to carry. They have to get everything that is for them in it: clothes, stuffed animals, extra shoes, games, etc. We also have a rule that if you bring it along we will not buy one along the way. For instance if they bring more than three shirts then we don’t get a tee shirt from where ever we go. We also tell them to remember to leave enough space to bring back the things they buy. If someone needs a new pair of shoes soon, we under-pack a pair and get some along the way. Same with pants , dresses, swim suits, rash gaurds, etc. The selection is usually better than we have in Salt Lake, and they make great souvenirs they can wear to school when they get back.
Happy packing.
We enjoyed the packing as well for our trip. But we found very quickly that despite our best efforts to pack light (and we did: 4 bags slightly larger than carry-on for all 6 of us), it was still too much. Granted, we did have to get through 3 seasons, but we quickly shed thing like shoes and extra sweaters and redundant pants. We’re now much lighter and happier…33 kilos and 3 bags for all six of us and down to 5 personal backpacks. We have to do laundry more frequently, but it has made moving around so much easier, and as you say, room for things to bring back. Happy packing. When do you depart?
We head out in July, I hear you o the multiple seasons, fortunately for us we are heading in summer and will be in equatorial Africa for the duration. Guinea and Congo, all one long hot season from our perspective. 33 kg for 6 is about as we have ever gotten. Compliments. One the longer travels in less developed lands we have found it’s about as cheep to buy new tee shirts every few weeks and give away the old to the local street kids than pay the laundry charges in some of the places. Keeps us from getting too ragged, gets shirts on the backs of the locals and gets some dollars in the local economy.