But, as the title indicates, I'm going to talk about packing in this post! Packing was the most important part of my travel preparations -- not only 'cause you need clothes and stuff, but also because you can a. spend time thinking about your trip which is so so exciting, and b. do something useful which calms you down and usually prevents panicking.
I don't know about everyone else, but for me the countless hours I spent trying to squeeze my whole wardrobe into two small suitcases were pretty much the first time that I realized I was going to be on the other side of the globe for three months, that I was going to live my dream. That was a pretty emotional time for me. (By the way, I listened to one album on repeat while packing and now every time I hear it I'm thrown right back into that state of mind of being so excited I couldn't sit still and being so nervous I thought I was going to throw up.)
So. This was pretty long, pretty ramble-y and pretty pointless, but now I'm gonna talk about the actual packing. Promise.
- Know what you need. How many months are you going to be there? What is the weather like? What occasions are you going to dress for? What can you buy there or borrow from your host family? My exchange was from August till November in the Canadian prairies, which meant it would be fairly hot in summer and freeze-your-ass-off cold in winter. I packed some summer clothes and a few warm sweaters, but mainly t-shirts and cardigans that I could just combine to fit the weather and the occasion. My exchange partner told me I could borrow a winter coat, which I did for a few days until I bought my own one. I wore it on the flight home so it wouldn't have to go in my suitcase. (I took it off as soon as I entered the airport though because every building and plane has A/C and in Germany it was about thirty degrees warmer than in Canada.) Then I packed some gym clothes and formal clothes and I was ready to go! Generally it is a good idea to write a list of every specific item you want to take with you, spread them all out on the bed and then take a look at what goes best with what.
- Don't pack too much. No, you are not going to need that trench coat your grandmother gave you and that you wore twice. You are not going to need five different pairs of heels. Pack with care, but also don't overpack --excess baggage is FRIGGIN' EXPENSIVE, and also you are going to want to buy clothes in your host country. It's just the worst if on your first day of school everyone can already tell you're a foreigner just by your clothes. In Canada I bought at least 250$'s worth of clothes and I know people who bought way, WAY more than me in the same time span. If you plan correctly, your new clothes and souvenirs will take up the same space in your suitcase the gifts for your host family did. Another thing: If you think you could maybe catch up on your schoolwork from home -- don't bring your books. No, just don't. It's not gonna happen. I brought my maths and physics textbooks with me and you know how many times I used them? Zero. Even if you want to catch up, you probably won't have enough time between school, host family and friends. At the end of the day these books were just three extra kilos in my luggage I could have used for something else.
- How many pieces of luggage? As I said, excess baggage is expensive, but if you know those 23 kg won't be enough, it might be cheaper to pay for a second bag than to pay for the excess weight of the first bag. I flew Air Canada and paid about 90$ for my second bag back then I think, while the fee for a bag heavier than 23 kg is at 225$ as of now. Air Canada also lets you bring two carry-ons and small personal items like a camera, a coat or a small purse. That was pretty handy because my backpack was quite heavy (emergency set of clothes, books, school supplies, laptop etc.), so I just put my valuables like my wallet, phone, passport and the tickets in my purse so I was able to access them quickly and to keep and eye on them. On some smaller planes on short flights you can't bring bigger carry-ons in the cabin, so it was definitely a good thing that I had a small purse to take with me. -- Okay, so now I've talked about the benefits of having multiple items of baggage, let's discourage all that again. Remember that you need to be able to carry all your stuff. On some flights, I think pretty much every time you change at Toronto, you need to get your bags, carry them a short distance and check them again for your connecting flight. I had four items, five if you count the jacket, almost 60kg in total and I nearly died running across the huge baggage claim. Don't be like me. Don't overestimate your ability to take care of all your bags at the same time; lemme tell ya it's hard. If you've got some time, you could try at home how many suitcases and backpacks you can still carry comfortably. (Another thing, and this is a bit embarrassing: If you're short and have weak arms, don't bring huge backpacks as a carry-on. You won't be able to put it in the overhead lockers on the plane without help; you will drop it on strangers' heads; you will want to die on the spot from the embarrassment.)
- Packing. For real now So, now that you've figured out all the details, you can start actually putting your stuff in your bags. I recommend rolling every item -- it's not as if your clothes are not gonna crease anyway, and rolling them saves a lot of space and time. (LOL. slowly turning this post into science fiction) If everything is rolled up tightly, the clothes all have a similar shape so they take up less room, and they're compressed so the air is pressed out of them. I tried a technique once that suggested picking a round core item and wrapping the other clothes around it. It didn't really work though because in the end the bundle was too big to put in my suitcase and had a funny shape. If you still want to read about it, it should be in my posts from November 2012. You can also save space by putting pairs of socks into your shoes and bras -- basically it's like Tetris, you fill every single gap, no matter how small it is. You can also fit small things like phone chargers, adaptor plugs and small bottles of shampoo in the gaps. Heavy items like books or shoes should be placed on the bottom and toward the back of the suitcase, so they're closest to the ground when the suitcase is lying down or being transported. Make sure that sharp edges and corners are covered sufficiently so they don't poke holes into your other stuff. You can also use scarves, underwear and thin t-shirts to wrap up fragile items. Important thing: When you're finished packing your suitcase, it should NOT be full. Of course it shouldn't be too empty because that can damage your stuff, but you still need a fair amount of room because firstly, you will buy a shitload of clothes and souvenirs, and secondly, clothes always take up more room when they're not freshly washed and ironed and when you don't take enough time to pack. If you can't close your suitcase without sitting on it, leave some stuff behind and try again. For your carry-on, decide what you really need for the flight: A book or magazine to entertain you, an emergency set of clothes in case your luggage is lost, a small deodorant, lip balm and a hairbrush, a printout of your itinerary, a dictionary/guidebook, any medication you might need, your laptop and a small purse or pouch with your valuables and passport/tickets.
Soo... I think that's pretty much it? I hope this post helped you (or entertained you, or helped you procrastinate an important task, or made you feel better about your own writing abilities) :)
If you have anything to say at all, please put it in the comments -- I pretty much live off comments! :D
Good luck packing and have a good flight! (says the person who hasn't had to pack at all in over a year. )
Denise :)
