We don’t leave until tomorrow and we’ve probably stuffed up already.

Tonight feels like Christmas. There’s no presents under the tree or a jolly fat man coming down my chimney, but it’s the only thing that feels like the night before a three month holiday.

On the weekend we attempted what I would call a first draft at packing. It was both a resounding success, and an epic failure. We both have very big bags. So very large bags. These are the most wonderfully, fantastic large bags that…. You get the idea.

It was a resounding success because we worked out we had to change a few things. It was a failure because Holly had twice as much as she needed. To be fair, I had a bit of fat to trim as well.

So whittled away, culling outfits, extras and trying to reduce the monstrosity of clothes. and it is clothes we were over packed on. Both of us with at least two weeks of fresh outfits. Holly perhaps a week or two more than that. Truthfully, three months away from home has been daunting. Trying to find the right bag balance to feel like you have what you need is challenging. I understand some people are excellent and can do two weeks of clothes in a bag pack. That’s just not us. We are fresh clothes every day and twice daily showers kind of people. Additionally, we have about three weeks until we have our own laundry facilities. The old sink wash isn’t in my repertoire just yet.

So, despite our culling. I still think we’ve got too much. 10 pairs of shorts, 3 pants, 10 shirts (of various types) and my puffer jacket and hoodie. Add in 16 pairs of undies and 10 pairs of socks and you see how 85L just doesn’t go as far as it should.

In our slight defence, I think the variety we are facing in terms of destinations means we need a variety of outfits. We have lots of cities, we have time where we want to look nice, beach destinations and then throw in the scorching temperature and cultural sensitivity of Jordan and Egypt.

We’ve made room to bring Caramelo Koalas to our people and life will be okay.

And there you can see the overnight state that is our bags. We feel confident we fit. And if not, we will make it work and adjust. I guess the stuff up here though is that we know we are over packed despite it fitting, we are just too protective of our stuff to stop it.

I’m looking forward to analysing our bags during the final back tomorrow and making a list to compare with our bags upon return. The reflection is good to be some interesting learning for us and others.

This marks the beginning of the blog. While we are on the road I fully expect content quality to fluctuate. Though I think slower posting means it is all a great time,

If you are interested in seeing the visual stuff, please consider jumping on the socials and having a follow. @realitychecktg

There is also our mailing list below. I pinky promise not to spam you, there will likely be 1 a month.

Cheers,

Taylor