That's the entirety of my luggage, for three months; backpack and daypack. I can't decide whether it looks like a lot or a little. There's space left over in both packs, which was a surprise.
Packing turns out to be a sort of fine mathematical art. Strict ratios guide the proportion of underwear and socks to tops, to trousers... (in my case, about 3:2:1).
Mum's theory is that there's an inverse relationship between "time spent travelling", and "stuff taken". I'm not so sure it's that simple, myself. I took an inordinately huge amount of joy in the fact that I've found a entirely separate compartment of my pack in which to house clean underwear...!
(Too much information? Oh, I do apologise.)
The trickiest part of packing, though, is figuring out which books to take. Mum laid down the law a few days ago; we're all to take books that we can share with the rest of the family, in order to maximise space. THAT took a lot of agonising, believe me. Here's my own final selection:
1. China Mieville, Iron Council. I was going to take Meryvn Peake's Gormenghast because so many people have recommended it to me over the last few months, but I discovered at the last minute that we don't actually have a copy at home. Mieville will have to fill the delightfully-disturbingly-dark-fantasy gap.
2. Angela Carter, Wise Children. Another dark one, apparently, though I've not read her work.
3. The Bible. This is because I've been telling myself for 2 years now that "I really ought to read that, so I have a clue what people are on about". The marvellous Cami has finally held me to that thought, so the Bible's following me to Europe.
4. Tolkien, The Silmarillion. Re-reading joy! It's a family tradition that we take The Lord of the Rings travelling with us, but our old copies are falling apart. This is a compromise, but a good one... I shall be able to weep over Turin's story again. No, really - I enjoy crying over a good book! Err. Moving along...
5. Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. I hope mum's right about me liking Dickens - she bullied me into taking this one.
6. David Eddings, Pawn of Prophecy. Not shown, but it's coming on the plane with me thanks to Pat. Halfway through, and I'm enjoying the characters.
And of course, some of the books the others are taking, that I intend to get my paws on...
- The Worst Journey In the World, by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
- A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, by Eric Newby
- The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne
- Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome.
* * *
More-interesting posts to come soon. We set out for Sydney tomorrow, to stay overnight with my uncle... before flying out of the country on Monday morning.
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