Packing…

We leave for South America in about 36 hours… It’s time to pack… We have lists… we have the stuff… we are tearing our hair out… figuratively…

We will be gone for 22 days… You cannot carry enough clothing for 22 days... we will have to do laundry along the way… but we (or she) are trying to carry enough not to…

We start with a flight to Rio via Atlanta… Atlanta will be cold, we have a long layover so we are likely to go downtown to explore. Rio will be hot… We have a day of touring in Rio before boarding the ship…

Once aboard we sail south… to Buenos Ares… to Montevideo, to Puerto Madryd Argentina… along the way we will be in cities, aboard the ship, and hiking in a National Park… From there it will get colder… The Falklands… then down to Antarctica… back to Ushuaia Argentina (aka Terra del Fuego) and Punta Arenas Chile… We end at Valparaiso Chile… then van via the wine country to Santiago for our flight home…

We need cold weather gear… sweaters, jackets rain gear… we need hiking gear… we need casual urban clothing… we need formal wear… (I own a tux… I am taking two shirts… there is a joke there… ) I am taking at least 4 pairs of shoes… I have never carried 4 pairs of shoes on a trip before…

We are talking three checked bags… two suitcases and a garment bag… we are each carrying to carry-ons… Me a back pack and a computer bag… Tina a really big purse and a bag…

We have our technology, a computer, two cameras, a GPS, binoculars… We have maps, a compass…

The suitcases are eventually finite space… Airlines have rules about weight… We will need to lug the carry-ons about Atlanta…

It’s all about enough stuff vs. mobility… At least once we get on the ship we don’t have to haul stuff for 20 days… ships are good that way.