Packing

Packing for our trip was fun, as we gathered the many small items we’ve been collecting over the past months. We tried out our new luggage scale and discovered we’d collected a few too many fun things. Staying under the airline’s 50 pound per bag limit was not too difficult, but paring it down to the strict 20 kg (44 pound) limit of our trail bag hauler was tough. We realized we’d overdone it on protein bars and trail mix packets, so most of that stayed at home. We cut down on the amount of clothes in our bags, packed just one laptop, and have thought about what items we can jettison along the way if we need to.

We haven’t been paying close enough attention to other things, apparently, as we just discovered last week that we needed to buy a certain type of Covid test to take along with us for use before reentering the US. No tests are needed before going to the UK, but getting home is a different matter.

We’re waiting to board our first flight now. Here’s the obligatory PDX carpet photo, complete with our dusty, worn-in boots—which were too big to make the cut for our 44 pound suitcases.