how to travel light

I think that travel brings out funny things in people. Some folks want to feel like they never left home. They want to experience everything in the context of what they are familiar with. They pack for every possible scenario and leave nothing to chance. And then there are those who want to immerse themselves in the experience completely. They pack only a minimal amount and chance is the tour guide. I used to be the latter and children have nudged me a bit towards the former.

Not totally, mind you. We are fairly intrepid. But I'd like to push that envelope a bit.

On this trip I packed WAY too much. That's often the case. I always end up wearing pretty much only one or two things. That's often the case, too. So what gives?

There's a very long answer to that and I'm not going there. (You'll see why in a minute.)

The fact is this. I consider myself a light traveller.... while traveling and in life, in general. I am not a consumer at all. But I am still dealing with way too much 'stuff'. There is always too much laundry, too much food, too much clutter and too many tasks at hand. I have never felt particularly in control of all these things.

Those days is over, Sista.

I am purging in a bigger way than I ever have before. I am lightening my load and taking control. Room by room and task by task. If it doesn't work for me, I'm changing it. If I don't love it, it's ancient history.

I want my life to fit in a daypack, not a zircon. This is metaphorical, of course, but I want it all, and I'm even talking about the contents of my brain here, to be well edited for saner days and clearer dreams.

I started with our clothes. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.