::A Geek in Korea::

The last time I went to Europe, I wasn’t extremely well prepared for the trip. I had left Korea in the middle of a heat wave, and arrived in Europe to an unseasonably cold stretch of weather. I brought a bag, while perfect for the airport and mass transit travel of Korea, was bad for backpacking from site to site. I brought things to entertain me, like dominoes, video games with charges, and an mp3 player, that were much too heavy.  I didn’t have a bad time in Europe because of these mistakes, but this time around I’m trying to be much better prepared and want to share my experience with my wife.

Today, we did round two of our trial run pack for the trip. This time around, we had our stuff packed up well enough to see that we were going to be able almost everything a reasonable person would take with them. But this time, instead of trying to throw everything and the kitchen sink into our bag, we got a little more practical with what things we needed, and the amounts we would take with us.

For example, my wife packed a bottle of shampoo for me. She had saved an old shampoo bottle for this purpose, and filled it to the top for me. This was probably three months worth of shampoo. We’ll be traveling for one month. I told her that even if I wash my hair more than normal every time I get the opportunity, I couldn’t use the amount of shampoo she wanted to bring. A night in a sleeping cabin of a train means we’re going to miss a shower too. Even if she helped me try to use the shampoo, it was too much. She went back and found another disposable sort of bottle she usually used for contact solution that was one fifth the size to fill. We saved space, weight, and still can wash our hair.

Today was full of compromises like this. It was hard remember all those things that you only think about after you get back from a long trip and discover, “Man, I really didn’t need to lug that around did I?” I followed some advice I learned from my parents this time around and lightened up my travel book. I got rid of extra pages from countries I know we don’t have the opportunity to visit. The travel book is the single heaviest item I will carry daily, and I reduced it’s size by 50% percent! That frees up space for other things, spares my back, and keeps us travel light.

Checking our flight for Hong Kong to London, it turns out that there is only one Korean subtitled movie. Everything else is English, Chinese, or Japanese. We went to the bookstore to pick up a book to fight off boredom on the flight. I got a diary style book for a travel journal, and new ear plugs. We also got another LED flashlight, and some other odds and ends.

Other than some stuff we’re bringing for a Korean friend now in England, there isn’t much more we need to pick up before we go. We’ve set aside the clothes we’re bringing, and we’ve got a few more items in the process of getting washed that we need to add to the pile before we are truly ready to go. Of course, I only say that now. I’m sure by the end of the week when it’s time to go I’ll frantically discover I’m completely forgotten something I desperately need for the trip.