I wonder if I could travel without packing....

I am surprisingly bad at packing. You would think I'd be good at it. I do it all the time. I'm not and I hate it. I've gotten better at packing my carry-on. I used to bring more things than I could possibly do in a flight. 3 or 4 books; magazines; ipod; snacks; portable dvd player; movies; work stuff---and whatever else I could fit in there. I now bring an ipod; 1 new book; 1 snack. My suitcase is another story.

Last June, Anna and I went to Costa Rica for 8 days. We knew that we would be bussing it and staying in hostels so we wanted to pack light. Plus, we had to be able to carry our backpacks. I packed a little better than Anna. (She somehow neglected to bring enough underwear.) We had both decided that we would only need one pair of jeans since we were going to a tropical country. We didn't realize that it would be cold and wet each night and we would need those jeans. We also needed them for zip-lining and horseback riding. Because it rained every night, EVERYTHING we owned was damp and would never dry. After the horseback riding day, the jeans were pretty rank and we paid dearly to do a load of laundry.

Even after the load of laundry, our luggage still stunk. I felt bad for the lady that had to search our bags at customs---and the friend that picked us up at the airport.

This trip was followed closely by a trip to Baja, Mexico for a wedding. We thought we knew how to pack for Baja. After all, we had both lived there. We know how hot it gets in July---except that this time it wasn't hot--at all. We froze. We both took cute little summer dresses to wear to the outdoor wedding. Then, we put hoodies over top of them until someone wanted to take a picture. We would peel off our layers, smile for the camera through our chattering teeth, and quickly re-layer. Packing failure strikes again.

My most recent packing failure involved my last trip to Oaxaca to visit my sister over spring break. She and I were spending a few days at a resort before going to the children's home where she lives. I had never been to a resort. (I travel a lot; I don't vacation.) I had no idea what to pack. I did know that I would need different clothes for both parts of the trip. I ended up WAY over packing. I didn't realize how much I had over packed until the airline lost my bag for 8 days. I had a multi-page list of items that were in that bag. I pretty much needed a whole new summer wardrobe. Thankfully, the bag was recovered after being declared hopelessly lost.

Maybe I should stop blogging and start packing....