I’ll be out of the country for just under three months, but because I like where I live so much I had been planning on continuing to pay rent while away. Then my roof started leaking. And my landlord wasn’t exactly onto it with getting the leak fixed. Eventually (two months after the leak started), I came to my senses and realised I should probably just cut my losses and move out when I head away. It does mean a bit more stress at either end of travelling, but that’s more than made up for by the money I save while I’m gone.
According to my super accurate scale models I can maybe, just barely, fit everything I own into my van. So over the weeks before I leave I now have a pretty solid excuse to go through all my stuff and get rid of some of it. I’ve been trying to be better about being a minimalist for the last few years (anything stored at your parents totally doesn’t count right?), but I’ve found it hard to get rid of things if there’s even a small chance I might want them in the future. Since I know this is one of my weaknesses, this time round I’m going to stick to the 20/20 rule. If I’m debating whether to keep something and it can be replaced for under $20 in under 20 minutes it’s gone.
As well as leaving less stuff behind, I’m also trying to limit what I’m taking with me. I have to take a tent, sleeping bag, and bedroll (as well as hiking gear and full Scout uniform), which means no carry on only travel like some crazy people I know. The plan then, is to have a decent amount of empty space in my 60L pack. This is in part to keep things simple and easy to organise, part having less weight to carry around, and part just to prove I can. Plus I’m still trying to justify taking 4kgs of Scout Blanket with me, so I’ve got to cut weight and space elsewhere.
Hopefully everything goes as smoothly as planned when I’m packing in LESS THAN FOUR WEEKS TIME!
Roving Kiwi 