Getting Ready To Head Off.

I just spent the last 5 days attending an educational event.  Since I had to come down to the Los Angeles area, I decided to head off to Australia for a week and then another week in New Zealand.  I managed to get everything down to one check through bag and my usual carryon.  This year, I've made the discovery there are certain things I have to bring that take room.

For instance, I hate going too long without using a water pik on my teeth so I pack a travel water pick that is relatively small and works decently.  That takes care of that.  I also use an electric toothbrush so I have that.  

In addition, I am a tea drinker and most American hotels do not have electric kettles.  Usually, they stock those wonderful coffee machines that have so much coffee oils ingrained in them that it is impossible to get anything but coffee flavored tea.  So I have a small extremely portable water heater about the size of my tall tea container.  That takes up more space.

As far as my hair, I've got the bar type shampoo and conditioner that works well but I need the leave in hair conditioner, oils, and serums I have to have to keep my hair under control.  Yes, I put the hair conditioner in a small travel container but I usually leave the oils and serums in their own containers since they are about the same size as the travel ones.  That is more space.  

I also travel with extra plugs and strips and such so I have enough plugins and places to charge my electronics.  I found I have to have them.  I also have a few converters packed since I am going overseas and my American plugs don't work in Australia or New Zealand so that is another set of things I have.  I generally carry small converters for the ones I have that are Usb or Usb-c and larger ones for my plugs and more USB and USB-C.  I travel with someone who usually brings like 3 iPads of assorted sizes, two phones, and a couple of other electronics.  I only bring a computer, one iPad, one phone, and one itouch to take pictures with.  So those plugs, converters, etc take up a lot of space.

Then I'm going from a nice warm place to somewhere that is enjoying winter.  I bought a couple pair of those long pants with zippers so you can detach the lower part to make longer cargo pants.  Those make it easy for me to go from hot weather to cold weather and they are basically cargo pants.  This means I can cut down on the number of pants I have to take.  I've also packed the detergent trips so that I can do laundry as needed along the way. 

I don't remember how I learned about this but I found a wonderful three level thing that I can put shirts, underwear, shorts, etc in, fasten straps and it fits easily in my suitcase.  I've decided if it doesn't fit in there, it doesn't go because I need space for everything else.  I did pack a nice sweater I can team up with a hoodie and I'll stay warm since it doesn't get too cold where I"m going.  I have a pair of sneakers for the colder climate and sandals for the warm climate.  

When I packed to check out of the hotel. I realized that almost half of my suitcase is taken up with the water pick, hot water heater, hair stuff, shoes, and converters for overseas.  I am going to have to figure out how to get the plugs and converters down so I don't have to bring as much.  The thing is, we all know about the theory of how we should do it but it doesn't always work.  One time I bought this great looking thing for cords, I tried it and it just didn't workout so I'm back to plastic bags.  Let me know what you think or if you have suggestions to cut back on crud.  I would love to hear.  Have a great day.