Back the Truck Up.

So since we didnt post anything on here before we left, I thought Id go back in time and try to explain how we got here. And I'm not talking about a plane.

The Planning:
Leaving on a trip like this one isnt as easy as booking a plane ticket and a hotel. (i wish it had been, could have lost a lot less sleep). Just as there are with US life, there are many important components to planning the traveling life. There are many flights to book, itineraries to plan, insurance to procure, budgets to organize, and stuff to buy. Some of it is easy and exciting, some of it is more involved and serious.

While Im not going to go into detail about how we made the decision to go, just yet, I will say that looking at a world map and picking places to go and how to link them together to create your very own world tour is thrilling. Planning our path was alot of fun, full of good serious thinking, and alot of fantasizing. It took months to do and Im positive every minute of it will pay off.

The Stuff:
Oh, the stuff. One would think that its actually easy to pack for a trip where you only have to bring a backpack, but one would be mistaken. There are so many items that are specifically made for traveling - travel clothes, travel appliances, travel bags, travel tools... the list goes on. You have to be very careful about what you bring so your pack doesnt become to overbearing throughout the trip. One detail that often plagued me is that there are so many of things that should be purchased for the trip specifically to be more efficient in size and weight. Your average NYC woman's closet doesnt have everything you'd need. I love gear, so shopping for new stuff was a lot of fun, but budget friendly travel gear is hard to come by. Im not gonna post our packing list, but it does include cool stuff like water-wicking convertible hiking pants, a UV water purification and filtration system, and vacuum-compression packing bags. It also includes alot of regular things like flip flops, tshirts, and paper clips.

me and our stuff. no, im not nappin

Since we ever so smartly decided to plan our trip to go from winter to summer back to fall and winter, back to summer, then to fall, then back to summer, packing has a bit of a quandry. We couldn't just bring summer gear so we ended up with larger packs than the average world-traveler.
Behold the packs: packed, and ready for transit to Argentina:
Our packs contains everything we need and a few comforts from home. Our daypacks (much less exciting to look at since they are just normal daypacks) contain some other important travel stuff too, like passports.

The Moving:
The glory of moving. I thought that by giving myself 3 weeks to pack up our apartment we would have plenty of time everything to get it all done. I should have known better. Instead of doing alot of this in those 3 weeks:

There was a lot of this:


Needless to say, there was a lot of last minute packing and throwing things in various boxes. The move itself was fairly easy, thanks to a U-Haul sized parking spot on our block and a fortunately timed rain storm. Everything fit in Matt's parents house which saved the need for storage units. I will miss the comforts of our home this year, but it will all be sitting there when we get back from our adventure. Just maybe with a little dust.

More from Argentina in a little bit!