T minus one week 'til liftoff
One week from today I'll be heading to the airport and settling into roughly 15 hours of travel, going to that home away from home. I'll secretly wish that I could find a way to ensure that my trip back Stateside is only to get a work visa together and collect my cats. :) Then, there will be High Adventure for two weeks, including a couple of gargantuan metal festivals and running into friends not seen in a year and a half. Much salmiakki ice cream will be eaten and saunas taken (after Nummirock we are staying at my friend Jari's place in Turku, which was built in 1840 and is therefore lacking things like toilet and shower, but does have an incredibly rustic and hardcore wood-heated sauna)
As a change of pace, and in the interest of greater mobility, I'm taking my biggest camping backpack instead of the usual suitcase luggage. Part of this is my discovery last time that the width of my suitcase is almost exactly the width of the stairway on the trains, except you somehow have to turn it around corners. And that tiny luggage wheels don't go over grass and rocks very easily. And since Nummirock requires camping, a sleeping bag and back pad are among the things I'll be bringing this time - which take up about 60% of my backpack, yikes! The sleeping pad I can throw away after the camping days and thus free up more space, and I can attach the sleeping bag to the outside of the backpack once I get there. But overall, it's really going to be a lesson in packing lightly and efficiently (I can pretty much count on buying some books, CDs and booze, so I got a collapsible duffel bag to inflate with souvenirs during the last days we're there). I also plan on making use of hostel laundry when possible so I can cut down on the number of clothes I need to bring - based on previous visits, I can pretty much count on buying a fair number of t-shirts and hoodies there. We'll see how this approach works compared to the more traditional means of packing and preparing.
Just a few more items to pick up at Wally World and I'll be waiting for next Saturday for a last-minute laundry and then trying to pack everything in. After waiting for this since August, when I booked my tickets, it's now only one week away. I don't think it's really hit me yet.
muistan kun pohdimme mukulakivillä
mikä on unta, mikä on totta
pohdittu ei matkamme määrää
vain liike on tärkein, niin kuin juna joka vie
me ollaan radanvarren poikii, levottomii
lähdin matkaan hyvän ystäväni kanssa...
Also, 10 years of livejournal!? Crikey, I feel old.
As a change of pace, and in the interest of greater mobility, I'm taking my biggest camping backpack instead of the usual suitcase luggage. Part of this is my discovery last time that the width of my suitcase is almost exactly the width of the stairway on the trains, except you somehow have to turn it around corners. And that tiny luggage wheels don't go over grass and rocks very easily. And since Nummirock requires camping, a sleeping bag and back pad are among the things I'll be bringing this time - which take up about 60% of my backpack, yikes! The sleeping pad I can throw away after the camping days and thus free up more space, and I can attach the sleeping bag to the outside of the backpack once I get there. But overall, it's really going to be a lesson in packing lightly and efficiently (I can pretty much count on buying some books, CDs and booze, so I got a collapsible duffel bag to inflate with souvenirs during the last days we're there). I also plan on making use of hostel laundry when possible so I can cut down on the number of clothes I need to bring - based on previous visits, I can pretty much count on buying a fair number of t-shirts and hoodies there. We'll see how this approach works compared to the more traditional means of packing and preparing.
Just a few more items to pick up at Wally World and I'll be waiting for next Saturday for a last-minute laundry and then trying to pack everything in. After waiting for this since August, when I booked my tickets, it's now only one week away. I don't think it's really hit me yet.
muistan kun pohdimme mukulakivillä
mikä on unta, mikä on totta
pohdittu ei matkamme määrää
vain liike on tärkein, niin kuin juna joka vie
me ollaan radanvarren poikii, levottomii
lähdin matkaan hyvän ystäväni kanssa...
Also, 10 years of livejournal!? Crikey, I feel old.