Colder than I thought
After ten years of almost constant travel, I am finally getting the hang of packing light. I have, for two weeks, my backpack and a small gym bag. Three shirts, two sweaters, two pairs of pants, underwear, sleeping clothes, and various electronics/toiletries. Unfortunately, I didn't get any sleep last night. I stayed up talking with a good friend who I haven't seen in a while, and started packing at 5:30, when I was supposed to be out the door at 6:15. Though it all worked out fine. Packing light is even easier when you travel around the post-Soviet space. It is not unusual for people here to wear the same outfit several days in a row.
Clothing is actually very expensive over here, especially high quality products. Not only are the clothes more expensive in absolute terms than in America, but when you compare the price to wages the affordability is even more skewed. As a result, people might have two or three nice outfits that are wearable to school or work. In the states, we would interchange the outfits, trying to spread them out over multiple days. Here, however, it's not uncommon for a person to wear the exact same outfit all week. Then next week they would change to a different one. Admittedly, I have noticed this less and less over the past three years, which might be a reflection of a rising standard of living.
This makes packing for trips increadibly easy. In fact, I overpacked. I could have easily gotten away with bringing only one pair of pants, two shirts and a sweater. However, in my packing I made one key misestimation. In Moscow right now there's no snow, and it's relatively warm. I've been walking around in just a sweater and leather jacket. I figured that Moldova, since it's considerably further South, would be even warmer. Last time I checked the weather, it was around 7 or 8 degrees Celsius. As such, I left my winter coat in Moscow, and just took my jacket. Morever, I left behind the warmer sweater and took the lighter ones. Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window of the plane and saw snow covered fields.
Now I'm sitting in the apartment where I'm staying, all bundled up, including a scarf. The heating doesn't seem to be on - thanks Gazprom! ;) I brought shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in, instead of full pajamas. I tried wearing them around the apartment, but had to wrap myself in the blanket. It's cold, but it's bearable. I've been through worse in St. Petersburg.
1, 2, 3, 4
I just hope the weather here doesn't dip below zero in the next two weeks.
Clothing is actually very expensive over here, especially high quality products. Not only are the clothes more expensive in absolute terms than in America, but when you compare the price to wages the affordability is even more skewed. As a result, people might have two or three nice outfits that are wearable to school or work. In the states, we would interchange the outfits, trying to spread them out over multiple days. Here, however, it's not uncommon for a person to wear the exact same outfit all week. Then next week they would change to a different one. Admittedly, I have noticed this less and less over the past three years, which might be a reflection of a rising standard of living.
This makes packing for trips increadibly easy. In fact, I overpacked. I could have easily gotten away with bringing only one pair of pants, two shirts and a sweater. However, in my packing I made one key misestimation. In Moscow right now there's no snow, and it's relatively warm. I've been walking around in just a sweater and leather jacket. I figured that Moldova, since it's considerably further South, would be even warmer. Last time I checked the weather, it was around 7 or 8 degrees Celsius. As such, I left my winter coat in Moscow, and just took my jacket. Morever, I left behind the warmer sweater and took the lighter ones. Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window of the plane and saw snow covered fields.
Now I'm sitting in the apartment where I'm staying, all bundled up, including a scarf. The heating doesn't seem to be on - thanks Gazprom! ;) I brought shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in, instead of full pajamas. I tried wearing them around the apartment, but had to wrap myself in the blanket. It's cold, but it's bearable. I've been through worse in St. Petersburg.
1, 2, 3, 4
I just hope the weather here doesn't dip below zero in the next two weeks.