Childhood Travel Excitement: Packing

I remember back in the day when my parents would take me on a vacation out to the beautiful Colorado mountains during both the summer and the winter time. I was small and young but I loved these road trips and I remember them like yesterday. Nothing like packing up and spending hours in the old Ford/Chevy van watching hours of cartoon movies and reading my adventure and Goosebump books. You know, the adventure books where you pick what happens ...to parachute of the cliff turn to page 18 or to turn back and fight the ninjas turn to page 27. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about! But the best part about the trip wasn't the actual destination of lush mountains and the promise of hiking or skiing, but rather I was excited about the actual packing and "getting there." I know, I'm strange.

As my trip to Liberia approaches and my flight leaves in 8 days, I'm in the critical stage of packing. And it has stirred up fond memories of my adolescence. I love packing. Few would agree, I'm sure, that one of the best parts of a long trip is packing. But for me, I love it. And this trip is no exception.

Not only that, but packing for this trip is exciting because it's a dream come true. I don't have to worry about what I look like really but function. Water filter, bug spray, medication, mosquito net, camera equipment and other so called "camping" gear is what I get to pack. My clothes are functional. And I'm excited to live with less. How exciting! I even (clear throat) bought a small Gerber pocket knife. (Wow, never thought I would ever type those words!)

So I thought I would invite you into where I am right now in the process of going to Liberia ...the packing stage. I hope you enjoy it as much as I.