Pack like a Ninja

Um guys… I just shocked myself.  I somehow engineered three months of my life into my green camping back pack.  Seriously.  Now, I’m not exactly sure where this little bit of inspiration came from or even how I managed to pull this off.  Maybe it’s my epic ninja packing skills or perhaps that one time I bicycled around Ireland with two super small panniers.

Though, I must mention my last European adventure did inspire me to keep this time light.  Basically, a few months ago I decided that I should travel like a grown-up (big mistake) and pack my stuff in a hard suitcase with two wheels.This was quite possibly up there as one of the worst decisions of my life.  The bag was heavy, cumbersome, annoying and always in the way…  This stupid bag served no purpose and I didn’t care if it disappeared.  Then, as fate would have it, the travel gods smiled upon me and somewhere between Germany and London lost my luggage.  For an added bonus, I missed my connecting flight to the USA!  That’s how I managed to score an extra day in the UK with the added benefit of having the worst suitcase in the world disappear!

And as always, the internet never disappoints.  A bunch of cool people on twitter had a bit of fun with at my  lost luggage’s expense! 

My suitcase never made it to Philadelphia.  What a relief!   I walked out of that airport like a boss.  I rocked immigration and customs feeling like a total badass.  I was traveling wearing only a t-shirt and scarf in the dead of winter and I totally didn’t care.  Oddly, I felt relaxed – it was one less thing to worry about.  I actually didn’t care if I saw the bag ever again, though I knew that I would miss my favourite shoes that were inside in the suitcase from hell but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make. 

I had about three weeks left travelling around the USA and Europe before I was heading home to Sydney.  I kept checking in with the airline every few days and no one really had an idea where it was.  I got a few clothes extra clothes in the USA to keep me going and headed back to Europe.  Then, almost out of nowhere – my luggage arrived but not where you’d expect.  My luggage finally made it back to Sydney about ten days before me.  I was cool with it.  It was one less thing I had to worry about and it was back home waiting for me.

I guess what I’m trying to say is… I have learnt my lesson.  Travelling light is good for the soul.  So, this is how I now pack like a Ninja.  I went though all my clothes and made a pile.  I basically threw everything I thought was good enough to take and just dropped it in a giant pile in the middle of the floor.  It’s not pretty, but it works.  

Then, I separated everything out into piles… which looked even worse!  Imagine controlled chaos.  Finally, I actually grabbed a notepad and wrote down everything I put into my separation bags.  (This is actually really good when you need to tell the airlines what the heck you’ve packed.)  And finally, Everything fit into the green backpack.

Now, tomorrow, I’ll take everything out and repack it again.  I’ll go though everything and take even more out that I don’t need.  That’s it.

If you’ve got any packing hacks, leave them in the comments – would love to hear!