“Wake me up when September ends”.

With only 12 days until I leave, I thought I’d make a start with the easiest thing (or so I thought) on my to-do list…packing!

Now I don’t know if this photo does it justice but I’d say the photo only contains 60% of the stuff that I needed to pack, so it’s a good job I’ve got a large suitcase. Anyone that’s travelled for an extensive period of time will understand how difficult it really is to pack – you have to pack for every season in under 20kg! When packing I aimed to only pack things that I know I’ll definitely need, although I bet there’s stuff in there I’ll never use and I’ll end up forgetting something really important.

For anyone looking for a bit of advice – clothes are not as important as you think. I’ve always packed excessive amounts of clothes in the past but packing for such a long stay has made me realise that clothes can easily be bought when you’re there. Instead, pack the essential things, notepads, pens, a grammar book (limit yourself on the amount of books), medication – plan to be ill it’s better to be prepared than to realise you’re stuck up a mountain without access to any painkillers etc. A good tip I have found is to pack an extension cord – that way you only need one European adaptor and still have plenty of sockets!

Nonetheless, wherever I travel I try to tell myself that as long as I’ve got my purse, tickets, passport and a phone then everything else is superficial. Make sure to create copies of important documents (tickets, passport, birth certificate etc.) – even leave a copy of everything with family members in case of an emergency!

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