No matter how many months of preparations and planning, packing still took most of the day. Carefully squeezing every thing I might possibly need for my three week adventure into my two backpacks. Yes two… one smaller, though still quite sizeable daypack of 35 liters, and one larger 65 liter pack needed for all the camping gear on the multi-day hike. I had been fretting over the meticulously detailed packing list a bit as I found it to be a challenge to pack for a trip with such varied objectives… packing for the day hikes is straight forward enough, but for the longer hike in the high elevation cloud forests where we were to sleep a few nights under the stars presented a whole different set of requirements… add to that a few days on the hot and sunny beach on the Pacific Coast before returning home to a snow covered Sweden again. Still it needed to fit, and most importantly, I also needed to manage to carry it all!

I knew it would be a close fit, and on the first try everything simply would not go in. But after some restructuring everything miraculously disappeared into the packs with a few kilos to spare. I was especially pleased with how much my rather bulky underquilt compressed down (photo)… KLM list a max weight for checked in luggage at 23 kg and mine came in at 19. The max weight for the carry on is a fairly generous 12 kg, and mine weighed in at a mere 9 kg. So, technically in the clear. My goal is always to strike a happy balance of weight and function, only time will tell how well I managed, though I did weigh in a little heavier than I had wished…

Nova the cat was of course offering up some assistance, basically attempting to lay on top of everything at least once before the items were swallowed by the bags. Cats are funny that way. I only wish she did not also leave a calling card of fur wherever she planted herself, but that is a whole different story entirely. Off to bed.