Packing in triplicate

So the packing began in serious mode last week as I had to vacate my unit this weekend. It was a three-step carefully planned process involving:

Suitcase 1
Things to see me through two more weeks at work and a few weeks of family festivities over Christmas/New Year.

Suitcase 2
Things for my three month overseas adventure. With weather ranging from snow in New York and Germany, to the tropics of Hawaii and Sth East Asia, there's a wide range of clothing and footwear requirements.

Storage Unit
Everything else, that doesn't go in those two suitcases got boxed and bagged and stacked into a portable storage unit.

The yellow storage box was delivered to my car park one day, then I had 18 hours to pack it lock it up, ready for them to collect early next morning and take to the storage facility. Having moved house more times than I am old, I'm pretty good at packing and making things fit. That said this storage unit in no way fit everything from my small 1 BR unit into it. So I  kept a few things to sell privately, and the rest was donated to a local opshop where hopefully those things will find a new home.

Last week I hit the travel store outlets in Fitzroy and scored a few bargain items all clearing out for $20 each. Travel pants, shorts, shirts and dresses. Light fabric, non-crushable, quick drying. Neutral colours for easy mix'n'match while on the road.

At my local cheapie Asian store, I found some compression bags, manual roll up ones, to compress clothes into a smaller space. I bought half a dozen for the same price one would cost in the travel shops. These great little buys will  be worth their weight in gold. Light easy to dry clothing and compression bags. Geez, you'd think I could travel carry on only. But given the wide variety of climates I'm visiting, its just not possible.

So now I'm camped out in the spare room at a friend's place. My first stint of 'living out of suitcase' has begun. Two more weeks at work then sayonara Melbourne.