Wednesday, July 27, 2011

PACKING UP AND ONE UNHAPPY SIAMESE (AGAIN)

poor kahlua...


if it were up to him, i would have not won this trip! he always gets SO upset when he sees me packing up our luggage, but at least it lets him know we will be gone for longer than a day. his poor, broken heart.

anyway! i can't think about it too much right now because i will get sad!

packing this time for 3 weeks in japan is similar to last time, but also very different. different because we are bringing WAY. LESS. STUFF. we packed WAY too many things last time! too many clothes, too much bathroom stuff, etc!

my goal: to get everything to fit inside our tiniest rolley suitcase:



we have 3 rolley suitcases, a duffel bag, and 2 backpacks. the duffel bag and rolley suitcases all "nest" inside each other. my goal is to get everything to fit inside that smallest rolley inside, so that we only have one suitcase and 2 backpacks for the trip there, and everything will "un-nest" while we're in japan, and we'll have way more luggage for the trip home, aka, lots of room to bring back souvenirs ;)


PACKING:

#1 tip for packing: ROLL YOUR CLOTHES.


this saves HEAPES of space in your luggage. just lay them all out on top of each other, and roll them up like a burrito. genius.

this time, we are only bringing 8 shirts each, and doing laundry twice while there (our hotel and townhouse have laundry facilities). last time we brought like 21 shirts each, and obviously never did laundry. clothes took up SO much space, so i'm excited about all the extra room we should hopefully have!

next is bathroom stuff. i have no idea how much stuff we brought last time, but it was ridiculous. i worried about every single possible scenario, and brought just about everything "just in case".

not this time.

it is going to be hot and humid as heck while in japan this time, so i have significantly decreased the amount of makeuep i'm bringing. i literally have a suitcase of makeup, but i'm only bringing these items with me this time:


face makeup, blush, eyeliner, and mascara. two tiny eyeshadows (brown & white) in case i feel like being fancy haha...i will sweat it all off anyway, so i'm not bringing much. while there, i'll probably not even wear the face makeup, and just wear the eyeliner and mascara, but the face makeup is small, so it's no biggie. oh, and the mascara is WATERPROOF. again, i'll be a hot, humid, and sweaty jacqui while walking around...gotta be prepared. don't want to look like the raccoon foreigner.

as for other bathroom supplies, we're really not bringing much! last time i think i even brought shampoo, and conditioner because i had no idea what to expect. THE HOTELS HAVE THESE THINGS. i figured they would last time too, but i was all in "what-if" scenario mode and brought everything "just in case". we didn't even use a quarter of the stuff we packed last time, so it's not coming this time!

backpacks are pretty simple. we're just bringing random things to do on the flight (my 3DS, books, laptop, camera for photos/video, and squishy pillows for easy sleeping. yeah i know ANA will have pillows, but these ones are nice because they form to your neck perfectly and i'd like to be able to fall asleep for as much of the flight as possible to "time travel" to japan (12 hour flight).

we're SUPER excited to fly with ANA though, and we want to be awake for the meals! they look so yummy and fancy!!!

::::droooool::::
back to packing! well, that's actually pretty much it! i mostly just wanted to do a simple blog letting people know that you don't have to over think every little thing! if you forget something, chances are, japan will have it for you! so just pack your "must-haves" and don't be like me the first time and think of all the "what-if's"! you will have a lot more space for awesome souvenir memories this way :)

so, did i make my goal of fitting everything in the smallest rolley?


nope hahaha...i prooooobably could have done it. i still had some extra room in there, but rather than squishing it all in, i figured just put it into 2. so, the medium rolley is inside the large rolley, and then the smallest rolley is used for leftover stuff. still SO much room for bringing stuff back because our largest rolley isn't being used yet as a "suitcase", so it will be great for the way back :) 

okay, it's 1:45am, and i should try to get some sleep i guess...too excited to sleep though! bus to chicago tomorrow, then flight to japan on thursday morning! i will update wednesday night about our megabus trip if we have internet in our chicago hotel. if we don't you won't hear from me for a few days!

さよăȘら!
sayonara!

3 comments:

  1. You are so funny! I think we packed something ridiculous in both clothes and beauty items, and we barely used ANY of it too! But I was just like you- "what if...?" and I wanted to be uber-prepared and cautious... and it was really to our own detriment since we barely fit our stuff coming back.

    I love the idea of nesting smaller suitcases inside larger ones- so smart.

    Your tip of rolling clothes is genius. It really helped us save space on our last trip!

    The meals on ANA look so yummy! I am so jealous you get to eat Japanese meals ON your way there.

    I am so excited to follow your blog and read about all the cool things you guys will be doing and eating. I hope you find the Garrett popcorn kiosk at the Chicago airport :)

    Have a safe flight!!!

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  2. Cute kitty!!!!

    I am soo excited for you!! I hope you update with a lot of pictures because I am going to travel vicariously through your blog. ;) Hubby and I want to go to Japan so bad but probably won't be able to for a couple years. Instead, I'll just enjoy reading about other people's trips!

    Great job on the packing. Have a great flight and tons of fun!!

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  3. thanks, cassandra! and no problem! i will take loads of photos for you! :D once we get to japan, the posts will get way more interesting haha ;)

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