6 months, 1 bag

So you probably know by now that we’re on a 6 month home exchange to 3 different countries. You probably don’t know, however, that we chose to bring only one backpack and one laptop bag each, even though we would need clothes for winter, spring, and summer. After doing tons of research on the best lightweight backpacks in our budget, we settled on pretty large packs and got packing cubes to organize our stuff inside.  We test drove the backpacks at Christmas on a trip to see Jon’s parents and I was the only one with packing cubes, and Jon really noticed a huge difference without them.  Sara and I have bulky, inexpensive laptops (again a matter of cost) so we each have a heavy carry-on bag along with a large backpack, and someone (well, I mean Jon) always gets stuck carrying Sam’s pack for him. So what sounds like a very small amount of luggage – hey, it’s just a backpack and laptop bag – turns into a nightmare quicker than you’d think. 3 large backpacks, 1 kid size backpack, 3 laptop bags, 1 kid carry-on bag, 1 pillow, and 4 stuffed animals.  You want to know what the kicker is? Jon and I both brought more than what we need, and we have clothes with us that we don’t even wear. In retrospect, I probably would have brought less clothing and more toiletries – it’s not that I can’t find toiletries here, but they are very, very expensive. I’m going to come up with a guideline for packing for home exchange, and will post it as soon as it’s ready.  In the meantime, I have some laundry to do.