Planning is fun!

I did a count today, and there are 40 days till my South Africa trip. Seems like forever, but I'm sure it will fly by! I really don't have much left to do other than actually packing for the trip. But each trip requires me—scratch that! Each trip allows me to indulge my fetish for bags of all types.

Before I start on bags, I want to rant. I'm in a large Facebook group for Gate 1 Travel, the company I'm using for my guided tours. A bunch of people in the group are almost cult-like about using a carryon bag only—no checked luggage. Some poor guy posted that he just couldn't manage it. He was traveling in Europe for over 2 weeks, and his packing list seemed very reasonable to me (something like 4 pairs of pants, 7 shirts, 2 pairs of shoes, etc.). The cult attacked! Why, he just needs 2 pairs of pants and 2 shirts! And why would you need 2 pairs of shoes? Just do laundry every night! Don't carry shampoo, etc.—use the hotel's stuff. And it went on and on! I commented that I didn't understand this obsession with carryon-only, and I got lectured about just you wait till your luggage is lost!

Now, I do overpack—I know that—but it's not extreme. And if I'm traveling domestically for less than a week, definitely carryon only! I just responded that I do what I can to reduce the chances of my luggage not showing up. I try to stay with the same carrier for all legs of a trip, and I don't do really short connections. And, the bag I do carry on has my camera gear, meds, and electronics—if my luggage doesn't show up, I'll just buy new underwear and move on! Anyway, rant over.

So, when I book a trip (which can happen sort of on the spur of the moment), I first check the flights to be sure it will work. (I could book flights with Gate 1, but I choose not to.) So, it's trip deposit (usually $300), then I book my flights. Next is travel insurance, since with the flights booked, I've now got money invested. I have travel insurance with my credit card, but I get regular trip insurance as well. Then it's decision time about hotels before or after the trip. I have been traveling out of DC (Dulles), Raleigh, and Charlotte, depending on the destination. Frequently, it's cheaper to do a hotel with parking (and shuttle service) than it is to do parking at the airport.

I've started a trip notebook, so that I can keep track of what I've got booked. I have a page or two for each trip. I put confirmation numbers and payment info, and things like that. Also, I put visa information. For a lot of countries, you can just get your visa on arrival, but you may need cash and passport type pictures with you. For other countries, you have to get your visa ahead of time, but not too far ahead. Plus most countries have rules about your passport. Many countries require that your passport be good for at least 60 days after your trip, and some countries (South Africa, for one) require four blank passport pages! (My passport was renewed last year, so I'm good on expiration for a while, but I do hope I travel enough to run out of room in a year or two.)

Then I get to the fun stuff! I order bird field guides for my destination. I will probably carry only a single guide on the trip, but field guides are like potato chips to me—I can never just get one!

Then it's the less fun stuff, like travel plugs. I had no idea how many different plugs there are! It does help that all my electronics are dual voltage, so I don't have to worry about 220 vs 110 voltage. South Africa has been confusing, as I've found mixed information, but I think I've got the right plug. BTW, it helps if you get one that is multifunctional, though they are larger. The one I took to Morocco had a regular 2 prong plug, 3 USB, and a USB-C built in.

I've already mentioned health. I visited the health department travel clinic, and I'll visit again in January, before my Southeast Asia trip. I finished the typhoid vaccine yesterday. BTW, I did some reading and it's a live attenuated virus in those pills. I thought that was cool—I just took 4 pills with live typhoid virus in them! I've got my malaria prophylaxis pills ready to go. I also take a pretty extensive first aid kit. It packs into a reasonably sized container, but it's got everything from bandaids to anti-diarrheals to baby aspirin. I will also always take DayQuil and NyQuil with me. The woman that shared hers with me in Morocco really salvaged a couple of days for me—those pills kept me functioning—and I will always carry them with me in the future.

Cash is another thing to think about. A lot of travel is cashless now. In Iceland and Norway, you can easily travel with no cash at all. But in markets, cash is still the thing, either US dollars or local currency. But not all US currency is usuable. In Morocco, the bills had to be new and they could not have any marks on them or they would be rejected, even by the official money change offices. Also, most places won't take big bills, like hundred dollar bills. This is how I end up standing at the bank counter while the very obliging teller sorts through bills, picking out the ones that are new, without tears or marks on them. (If you use cash, start noticing how many bills have writing on them! What is it with writing on currency?) I took $20s and $1s to Morocco, and I used it primarily for tips. For this trip, I added $5s too. BTW, it's easy to get bundles of new $1 bills. Not so much for $5s and $20s.

Oh, that's funny! I just grabbed a stock image of $1 bills, but I just noticed that they are dated 2009 (clearly, an old stock image). Those bills, though technically new, would not be accepted in Morocco. I think their cutoff was 2014!

Now, finally, to luggage. For some Africa trips, ones that do multi-day safaris, the luggage requirements are quite strict. Soft-sided bags only, and not very big. For my trip, there are no rules like that, but there are internal flights with weight limits of 44 pounds for checked and 14 pounds for carryon. I am planning to use a midsize (22 or 24"—I forget) for my checked bag. And, yes, I did get a new one that is slightly bigger than my old one. (Bag fetish, remember!) For the carryon, I got a really cool small Travelpro spinner bag. Besides worrying about the weight, I want to be able to keep this bag with me on the tour, so I can have my camera gear, etc., close at hand. It's really small for a carryon, and would even fit under some plane seats. And I'll have my daypack as my personal item. (I didn't buy a new daypack, btw.) On the plane with me (between the two bags) will be my main camera/lenses, a second point & shoot camera, my iPad, my chargers (including extra camera batteries and the chargers for them), my meds, a bird book, and a few items of clothing (probably my raincoat, and one change of clothing).

Everything else will go in the checked bag. And every bag will have an AirTag.

I'm sure this is all super boring, but it was sort of fun to write.