The Joy of Packing

cking, Packing, my favorite activity in all of the world. I can´t tell you how much I love packing. I love it almost as much as the screeching metal wheels on metal tracks of old and rusty subways attempting to stop for travelers. It is music to my ears, just as packing rejouvanates my senses! :) So getting to Boston was much more difficult than I anticipated. Kyle and I had been attempting to gather and buy everything we would need for our 8 month trip in the months ahead, and we placed them all together so that we would have a much easier time packing. Wednesday was the day before we were to leave, and also the day of my final exam in mi courso de español. Arriving late at the house, we decided a nap was much needed if our patience was to continue along a productive path. After our nap we began the joyful activity of packing. If you can`t tell by now, I am using sarcasim because I abhore packing, however, I should note that my husband is inlove with packing and deeply enjoys the all of the activities including the organization aspect. His boyscout-ness gurgles to the surface as I am pacing around the room, wondering why I have chosen to leave the country forcing myself to perform the tortuous activity of packing. We began at 5:00 in the afternoon, left for a good ´ol last Texas meal at Rudy´s at 7 pm, made a last trip to Walmart for essentials, and continued to pack into the wee morning hours. I estimated our finishing time to be at 2 am, but I was very wrong. We did not finish until 5 am. I blame the slowness on Kyle because of his slow and methodical pace, however I also blame him for the thouroughness of our packing. He may be slow, but he is an excellent packer and thinks of many things that I do not, such as shoelaces, carabeners and a medical kit. However things like our video camera and spanish book were misplaced before the explosion (packing) happened, and we therefore left without our magic movie maker :(
Because we went to bed at 5 am, we only got 1 hour of sleep because we had to be out of the door by 6:45 am to drive to Austin to recieve our Typhoid shots that were scheduled for 8:15 am before our 10:50 am flight in Austin. However we did not expect to hit traffic so far South of Austin and therefore had to cancel our shots opting not to miss our first flight on our long adventure!
We arrived at the airport, and had to pay an extra $20 for exceeding the weight limit and went on our way. We were actually quite pleased at only paying $20 because part of what kept us up so late was figuring out how heavy our bags were and what was acceptable for each individual airline. After rearranging, and transferring many heavy items to our carry-ons, Kyle made an executive decision to remove his sweaters, which weighed 10 lbs by themselves, to save us mucho dinero. He reasoned that Chile is famous for it´s wool, and clothing is often cheaper, so it wouldn´t be too much of a hassle to buy new Chilean sweaters in Chile.
The flight was lovely, however we couldn´t sleep. I assume our adrenaline took over our souls and infused our veins with temporary energy!