Dealing with baggage... the physical kind

Only one more sleep until my adventure begins...

Which means time is quickly running out to finish packing, so best make this short and sweet so I can make it onto the plane with everything I need... like how I need six pairs of shoes, right?...RIGHT!?

Not that it's fair of me to complain when I have almost five months holiday to look forward to, but I just need to get this off my chest... I HATE PACKING!

Although I'll be away for long enough to justify squeezing my whole wardrobe into my suitcase, unfortunately A) it's logistically impossible, unless someone has found Mary Poppins bag for me to use... anyone? and B) according to the packing lists I've googled completely unnecessary.

Well what I think is unnecessary is these packing lists suggesting I only need 4-6 shirts, including casual, dressy, short sleeve and long sleeve options - that's not even one top for every day of the week! Or the fact that I apparently only NEED two pairs of shoes!

If these lists had a feedback option I would tell 'em they're dreaming!

Look it's not as if I want to lug around a 30kg suitcase for five months, but I also don't want five months worth of photos of me wearing the same thing, so it means one thing... compromise.

Now normally I'm pretty good with not over packing and generally I'll wear everything that I pack, bar the time I thought I would need a few party dresses and heels at Ayers Rock. What? There could have been a club...

So I haven't finished packing yet but on last count excluding essentials like toiletries and underwear (because they're not fun), my suitcase weighed in at 15kgs. Considering that I haven't gotten to the culling stage yet, I feel I'm on the right track, so stay tuned for the final result. And I'm already coming to terms with compromising and have conceded that I probably don't need all 20 tops I've packed... but the shoes... I NEED them all!