Yesterday, I read this post on Wisebread about packing for a trip. A friend of mine always says, when you're traveling put your suitcase on the bed, take out half of what you've packed, and put twice as much money in your wallet - and you're ready to go. I always am reminded of this piece of advice when I get home from a trip and I'm unpacking all the clothes I never touched on the trip - but hauled them across the nation.
Well, since we're thinking about planning our trip to Minnesota to see our families and attend the Minnesota State Fair, the blog post was definitely an eye opener and confirmation that I was going to bring too much crap with me. So, I took the 10 tips seriously and declared my intents to DH last night. No I would not be bringing a suitcase, instead I'm packing a backpack. And yes I'm only bringing one of anything - one pair of shorts, one pair of jeans, one pair of capris, one swimsuit, one T shirt, one long sleeve shirt, one short sleeve Columbia shirt, one polo, one tank top, one sweater and one pair of shoes, but I would bring 2 pairs of socks and underwear. So I packed and it all fit in half of the backpack.
Another tip is not to bring toiletries, but here I'm minimizing and bringing only what I know I will use - deodorant, floss, toothpaste, qtips, and shampoo. I also am not bringing a gps, or books, (these are on my smartphone) or my big clunky Nikon DSLR camera. I have to break the rules and bring my Dell Duo. The only reason I'm bringing my tablet PC is because I can't be sure of reliable wireless internet everywhere we're staying and I need to update my blogs and print coupons, neither of which I can do with my smart phone. I will spring for the extra "Hotspot" service from Sprint for the trip at a cost of $1 per day to make my smartphone into a wireless hotspot which I can connect my PC through if I'm anywhere there is cell service. So into the backpack go the laptop and a pocket camera. I'm skipping the neck pillow even though I do have an inflatable one and I do really enjoy the comfort.
So far everything still fits in the backpack and I have extra room. We don't need a guidebook so skip that. And we don't really have a solid itinerary so we have flexible plans which are a lot less stressful. I'm not really into drama and I'm going to avoid any drama while we're there. A few get togethers are planned and a ride-a-long for DH with the MPLS Police, plus two days at the Fair to eat all that yummy food like Deep Fried Cheese Curds. And a day at Valleyfair amusement park with the grand kids if mom decides its okay. Whatever the weather we're not letting it keep us indoors, we also packed a poncho. And we can handle the heat if it's below 100F, since we've never had 100F in Tampa, I'm not sure what it feels like to be that hot and clammy. LOL