48 hours until departure.
I’m borrowing a large suitcase from my parents. I haven’t checked a suitcase in years. I don’t even own one. I like to travel with just a carry-on backpack. For a two week trip that’s fine, I can easily carry what I really need. For a two month trip things are different.
I’m renting a bicycle. The Benevento area is full of wooded hills and lovely views and I want to ride all around it. Pictures will certainly appear on this blog. So, for those rides I’m bringing my bike jerseys, shorts, shoes, gloves, sunglasses with rearview mirror, all the little things. They take some space in the suitcase but not as much as I thought. By bringing my own equipment I’ll be more comfortable on the bike, and that means riding safer and farther and having more fun. I don’t have to do this, I could rent shoes, skip gloves, find other options, but I think it’ll be worth the suitcase space to have the familiar sensations of my own gear.
Apart from that, I’m bringing much more clothing than I normally would. On a two week trip I’d bring 4-5 days of clothing and do laundry a couple of times. But this trip is going to be two months long and I don’t really want to do laundry every 4 days over and over, so I’m bringing 10 days of clothing, which is longer than some entire international vacations I’ve taken.
Everything else just kind of adds up. Packing for this trip feels different, because I’m going to be settled in one place for so long. I’m not really traveling, I’m living there. There are things that I’d normally bring on a vacation that I’m skipping this time because I can just get them in a store like a normal person, I don’t really need to carry them across the ocean (like sunblock). And there are others that I’d normally leave at home, but two months is a long time, so the comfort of having them will be worth the suitcase space (like the aforementioned bicycle gear, or my coziest pajamas).
And because it’s 2021, I’ve got face masks and my CDC card. More about the CDC card next time.