Spain Count Down: 4 days

Tick tock tick tock. Time is running short.

I started the packing preparation this weekend. I pulled out everything I thought I would be taking and did an assessment. I didn't think it was too terrible:

Jeans
Capri's (sage green)
shorts (tan)
skirt (light weight denim)

tops:
camisoles: black, white, tan
two gauzy pheasant shirts (to go over the cami's noted above)
black sweater

swim suit

Shoes - two pair - red mary janes and the most comfortable sandal's ever made (they look like sandal's, but wear like great tennis shoes.)

A rain jacket (the 10 day forecast for Barcelona was predicting rain on Sunday - but a quick check shows it looks to be 75 and sunny) Maybe I will risk it without a rain coat - can't decide.

And undies -- socks and the like. On the Italy trip I took 14 pair of the ugliest underoo's known to man, wore each pair once and threw them out as I moved across the country. The only problem was they were fraught with problems, creeping, lines and generally uncomfortable. I'm not a big fan of the sink washed clothes; they just never get quite dry enough for my taste, but in the interest of space, I may have to move outside my comfort zone.

Anyway -- once I had these items sorted out and was sure that every top and every bottom color coordinated to be worn in a multitude of ways I did a dry run into the suitcase. It became quite clear that I'm taking too much stuff. Even if I wear one outfit on the plane there will be little room for personal grooming items. I really wanted to do this in one bag. I had also hoped for space to bring things back -- I would like to do most of my holiday shopping in Spain.

Rick Steves says to lay out the bare minimum of what you think you need to take - and then take half of those items. Of course, he is comfortable wearing the same pants everyday - I myself need some variety. I can probably tone down the number of shirts - but it's thinks like the rainjacket that are bulky even though I can pack it up into a ziplock bag and remove the air to make it as small as possible.

Anyway - there's more to do when i get home tonight. We'll see how it goes.

There won't be any posts while I'm away - so I'm thinking about leaving something I wrote ages ago to keep you entertained... We'll see if that actually happens (the posting or the entertainment - your choice.)