Packing: Phase I … ✔

Sunday, 11 December 2016
Advanced RV Resort — Houston, Texas

It’s done!

Four duffels — each weighing under 50 lbs … specifically 49.3 x 2 and 48.7 and 47.7 — are packed and in the basement of our motorhome, awaiting pick up by FedEx … the Luggage Free shipping contractor here in Houston.

We don’t normally ship our bags when we are embarking upon a trip — no matter the length.  But O included a luggage shipping perk in our RTW fare … much needed and appreciated for our 6-month voyage.

On 2 December, we moved from Port A to Houston for our pre-RTW extended stay … mostly for ease of prep.  I gave myself the weekend free … meaning no luggage-related work.  Then on Monday, we set out the two tables we use for packing down the middle of the Phaeton’s living space, and got to work.

It took me three days to go through our stockpile of RTW essentials — some would say non-essentials.  I inventoried each item by adding it to a newly-created checklist.  Anything still needing to be purchased got tagged.  And any item not on one of the tables was bolded as a reminder to get it out from wherever it was stored.

We began packing yesterday.  Mui called out each item as he put it into one of the bags, and I updated the inventory with a checkmark and a bag number.  I did not anticipate getting all four duffels filled and zipped in one day, but we managed it … helps that Mui is a master packer.

Did everything on the tables get into the bags?  No.  But I wasn’t anticipating that they would.  The important task was to get odds-and-ends that don’t pack well into suitcases into the duffels.  That we accomplished.  The rest will go in the checked bags we will be taking with us.

We placed the empty suitcases under our packing tables this morning to make room for the duffels in the basement.  Mui called Luggage Free an hour ago to re-schedule our shipment from the 22nd to the 16th … no sense keeping the duffels here now that they are packed.  The LF labels should be delivered by FedEx this week.  We will need to put one of those labels and an O luggage tag on each bag and deliver them to the RV resort office Friday morning.  Our scheduled pick up time is between 10:00a and 2:00p.

Until the duffels are picked up, I plan to redirect my attention to non-packing RTW prep work.  The to-do list is long — some have nothing to do with our voyage, but still need to be done before we put the Phaeton in storage on 3 January.  Time is not my friend at the moment.  Let the countdown begin in earnest!

© 2015-2017 — All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.