If there's one point I want to reiterate throughout this first entry, it's that I hate packing. I really, really, really hate packing. Especially for overseas, long term travel.
Imagine playing the "you're stuck on a desert island, what super important, can't-live-without items do you bring with you?"--except in this case, replace desert island with one of the coldest places in the world and fit everything into two suitcases, each weighing less than fifty pounds. And no, you can't bring any sort of booze or fire arms. So basically, the desert island game turns into the "how many mundane, not interesting, but completely necessary items can I fit into this damn suitcase without having to pay roughly $100,000,000 in overweight baggage fees?" game. It's nowhere near as fun but unfortunately, this is how any great adventure begins. Packing...blah.
