should have done it on Monday night, should have done it on Tuesday
night, finally did it (95%) tonight. I think the only thing that forced
me to do it tonight was knowing I'd have no buffer zone (i.e. tomorrow
night) if I left it any longer.
Not really wanted to have to think about it because I guess I'm a bit
nervous about the trip (par for the course, really, but I guess the
political situation doesn't exactly help and work's been getting me down
and blah blah).
Sort of (slightly) enjoyable packing in the end and it did also
force/help me to clear up the pile of junk in the hall which has built
up since I got back from Chile and then Skegness after Christmas.
Going for hand luggage only again. Bag is not so light that it's a
negligible effort to carry around but it's not too bad. I assume the
weight is about the same as when I went to Chile in November, though I
only have one chunky guide book instead of two. (I still might buy a PDF
or even (though ideally not) Kindle travel guide for use on my phone, if
one is available and not too insanely expensive, but I can do that while
I'm away if I want. Or tomorrow from the pub after work, or whatever.
I need to choose a semi-disposable paperback to take with me but as a
placeholder I've shoved in First Among Sequels, as obtained from the
drawer in the apartment in Santiago. (I still can't believe I haven't
had any response to my bookcrossing.com entry for the copy of Yes Man I
left in its place. I suppose maybe no one's looked in that drawer. Is
that plausible? Supposing you did, even if you hate the book or don't
even speak English, surely you're going to wonder what this
bookcrossing.com thing handwritten in the front is and have a look?
Obviously I'm massively atypical here and most people don't find it
piques their curiosity even slightly.) It needs to be semi-disposable so
I can swap it at a book exchange (official or otherwise) without
regretting it.
Did notice the mosquito net has a jointed metal bar in while packing. I
briefly worried that might be a problem for hand luggage only but as far
as I can tell from a brief web search and also from
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Foreigntravel/AirTravel/DG_176922
it's fine. I flew with it when I went hand luggage only to Chile anyway
and no one said anything. (I have never, ever used the mosquito net,
despite buying it before my trip in 2010. However, while a touch bulky
it's not that heavy and the advice I was once offered regarding mosquito
nets stuck in my head: "If you have one and you're worried about
creepy-crawlies in general, you can sleep under the thing and feel
reasonably safe, even if you're not worried about mosquitoes.") I guess
things like my nail scissors and razor are more likely to be an issue,
though they are explicitly OK according to that direct.gov website and
no one said anything when I flew to Chile about them either. Obviously
it's all down to whether the guy at the security screening point is
having a good day or not anyway.
Need to do a little bit of shopping tomorrow (suncream, also insect
repellent if they now sell it in non-terrorist sizes) but I think if I
had to go with what's in the bag right now I'd be fine. It's not like
you can't buy these things abroad, of course, although in my limited
experience, getting decent chemical insect repellent instead of
homoeopathic organic chestnut and henna oil insect discouragement and
resettlement incentivising spray can be a bit of a challenge.
I think I had (including the ones actually worn instead of packed) three
shirts and two T-shirts when I went to Chile in November. I also had two
pairs of trousers and a pair of jeans. Since I don't think I ever wore
the second pair of trousers, plus - call me unhygienic if you wish - you
can get a lot more wear out of a pair of trousers without washing them
than a shirt/T-shirt, I have traded off that extra pair of trousers for
another T-shirt, giving me six tops in total (and I have matched that on
underwear). While the onebag.com advice to take very few clothes and
wash them regularly in the hotel bathroom seems good in general (and I
do have some travel wash in the bag, and I did use it when possible in
November), it runs into difficulties when you're in hostels where, even
if you have a private room, you may well not have a private bathroom. (I
don't really mind sharing a bathroom, especially if it's not all the
time and my bowels are behaving themselves, so it's an easy way to save
money without any real pain being involved, even if there's an option
for a private bathroom.) I think it's generally frowned on to do your
laundry in the sink and you can't do it discreetly in a shared bathroom.
So I have to take stuff out to service laundries and that means you need
more clothes as a buffer, since a) it takes a day to get the clothes
done and b) you can't always do it if you're planning on leaving the
next day. I don't think six tops for three weeks is massively
heavyweight travel anyway. I am sure the bag could be lighter in general
but it's not all that obvious what I could cut out or down, and about
8kg (best guess/estimate) of hand luggage only isn't bad, even if
there's room for improvement.
Just checked Foreign & Commonwealth travel advice for Argentina and it's
still showing green, no real issues. It's still current as of today but
hasn't been updated since 2nd February (it shows both dates). I am going
to pretend to be Canadian if push comes to shove (though I vaguely plan
not to pretend at all, depending on circumstances - will play it by ear)
since it has been suggested that I'm probably too pale to pass for an
Australian. This may well be overly stereotypical ("slip, slop, slap",
after all) but if these stereotypes exist in Argentina then that's what
matters regardless of reality.
I need to pose as a citizen of a native English speaking country. I
don't think the US has a great international reputation so why risk it
when I can be Canadian? Some people have suggested pretending to be
Scottish or Welsh, but a) technically at least, they are just as bad as
being English in this context, whether or not that is perceived in
Argentina or what the actual attitude is in those countries and b) I may
have my bluff called by a real Scottish/Welsh person who has a grudge
against the English. Being Irish has b) against it, at least. I could go
for South African but I don't see any major advantage.
I really do need to spend 10 minutes looking at a map deciding where in
Canada I am from and at least knowing roughly where in the country it
is. :-) It would also be a good idea to double check I know the word for
"Canadian" in Spanish...
(I don't really expect this to come up. But "hope for the best, plan for
the worst" and all that. And it's moderately entertaining in a strange way.)
Someone at work did say I'd never get away with it because I have an
English accent. But if - as I am reliably informed - some Americans at
least can't tell British and Australian accents apart, and I haven't
learned to distinguish Canadians from Americans, I really don't see why
non-native English speakers (if they even speak English at all) are
going to pinpoint my accent with Henry Higgins-style precision. It's not
like I plan to leave my passport sticking out of my breast pocket, wear
a bowler hat and start calling everyone "old bean".
Anyway, I should go to to bed.
(OK, couldn't resist weighing the bag. If my bathroom scales can be
trusted, which I am not 100% sure they can, it weighs 9.8kg. BA do at
least have a sane cabin baggage weight allowance, unlike TAM, so there
shouldn't be any problems there. That's with pretty much everything in,
but no bottles of water or the like, which may add to the weight when I
am actually travelling around once I get over there.)
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