What to pack, what to pack, what to pack

I love packing for a long trip to somewhere I’ve never been and I have to fly to.  The excitement of all the planning for the vacation coming to fruition.  The pile starts to grow, you think of more things you need, it grows some more.  You now have more things you will ever need for the almost three weeks you’ll be gone.  You start to thin out the herd, so to speak.  You have to leave room for items you’ll purchase while there after all.  Do you really need 3 sweaters?  It’s still practically summer after all.  Can you do with only 1 pair of pants, 1 pair of shorts, 6 shirts and 6 pairs of undies?  Then find some laundry soap when you arrive and handwash things in the sink every other day or so?  That’ll give you lots of extra space.  At least the TSA has made some choices easy – they only allow tiny shampoos, conditioners, etc.  Thus it’s better to purchase those items when you arrive at your destination.   But is a hat a necessity or a luxury?  How about a jacket?  Which shoes, and how many pairs?  There are just to many options.  The snacks for the plane, no, those you need.  They don’t really feed you on the flight these days.  You also can’t leave your toothbrush behind.  At least you don’t need a book for translation anymore – there’s an app for that.  Oh for the days when you didn’t have to pay more for checked baggage than the ticket itself.  So, you squish, roll, shove and squeeze.  Oh my, everything will magically fit in just the one carry on!  Yes, score!  Lots and lots of room for souvenirs.  But wait, you must be forgetting something.  And not just any something, something vitally important.  How can you possibly have that much space left over otherwise?  Okay, fine, unpack, check everything in the ‘I don’t really need it after all pile’.  And try again another day…