3. Packing & moving
After weeks of thinking about it it, was the time to start packing. I tried to delay it as much as I could. No more time to waste. Everybody knows that we have way too much stuff in our houses but you don’t realize HOW MUCH. Tons of it is useless stuff we keep for “sentimental” reasons or “just in case we need it”. If we got rid of all that, we would live in house half the size we live in now. The biggest winner in my packing was clearly the local thrift store. I think at least a half of their stuff is from me. The other big donor was the municipal dump. And the other half of my stuff I stored, well a big chunk of it will get dumped when I get back. I am not sure what I will do with all that empty space when I get back, but that’s not my problem right now.
Speaking of storage. There is not enough storage places in our town and what is available is either too small or gets taken before I can get my hands on it. So we have decided with my friend to get a shipping container. A big one, 40x8’ and store it on his property. Luckily, it is just around the corner from my place. Talking about downsizing. I have to fit content my 2,400 sqft (220 sqm) house into 320 sqft container and then into 130 liters of storage available on my bike. It is like trying to put a round peg in a square hole. Packing and moving stuff over was one thing but making sure that everything fits there was something totally different. My friend called it a Tetris. Everything was interlocking and all empty space was filled. Just don’t ask me to get out my skis, for example. I know where they are, getting them out is another story.
I have 3 battles going here. 1. pack and move the house. 2. clean the house once is empty 3. pack for a short, year-long trip. Let me tell, it was not fun. Did I ever mentioned I hate moving? Lets just say there were many “unforced errors” and self inflicted dramas. The reason I had to move everything out was that I want to rent out my house. And I was told that it will be easier to rent it out empty, unfurnished. So I did but at the times, I was close to lose my mind. At the end, almost all worked out. But I was putting in long hours and I was moving stuff till the night before scheduled departure. Actually, I was moving even in the morning of the departure. Also, I had to put my car into the container as well. We measured it, but never actually tried it. We were trusting our measurements. And it DID work, with one more drama. I drove my car inside and had to get out through the back hatch. But then I could’t find the garage opener from my house. It took an hour and two trip to my place to find it - in the car. It fell off when I was getting out. So everything is inside and it is time to leave. I am hopelessly behind my schedule on my first day, but I am on vacation, right? I have to thank to all my friends who helped me and put up with my complaining. We even sneaked in a departure party which was lots of fun. Thanks Tara! So, no more excuses, it is time to go.
Check the pics in Photo section.