Packing for EBC

I started the packing for Everest Base Camp last night and this trip is starting to feel very, very real. I only had a few minor freak-outs, most notably when I could not find my heavy duty cold weather gloves. I looked in all the ‘usual places’ around the house, which for me is on top of the fridge, on my study desk and under the pile of clothes I never wash. All three locations yielded a pack of astronaut ice cream I forgot to eat last summer, a bill I forgot to pay and some socks I was looking for, but alas no gloves. I talked myself through the situation using my inner dialogue voice asking where did I put them? (In my mind he sounds a lot like Barry White).  I tried the rationalize the situation with the logic that if I can’t find them I will simply go out and buy another pair. “You know, spring clothing has been out since early February, good luck finding gloves in March, cheers!”, Barry White said. Funny, I didn’t think he was British. Thankfully after what I’m sure was a brief search that felt like days freaking out I found them…..where? I can tell you where they were not. They were not in the multitude of places I am known for stashing things. They were not in the mail bin by the entry, or in the basement workshop. They didn’t even make their way into the sock basket, the clothes basket full of lost and misfit socks. I get it, gloves and socks are close cousins but my gloves were not in there doing what socks do in the dark. Nor were my gloves anywhere in the study, bedroom or kitchen, all the other places I looked. After giving up on places I could look for them in the house I decided to venture outside. To the car. And in the car trunk. Were my gloves. I gave them a little kiss and pat on the fingertips and promised them I would never let them out of my sight. After that crisis and narrowly avoiding it, not being able to locate some nail trimmers was a walk in the park. I was a seasoned veteran by this point, I knew to ask my wife where they were.

I still had some clothes in the wash that I am planning on taking so I have not yet packed them, however I am confident that it will all fit in my bag (one concern eliminated). I weighed it all and it was 22 lbs, 11lbs under the 33lbs weight limit on the tiny flight from Ramechhap to Lukla (second concern eliminated). I, of course, have a check list of equipment and clothing needs I made and printed out to keep track of what I need, packed and brought with me. Even with this list, which I am sure will be in my hand and quadruple checked while on the way to the airport will only put a minor dent in the anxiety over forgetting something, something important. So I will likely be holding on to this checklist with a white knuckle death grip until I touch down in Nepal. A Linus blanket of sorts for Peanuts followers. After that it will be up to the travel Gods and possibly another blog entry. ‘That one time I forgot to pack ‘loo’ paper and used leaves for a week’ or ‘ That one time I forgot socks and had to use banana leaves on my feet to hike through Nepal’, these are working titles of course. And there is a just reason for having these concerns for forgetting something, ‘That time Patrick forgot to load the cooler of food in the car for a weekend at the lake’, based on a true story!

I feel rather confident I have a solid game plan put together and I will have everything I need for the trip. Or at least that is what I keep telling myself and maybe I will believe it. I’ve got 6 days to sort it out, and counting.