The Calm Before the Storm

---

This is my first entry, and I'm a little exhausted right now, so you'll have to bear with me. I've just spent the past five hours trying to fit way too much stuff into a sixty liter backpack which looks much bigger than it actually is. My problem is that I have a tendency to underestimate. I thought I could finish my packing in three hours tonight; I couldn't. I thought I could easily fit all of my stuff into my backpack with room to spare; I fit it all, but just barely.

All this is making me wonder if I might be underestimating other, more critical, aspects of my trip. Such as how long it will take to get from place to place, or to properly visit each place. Or maybe I'm underestimating how exhausted I will be each day from constantly walking in the summer heat. Or perhaps I'm underestimating how many pairs of underwear I'll need. Who knows.

I guess I shouldn't be worrying so much, although I did run into my first hiccup today. I borrowed my friend's wall charger for the trip, so that I could charge my iPod without having to plug it into a USB port on a PC. Unfortunately, I didn't try it out until tonight, and when I did, I was greeted with the message, "Charging is not supported with this accessory." Hmm, how silly of me to think that a charger would support charging.

I suppose I'll have to pick up one of the criminally marked-up chargers that they sell at those shops at the airport. Oh well. If this is the worst thing to happen on my trip, I'll count myself as lucky.

Anyway, these are the thoughts keeping me up right now, when I probably should be enjoying my last chance in a while to sleep in my own comfortable bed, not surrounded by a bunch of strangers.

---

Photos

Stuff
The entirety of my possessions for the next three weeks. Except for the cat, of course. He's just there for scale.

The first thing that went wrong
"Charging is not supported with this accessory."