One day to go

---

Well after 18 months of planning, the final day before the trip has finally arrived.

The trip which will take in the Antarctic Peninsula, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Easter Island, Guatamala, the Falkland Islands, Madrid, Mexico and Peru which will last 104 days.

Work is finished and I can finally begin to do the final bit of shopping, pack my bags and leave my normal life behind and submerge myself in the wonders of the Central and South American lifestyles and visit the majestic untouched wilderness of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Its now 36 hours to my departure and I am yet to pack my bags and get everything ready. Well time to start packing, now lets see what I need.
Passport : My passport has still not been received from the Brazilian embassy, they have had three weeks, what is keeping them? A quick phone call to the travel agent does not help. They still do not know when they will receive it.
Well lets ignore the passport for now, lets run through the list of stuff I still need to buy:
- waterproof pants for Antarctica;
- thermals;
- sleeping bag liner;
- waterproof bags for my cameras etc;
- first aid kit;
- warm socks;
- pick up video camera tapes;
- personal items;
- GPS for camera;
- towel;
well it looks like I have lots of shopping to do. So off to the city for a shopping spree.

Finally I receive the phone call at 4pm from the Travel agent .. she has my passport in her hand ready to be picked up ... its in my hands 5min later just 25hours before I fly out. They sure do cut it fine.

Finally home again, I have just about all the junk im taking with me. Time to line it all up across the floor before trying to find a way to fit a container loads worth of clothes and other equipment into a 90L pack and a 30L camera bag.

So, lines up across the floor are the passports, yellow fever vaccination & travel documents, cameras, video camera, chargers, tripod, external drives, medical kit ... oh and then there are a few clothes to add in as well.

Wait, where is the Malaria tablets ... oops, I have never bought them. Grab the keys and race out the door to the doctors to get my drugs.

Back from the doctors, quick dinner and with only a few minor items missing all the gear is lined up across the floor, spread over about 6m2. How is all that going to fit into those two bags . Midnight!!! Well I guess I can pack in the morning and so finally head of to get some sleep.

---