A Packing Test Run For The Amazon Jungle: Take Trois.

"That's it? That's all you brought?"

I was impressed. And jealous.

The last trip to the Amazon I took (last September/October), I met my friend B. at LAX and was shocked by the small-ish bag she was carrying. Smaller than 20 inches in width, and only a foot high, it was something I would have carried to work with all of my crap.

I was packing, what I thought to be, incredibly light. After having traveled the world for seven months, I thought I knew how to pack light.

I didn't know shit, it turns out.

So this time around, I am adamant about packing even lighter.  Last time I took my Osprey backpack and brought my cross-body Hermes Evelyne bag. (Because the Amazon jungle is exactly THE place for that kind of thing!)

This time, however, I am going even smaller in pack size... And am NOT bringing a "personal item" with me.

So obviously, I had to buy a new backpack.

Duh.

Here is the old pack (on the left) next to the new one (on the right)...

The old pack just barely fit in as a "carry-on" in the international airlines. In fact, there were a few times where I got into heated discussions with desk agents about whether or not it would fit. It always did... But barely.

Here's another shot of the new pack, next to my 13-inch Macbook for reference...

And the new pack came with a laundry sack. SWEET!

I spent my lunch break doing a test-run pack today.

2 maxi dresses
9 pairs of underwear
1 pair of yoga capris
1 pair of leggings
4 tank tops
2 tee shirts
1 pair of shorts
3 tunics
1 pair of socks

Tucked it all into one of my compression sacks, and...

I have room to SPARE!!!!

My Kindle, power cords, and camera are in there. As is a poncho. And still... Room to spare!

I could still fit a laptop in if I needed to.

I ain't gonna. But I could. I could.

Hmm....