Coolcat's Jottings

Decided to meet some old friends at a gathering that's a long way off my office. There is something about making the right decision - the way just opens for you to go through with it. Lo and behold, events happened and I found myself there.

The warm smiles of my dear friends greeted me. But it was a bittersweet event. It was always good to catch up with old buddies. But since the last time that I've met them, they have done a thousand things in between. The activities they've been through, the people they met together - I found it hard-going to join in the conversation. And the dinner was actually a farewell for a new friend they made while I was busy with my new work. I looked at this new person who was so nice and friendly but the depth of their friendship to her (because she was instrumental in helping them grow spiritually during her time here) far surpasses mine - after all, I just met her one time before this.

And so there I sat, feeling at home and yet lost in translation at the same time. Oh Lord, I have missed out on so much of their lives! Just as I've missed out on the lives of other old friends whom I haven't met since my job change.

My counselor who was there gave me a few warm hugs to make up for lost time. "It's worth the price you are paying. You are happier in your job now and I'm so glad that you made it to this gathering."

I felt warm as toast in her loving encouragement - such a liberating kind of love, non-judgmental and knew that no matter where I am, I'll always be in touch with them and meet them whenever I can. They are my roots, the ones who have watched me grow over the years. No matter what, I'll keep those roots watered.

A couple months ago before I started traveling extensively thanks to my new job, I had a habit of packing a set of apparels for every day that I would be away from home.

"Let's see, I'll be in Bali for 4 days which means I need 4 tops and 4 sets of undies!"

So you can imagine how my bag or rather bags, looked like when I was in Tasmania for 11 days.

Traveling light were two words that didn't exist in my vocabulary. And so were travel sized toiletries. Packing meant grabbing my bottle of shampoo, shower gel and big tube of toothpaste and chucking it into my massive trolley bag. And I never thought that we could actually do laundry whilst traveling - "How would the clothes dry lar??!"

It was fine when there was no trekking involved and transportation was available from airport to hotel, hotels to hotels and back again. And it was certainly fine in the days of checking in prior to Air Asia's recent and very calculative policy of charging RM5 per checked in luggage.

But traveling like a bag lady doesn't work when you trek and camp from one forest area to another. Or when you rather put your precious RM5 to good use, like say your spa fund, instead of donating to Air Asia's already overflowing coffers.

And every time I travel, I realize that I did not utilize everything that I've packed and lugged along with me. What a waste of luggage space which could have been allocated to souvenirs and gifts!

So I wised up. I learned from experienced backpackers like MF, Annie, my current colleagues and tips on the Net. And learned to hate trolley bags and big bottles of shampoo with a passion.

I have exchanged my oh-so-darn-heavy trolley bag for a medium-sized duffel bag for 'luxury' trips that do not include rough jungle trekking and extensive boating trips. A small day backpack containing easy to reach essential belongings completes the ensemble and both can be carry-on luggages even in Air Asia flights. Bye bye to wasted time waiting on the carousel for my checked-in luggages to appear in a much-abused state than when I last saw them.

For my next two-week travel away from home which involves attending a music festival and loads of jungle trekking and boating, I packed in sections and will leave the individual parcels behind after each event is done to lighten my 50L backpack load, and collect them later after all my jungle trekking is done and I'm ready to come home. So that's one 50 liter backpack (which I still think needs trimming down!) and one small day backpack for a two-week trip encompassing three separate journeys.

From bag lady to the trekker way of packing in two short months. I've come a long way, baby.