Packing.

How do you pack a backpack for almost three weeks of vacation?

Well, 25 T-Shirts, 5 pairs of shorts, 4 dresses, 2 skirts, 5 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of long pants, 2 long-sleve thin jackets, 2 towels, socks, underwear, bikinis, a hat, nail polish, nail polish remover, 2 pairs of sunglasses, ...

Then a friend said to only take half of all the things I wanted to take initially. Ok. And I´m standing in front of all my stuff and wonder, which half I should go for... This is cruel.

The clou is, that all those things actually fitted in my backpack, so there was not a single incentive to not take all of the stuff. Besides the wise forecast, that I will be shopping and needed some space in my backpack for the goodies to come. Eventually reasoning kicks in.

So, in the end I did take:

2 pairs of long pants
3 pairs of shorts
3 dresses - one long one for the temple visits
1 long sleeve thin jacket
15 T-Shirts
Underwear
3 pairs of socks
1 bikini
1 pair of sunglasses
2 different colours of nail polish
nail polish remover (small bottle!!)
a hat
1 towel - even an ultralight and tiny travel towel
5 pairs of shoes - no way around that: tennis shoes, flip flops, heels, sandals, balerinas
2 tiny bottles of sun screen - 50 ml each?!
1 large bottle of after sun - 400 ml (!!)
toilet paper
a swiss knife
toilettry stuff

plus the phone, camera and all the charging devices, 2 travel guides, 2 locks and my purse.

That was that. While I was waiting for my friend to bring me to the airport, I took out another 2 shirts. Just because I knew, I still had too much stuff...

In the end, I did wear all my clothes at least once, I needed all my shoes and the nail polish equipement, ... The things I really did not need were: For once the after sun lotion. That bottle came home with me untouched. Of the sun screen I only used half a bottle. Yes - I can be very resourceful. And the toilet paper was a good thing to have, but a few paper napkins would have been well enough.