Category: Travels

Minimalist packing!

After my experience of “lost” luggage on my trip to US last year (it took them 4 days to find it), I’ve decided to try a more minimalistic approach to my packing.

I’ve come across a lot of ultralight packing sites lately, where they travel with 20-32 litres bags, for months at a time. Now, there is no way I’ll ever be on their level of “small” luggage, but I should be able to travel for a week with hand luggage only, wouldn’t you think?

Here is the plan, one carry on and a purse of some sort! Now that can’t be too bad, I am after all only going to be gone for a week, so shouldn’t really need all that much stuff… right?

It all sounded fine, until I got mums shopping list, for Norwegian jam and mayonnaise, and then there is the chocolate I need to bring, a book or two for my mum…  What it boils down to, is that since the jam jar are bigger than the allowed 100 ml carry on bottles, the luggage have to go into the belly of the plane. As I’m travelling with a friend of mine (B), we’ve decided to send one of our carry ons as regular luggage and bring the other into the cabin. With only one carry on each, we still get to practice packing a “lighter” load.

So what am I bringing?

Well.. let’s see.

Beside all the goodies for my mum and my brother, this is pretty much my packing list for a week in England:

  • 1 blue jeans (wearing on the plane)
  • 1 white jeans (for dressing up)
  • 1 blue top (for dressing up)
  • 4 t-shirts (1 for the plane)
  • 1 thin long sleeved shirt
  • 1 tank tops
  • 1 hooded top (wearing)
  • 1 very thin sweater (for dressing up)
  • 1 short
  • 1 belt for shorts
  • 1 belt for jeans (wearing)
  • flip plops
  • jogging shoes (wearing)
  • thin rain jacket
  • thin down packable jacked (wearing)
  • 2 sleep shorts
  • 1 lounge pant
  • underwear/bra
  • 3 pair of socks (wearing 1)
  • thin neck scarf (to protect me from getting cold on the plane)
  • toiletries – the regular stuff like toothbrush/paste, face and body oil, shampoo, contact lenses, medication ++
  • 2 iPads + chargers (my mini, and mums Christmas present (yes, the one she hasn’t gotten yet))
  • small camera
  • phone + charger + ear buds
  • book to read on the trip
  • passport, money and e-ticket
  • sunglasses
  • regular glasses for the evenings
  • travel adapter
  • 1 box of Nescafe Cafe au Chocolate – gotta have my choca mocha fix, you know;-)

My gosh.. that is one awful long list of things.. doesn’t seem very minimalistic now, does it?

I’m sure I’ve packed more than I’ll need, but never mind. It’s not like I’ll be trekking this luggage all over the world now, is it? It’s only a quick trip to hang out with family. Still, it’s a good way to test how little I can get away with for a weeks trip.

So is all this stuff going to fit into my small carry on?

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Well… take a look, and see for yourself 🙂

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It all fit!

Thankfully, half of the stuff is not coming back home with me. Which means, when it comes down to it, I packed with space to spare 😉

So, off I go, tomorrow morning… See you in London!

June in a nutshell and a garden update!

I’m still playing a bit of the catch up game, getting my posts aligned with the month I’m in, so I’m apologizing up front for the fact that there are two monthly sum ups, right after each other.

This time around I thought I would change it up a little, since I am after all catching up 😉

The garden in a nutshell 

I mentioned in my last post, that the plants have been having a hard time this year, figuring out if they really want to bloom or not, and I’m happy to say that June brought some life to them and they finally decided around the middle/end of June that it was time to pop some colour 🙂 The pictures are from June 23rd.


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And would you believe it – it took until June 28th, before my first rose sprung!

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Now, I don’t mind it being a late bloomer 🙂 As I’m greeted by a heavenly smell every time I open my front door.

Activities, exercise and projects
Now, there is that! Since I told my office the bad news early June, I’ve been out and about as much as possible, to keep my mind off it all. Between walks, mowing my neighbours stamp sized lawn, potting plants, mixing mulch, working in the garden, helping a friend shop for IKEA wardrobe and kitchen items, painting a tiny window frame and mowing the lawn at my step-mums allotment, throw in some more walks, and hanging out a lot with friends, I averaged 6 days a week on my activity scale. This time around none of them were proper workouts, as my focus was just being out.

So what about the normal stuff?

Declutter
I’ve done nil, zilch, zip! Yes I know, me bad, I just didn’t have it in me.

Will I do better in July? Hmm, I don’t think so, it is not looking good so far 😦

Only buying necessities
Back on schedule – except as you see from the allowances below, I still struggle a bit with the eating out!

  • Books – nope
  • Eating out – we are back to old habits, probably because I have been out a lot, and we did just as bad as during May.
  • Flowers and plants – none
  • Buying non essentials – yes – a thin packable down jacket, perfect for those chilly spring/summer mornings. I have been looking for a jacked like this for a very long time. And now I found it, so….

Financial goals
Nothing to report.

I guess this is it for the June monthly sum-up! Not very exciting I know, I’m sure things will “pick up” again, soon 😉

Oh yes, I forgot to tell you, I will be going to England next week (for a short week). It’s been more than a year since last time, and it’s time! I’ll be visiting my mum for a few days first, before I ramble up to London to hang out with my brother for a day or two. This time around it’s his birthday, and there is no doubt, we gotta celebrate 😉

See you soon…

Plans for 2015?

We are halfway into January, and you’re wondering, do I have any plans for 2015?

Yes, off course 🙂

I have plans within the areas of decluttering, finance, exercise and life in general! Why don’t you let me tell you all about it 😉

Declutter
In 2014, the focus was mostly on decluttering, and I’m afraid I still have ways to go 😦 Seems like decluttering and getting less stuff, inspires me to want less and less. So I will continue this in 2015. Last years goal was to declutter one item a day (365 items) and I far succeeded that, so I thought maybe I should try that one, one more time.. I think it will be harder this year to find the 365 items, but I’m sure gonna try 😉

I don’t know if you remember! Just like I’m reading myself out of my bookshelf, I’ve decided to watch myself out of my movie collection, and I also have this big, actually huge, photo project which I mentioned for you guys in November, that I will be spending time on this year.

My declutter goals for 2015;

  • 365 items
  • 100 Movies – that’s half of my collection
  • Cut my physical DVD series collection by 30% (yeah, that’s a lot, I have a lot, a lot of series)
  • 34 books –  I did 82 or something like that, out-the-door last year, but now I’m getting into more of the books I love…
  • Photo collection – oh lord…  I can’t even tell you what my goal is for this year! Half maybe?
    My overall goal is to keep key photos as physical photos, scan the other ones I’d like to have access to, and get rid of the rest. Now having several thousand photos, this is a task that will take time, and most likely spill over into 2016…

Only buying necessities
My focus last year on only buying necessities ( I want, I want – I want it now!!!) served me very well, as I had to spend quite a bit on medical treatments instead. It served me so well, I think I’d like to continue the focus this year. But with a small change compared to last years – I will add an allowance;

  • Books – I can still buy up to 10 books/magazines – preferable as e-books
  • Eating out – We did pretty good last year – we will try to squeeze even more this year, by reducing another 25% on last years results.
  • Flowers and plants – stay at the same level of last years result
  • New allowance: I can buy up to 10 non essentials throughout the year 🙂

Other financial goals
Last year I managed to pay off my car (a few months early) and I’m pretty happy with that 🙂 My ultimate goal on the other hand, is to have my house mortgage paid off, in 16 years or less, compared to the 25 it was originally. I’m 7 years in and have almost halved the mortgage so far, which is phenomenal! But it’s getting harder now that I’m on a severely reduced pay due to not working so much. Every January I pay a lump sum towards the mortgage, so my goal for 2015 is to save up 60 000 NOK for my lump sum in January 2016. If I manage that on my reduced pay, I’m doing very well.

Activity and exercise
Due to illness I have not been the most active person the last few years, every time I think I’m ready to start exercising, I’ve managed to screw that up somehow, and I’ve gotten worse again. Now on the other hand, I’m feeling better than ever and I think it’s time to give it another shot. But this time around I’m going to be careful about it and take my time!!!

The goal for this year is to build up to, by the end of the year: 7 days of activity a week, with 3 of these as real workouts.

  • By activity I mean something that gets me up and going and preferable out of the house, like a walk in the neighbour hood, work in the yard, run around playing with kids… just about anything that gets me out of that couch, gives me some fresh air, and brings me into a moving state 😉
  • With real workout I mean an activity like for example going to the gym, yoga, biking, running, Rollerblade … you get the drift.

Other activities/projects this year
I have a few other things on my agenda 🙂 Like; travel, projects in my yard, other projects, throw a garden party, ++
But these, I think I’ll tell you more about, as we move into the year 😉

So that’s it for my 2015 goals… enough don’t you think?

 

What I gained this trip!

As you all know, I’ve been on this mission to declutter and get rid of stuff!

Going to Houston I had plans to buy 2 t- shirts and 1 pair of jeans as replacement for worn out stuff. That was, until my luggage went missing!

Yes you heard right! Upon landing in Houston, my luggage was still sitting in Stavanger. It had never made it on the plane… ???

“Well” I thought “that’s OK, it will make it here tomorrow… No sweat”

Turns out tomorrow came and went, and so did the next day, and the next, and during my “hunt” for information, nobody and I mean nobody seemed to have any idea where in the world my luggage was!

Fortunately the friend I was staying with, is of the generous type, but after three days of walking around in oversized men’s clothing, I caved and went shopping.

2 t-shirts, 2 bras, 3 undies, 1 sleep shorts and a couple of jeans later, I get the phone call I had been waiting for “We have your luggage ma’am, it will be delivered today”!

“Well that don’t sound too bad”, you’re thinking, “you were going to buy some of that anyway”. You’re right, I was… but what I promptly forgot in the middle of all this, is that I went to Houston to celebrate my birthday. And just because my intentions were no birthday gifts…. 😉

So here I am, returning from my “wasn’t going to buy anything trip” with an extra set of items in my luggage:

  • 8 T-shirts
  • 1 shirt
  • 2 bras
  • 3 undies
  • 2 sleep shorts
  • 2 pair of jeans
  • 5 books
  • 2 notebooks
  • 1 ring
  • and a bunch of birthday cards

That’s 27 new items in-the-door!

This was not quite according to plan!

I must say though, I kinda really did need a few replacement pieces of clothing… 😉 and I am very appreciative of my wonderful friends gifts, which have given me some new favourite pieces 🙂

Hmm, guess this means, I will have to start a hunt for items to shed, to make up for what just came into my house…

HELP!!!

How do you guys handle unexpected gifts coming into your house?

 

A Tiny Village

Since 1952 KLM have been handing out Delft Blue Miniature Houses that are replicas of some of the Old Dutch Houses situated along the canals in Amsterdam and other age-old towns in Holland. These are normally given to people that travel in business class.

I’ve been traveling a bit over the years and between me and friends traveling on KLM, I have acquired quite a collection of these houses.

In the name of decluttering, I have decided to downsize this collection a little, I don’t really need them all, and they take up space. So I’m keeping 9 (for now) and giving away the rest.

I have a friend of mine in Houston, and his mother is a big collector of the KLM houses. So guess where my left over houses are going?

YEPP, you’ve guessed it 😉 I’ve packed about half of the give always in my suitcase coming over to Houston, and I’m handing them over today!

So today! 15 Tiny houses goes out-the-door (or out-of-suitcase as it is) 🙂

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Woohoo – Houston here I come!

I can’t believe it’s September 12th already, and I’m about to get on a plane to jolly old Houston!

It’s going to be a fun but busy trip! There are birthdays to celebrate (no, not just mine), friends to meet,lunches, dinners and not to forget a spa day 🙂

I’ll try my best to stay connected while I’m enjoying the warm days in shorts, t-shirt, flip-flops and hopefully a frozen margaritas in my hand 😉

The inner workings of Heathrow airport!

Remember I told your that I spent some time packing up a clock, I was going to bring with me from London back to Norway? Well it turns out that that clock would take us to the inner workings of Heathrow airport on our way back!

You see, it’s a huge clock! It has a diameter of 122 cm (48 inches). Not exactly something you put in a regular suitcase!

I bought this clock when I was in London, over Christmas last year. It used to hang behind the bar, in my brothers “local” pub, The Bridge House. My brother and his wife lived just around the corner of this pub when they first moved to London, and even though they now have moved further away, they still stay faithful to their “local” pub. And I understand why!

The people that works there are super friendly, always smiling, keen to help and they make even me who don’t get to go there often, feel like part of the family 🙂 No wonder my brother choose to hold his wedding reception in their upstairs party room. They did a wonderful job, and did I mention, their food is really good!

Darn, sitting here, writing about it, makes me miss the place! Guess we need to get back to that clock! I had been searching forever for a big clock to hang in my home, and walking into the The Bridge House, over Christmas, I saw it hanging on the wall, and “fell in love” 🙂 It was made by an local artist, and I couldn’t believe it when Wayne (the owner) let me buy it from him. Big, BIG hug, Wayne 🙂

Turns out shipping wasn’t quite as easy as we thought it would be, so we decided I would bring it back with me on the plane on my May trip.

We packed the clock into a home-made “box”, really some thin mdf type plates, added some wooden pieces, nailed it all together and taped the heck out of the edges with duck tape 🙂

I was a bit nervous about if the airline would let it on the plane, but as soon as they checked it, I felt a sense if relief.

When I turned around to leave for the passport control, I got stopped… “Not so quick madam, you need to come with us!” What the heck? With a sinking feeling I followed this guy who was rolling away my “box”.

Now what? Through some big doors we went, into a tight looooong hallway, deeper and deeper into the inner workings of Heathrow airport. The guy didn’t speak English much, so an explanations wasn’t really forthcoming!

After something that felt like we’d been walking forever (probably really about 5 or 6 minutes) we stopped. The guy tried to put the “box”, which was starting to look as big as a house, through a machine… but nope, no luck! The box was to big, so onwards we went, twisting a turning around all sorts of things, in this low ceiling, dark, tight hallway.

I was starting to wonder were in the world we were going, when he finally stopped in front of some huge doors, and with not a word, he disappeared. And there I was, way into the dark dungeons of Heathrow airport, standing there like a fool, not knowing what was going on, no one around to explain. And no way to get back!!

Suddenly the doors “exploded” open (actually pretty calmly opened, but that doesn’t make for such a good story, now does it 😉 ) and I’m beckoned through, and are met by 3 burly men standing there in their yellow vest looking at me. Oh yeah, this feels really great…

Finally someone who spoke English (sort of). Turns out the machine he was trying to get the box through was an ex-ray machine. And since the box is to big, they have to manually check the box, could I please open it!

What!! Open it, did they know how long I had spend trying to put the darn thing together, and how there are nails, and how much duck tape I had used (and how I had nothing left). Well, turns out, they didn’t care, it had to be opened!

So now this hunt starts for someone with a manual scanner, something to cut the duct tape and some tape to put it back together with.

My goodness, I’m glad I decided to add a few hours to my airport time (just in case), because this wasn’t quite the easy transit I was expecting!

Thankfully, it turns out the guy who scanned it manually, was nice enough to let me not have to open it fully. (I think this was due to me showing a picture if what was inside, and fighting like hell not to have to open all of it. Since it would be a serious pain to put it back together, and they had no tools). Turns out, all I needed to do was open the edges enough for him to stick his magic scanning wand (and arm) into the box, from two different sides. Phew!

So about one hour after I checked the “darn” thing, the box was taped back up, the guys was smiling and I was worn out, but at least free to once again, try to find passport control 🙂

Remind me, NEVER to do this again 😉

You were wondering if it made it to Norway in one piece?

Yepp, it did, here is the box, with airport tape and all! And the clock? Well it haven’t made it to the walls yet, but it’s leaning pretty comfortable to a piece of furniture, for the time beeing 😉

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Made it…

Made it! All the way to London (both me and the luggage) 🙂

After doing some tourist things like walking along the Thames river all day, we are now nicely tucked into my brothers house. Drinking coffee, tea and mocha (yes that’s me), all in pj’s watching an episode of “Dads”. It’s nice to relax at the end of a travel day 🙂

Thought I’d share some pictures (iPhone, so not the best quality) from the walk along the Thames today.

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London here I come…

It’s my mums birthday on Saturday, and since it’s a round number, it calls for an extra celebration 🙂

Since my brother and his wife live in London, and mum lives in the south of England, we have decided to meet up in London to celebrate mum this year.

And today I get on a plane… with luggage full of stuff 🙂

Luggage full of stuff? Just for a few days in London? Well, most of my luggage consist of things for my brother actually.

After my dad passed away last year, there have been a few things that have ended up in my house, as we have gone through dad’s stuff. And some of these items I’ve been holding for my brother.

Since I’m going to England for the celebration, I thought I might as well bring a couple of the items with me. And since these are literally things out-the-door 😉 I’ll be posting a little about the items as I hand them over.

Well, I better get out if here, I have a plane to catch. See you all in London 🙂