Story of my Kelty

My first backpacking experience was pretty good. It started out in 18 pounds in my Kelty and my day pack was 18 pounds also. I tried my best to remove things from the Kelty before the trip. The packing and repacking took me probably 10 hours in total but the weight fluctuation was below 1 pound. It turned out later that except for the Gameboy which I played for 1 minute, everything else has been used at least twice (my principle of including an item in my backpack).

photo left: Last minute packing at home to reduce 2 ounces worth of plastic bags.

photo right:It has become a routine upon check in: laying down the bags, zipping open the Kelty, repacking my daypack for the day trip and leaving my Kelty locked at the hotel

left photo: arriving in our night train for the Giza to Aswan ride. I was happy to unload my day pack from my chest.

Mike laughed at me as I tried on the Kelty then stacked my day pack in the front. Here was a giant sandwich in our living room and I was the filling. As I went on the trip, the first time everyone had to carry all the luggage was leaving for Giza train station for the overnight train to Aswan. I realized that it was THE way to go - the backpack in the back and the day pack in the front. Everyone was doing it! It actually helped with balance and was much lighter and more manoeuvrable than holding the day pack in my hand.

Every city we went, my backpack gained a couple pounds. I collected stones, rocks and shells. Then there was the heavy alabaster ibis the old man sold me in Luxor during my frenzy of running to catch our bus and haggling while walking. Julee was yelling at me to leave and the old man was yelling back at Julee in Arabic to get out of his hair so he could make the sale. I regretted instantly as I hopped on the bus. The stone bird probably weighed 3 pounds and was absolutely not a smart purchase at the beginning of a backpacking trip.

photo left: In the Cairo hotel on Day 8, trying on my backpack the night before heading to Sinai and the Red Sea coast, here is my papyrus tube that contained my Ramses II coronation story in two big papyrus sheets. I took out the sleeping bag from the Kelty. From that point on, the sleeping bag was tied to the bottom of the Kelty using Julee's extra straps.

Julee's cast with everyone's signatures and words. Too bad it was soaked in the Dead Sea so most words were no longer legible, even though she tried to dry it with a hair dryer in Madaba for hours.

With Julee's arm out of commission, at times I helped with her backpack. She's a light packer so I figure her pack was between 25 to 30 lbs close to the end of the trip. In Petra I have discovered my "amazing" strength which I never knew before. When we first arrived at the Petra Moon Hotel, we were served coffee. It was my first coffee on the trip since I always chose tea. I filled the cup and only had two sips when Daniel gave out the room keys. I quickly put the Kelty on my back, stacked the day pack in the front, picked up Julee's backpack with my right hand, wrapped my papyrus tube (my precious purchase from Cairo) on my right shoulder, and last but not least, I picked up my cup of coffee in my left hand. Julee and I climbed the stairs together to our room on the second floor. I felt like the donkey in Luxor who carried me up the mountain. But really it was not that bad! Julee was dying of laughing seeing me loaded up like a pack mule and stealing sips of coffee while walking up. I was surprised myself. That was the moment I proudly transcended from the girly gal to the Amazon.

Last night trashing and packing went on... My Kelty continued to amaze me. I was not aware how much stuff it could hold. Everytime I bought more things, I got stressed out about stuffing them in the backpack. But the Kelty did not fail me. It stretched and lengthened and everything was put in.

Here is the mess we made trying to fit everything into the backpacks before our 7 AM flight back home.

My Kelty was 44 pounds at the Queen Alia International Airport. My day pack was about 20 which I carried onto the plane with my well wrapped tube of papyrus. By the way everything made it! ...the rocks from Petra, the shells from the Red Sea, the blue lapis cats from Luxor, the ceramics and the mosaics from Madaba, and even the 12X15" photo of that stunning 19th century Tunisian gypsy girl in Egypt, without a crease!