Starfish Travels

So I said, "I realized during the last time I moved that I have too much stuff. I do pack light though. That or I have really small clothes". In which he replied, "You have really small clothes".

More than ten years ago, I packed my room and left. I said goodbye to my pink wallpapered room. My 1924 address changed to 914. I packed more than 10 boxes then because I have lived in that room for around 14 years. But I had to say goodbye.

This year, I moved my daily life again. I packed 3 boxes of clothes and daily knick knacks that all came from just one room. I still have a room in Cavite filled with the boxes I moved from the 1924 address. Nowadays, my Cavite room looks like a storage room for everybody else. I spend just a day or two there every weekend. Looking at every box piled in our new place made me realize a goal for this year - I need to be able to pack my life in 6 boxes (or less). That would be such an achievement for someone who still keeps the wax balls from cemetery visits ten years ago, grade school contest prizes, and high school candy wrappers. I was a sentimental child. Even until now, I tend to keep trinkets from my trips - a shotglass, a refrigerator magnet, a bookmark or a shirt. Sometimes all four. But in reality, we all just need photos and one physical keepsake from chapters in our lives.

It's amazing how you can pack your life in boxes. And how you need to trim it down. Stop accumulating all the junk that doesn't serve a purpose in your life. Stop hanging on to random notes from someone in the past. The past years of traveling has taught me that there are a lot of things in life that can be replaced. And as one of my friends recently told me, "moving is pretty much the same as travel, you need a laptop and clothes...whatever I left behind I can get again, or didn't really want anyway".

I have always been a light packer. For those two week out-of-the-country trips, I usually bring one suitcase with enough space for shopping. It would have been less if not for the cocktail and gala nights required by work. For my three to four day trips, I pack it in one backpack. I never go beyond one bag. This surprises me how much boxes I need for my rooms. And how much clothes I never got to touch. And how much random things I still have - from lecture notes to chocolate wrappers to random doodles. Every time I live out of my backpack, I reinforce to myself how I can live without all the things in my room. So I should. Travel light, not just in travels but in life. Get rid of those excess baggage.