There is a Packing Crisis

I packed my bags on Friday night, and except for a mild nagging worry that my carry on was too big because of my camera, I was all ready to go. I only needed to add my ipad to my carry-on and I would be ready to walk out the door. I had my vaccinations in March, I picked up my money on June 19th, and I've been ready for quite some time.

Then yesterday morning, I asked what I thought was a routine question (will be be storing our stuff at the hotel when we head to the west side of Rwanda five days before our departure date) and received an answer that was anything but routine. I was expecting our trip organizer to say "Yes we will be storing our bags" and instead was told that while we will be storing the bags when we head out on our first multi-night trip, we will not be storing them on our second multi-night trip. That means that we will be finishing whatever we are doing on the day that we depart, and then returning to Kigali only to go straight to the airport. That means we have to carry all of our stuff with us.
Regular readers may remember that I purchased a large LLBean rolling duffle. It's a good-sized bag. But I remember how small the busses in Rwanda are, and how we needed a pick-up truck to take our stuff from the airport to our guesthouse the last time we were in Rwanda. On the understanding that there would be no way that all of our large bags could fit comfortably in the bus, I had to start editing.

it was good to know i could fit things in my small duffle I bought in London four years ago, but the Fit was tight, and I had to leave many things behind. It also meant, even accounting for things that will be left behind for our hosts and things that will get consumed, like snacks, that there would be no room for souvenirs any larger than a gauzy scarf, and that didn't make me happy. I ended up opting for a medium wheeled duffle I also had in stock.
In fact thinking about that last trip with all of our stuff jammed in the bus makes me kind of worried. I don't like being squashed amid bags in a bus. What if I need to leave the bus quickly? What if there is an accident?

So our plan is to go to the airport with our newly packed small bags, but we will take our large bags along too. Dave will wait in the no pay parking for our signal. If our leader has a large bag, we will call Dave and meet him out front and then load our stuff into our larger bags.

We just might have to rent a room to store all of our things in. It won't cost much if it is divided by the twenty people who are on the trip.