Final Preparations - Galapagos 2011

I am finding that packing for a 15 day trip for fishing and filming in the Galapagos Islands and getting my life in order so I can leave is incredibly difficult.

I have set up areas around the house where I have staged my gear for the various elements of this trip. This includes:

• Fishing tackle for trolling, jigging, and popping
• Fishing rods (somehow stuffed into my travel tube)
• Fishing reels (including new Penn TRQS7)
• Still and video cameras and chargers, cards, tapes, cables, etc.
• Laptop, external hard drive, and various cables and chargers
• Travel documents and money
• Travel clothes, fishing clothes, and lounging clothes
• Stuff requested by my friends in San Cristobal (electronics, health needs, etc.)
• Personal electronics including 2 Epribs and a SART

My carry-on has all the camera gear, my laptop, the expensive electronics, sunglasses, and one change of clothes. It weighs at least 30lbs and as always looks like a back problem waiting to happen. It is really important that I make sure my electronics are kept safe on this journey, so I need to make sure that I take a look at this article as well as similar others, to prepare myself when I leave.

The Dogs

Note the dog on the left (Dusty), to get to me you must get through her, you best have your affairs in order...

My lead dog Dusty is just miserable. She is way too smart not to know what is going on. I suspect the more stuff she sees me packing, the more miserable she gets, to the point where I was even tempted to see if I could get hold of something like this CBD oil for dogs UK to see if that might be able to help her relax a little and not be TOO sad that I’m going. My other “happy-go-lucky” dog Daisy just doesn’t care. She knows that Kyle (house sitting) will feed her and take her for runs. She will be just fine. They really do have everything they need, from enough food and toys to last them a LONG time, to beds like these memory foam beds for dogs to sleep on as and when they please. I wish I could bring them with me. They are the finest fishing dogs in the world, their amazing senses would prove useful on this trip. They will just need to wait for the spring before they see the water again…

Not Getting Any Easier

This is my seventh trip and it seems to be getting harder every time. Aside from the trip, I am leaving my business behind (not Northeast Angling, but the one that actually pays the bills), but my team is pretty damned good and I am not worried. Hopefully I remembered to put everything on my laptop that I need. If not, Kyle, Jackie, or Lauren will need to send it to me. I wish I could just hand over all the itinerary planning to a luxury travel bookings agency the next time, so they can handle the big parts and I can focus on getting my things together. Anyway, for now I think I am all set, so off I go.

This will be the first time I will try to share the experience with everyone. I hope the posts don’t come fast and furious at the beginning and then lose steam as the days wear on. I plan on posting again from JFK tonight.