Packing in three dimmensions

Packing for a trip is both exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. Exciting, as you grab each item and think of the adventures you will have. Nerve wracking, thinking about the items you may not have grabbed that you will miss on your trip.

I was at the very beginning of my packing, having started with the largest item: Tripod. I pull out a suitcase I had been given, thinking it will be plenty big to hold a tripod. I look at this suitcase: a lot smaller than I remember, now that I need to pack for six weeks. Put the tripod in on a diagonal. Uh-oh. Too long by a good 5cm. Now what? I squeeze the unit in, but now the suitcase is distorted; doubt I’d even be able to zip it shut. Go routing through my Dad’s old camera equipment and find his old tripod. That fits! OK, now at least I’ve got something, but my tripod is so much better… I continue packing other stuff, but keep coming back to the tripod. Go look at the suitcase again. So many zippers on this thing, do you need that many compartments on a small suitcase? Then I unzip the one zipper I have not figured out yet and lo: the suitcase expands in thickness. But that is not the dimension I need to get the tripod to fit in. But then I remember Spock’s line out of “Wrath of Khan” “{Khan’s} pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking” Ah ha! I have to put the tripod in diagonally on the z axis as well, NOW it fits! I’m finding Star Trek quotes quite useful for this adventure so far, I guess it makes sense considering that Star Trek was an exploration show, just like my trip is one of exploration. The exploration begins in two days…