50 lb Luggage (23 kg)!

I cannot tell you how excited I am that my luggage weighs exactly 50 lbs! Yesterday it was 70 lbs. After re-packing countless times and discarding many things, it's finally down to its allowable weight. I absolutely underestimated how hard it would be to pack my whole life under 50 lbs. As I'm looking at the things I had to take out: winter ski jacket, white blazer, suede boots, green sweater, black jacket and my favourite Lululemon duffle bag - it sucks :( Now my policy is if I want to add anything else to my luggage, I need to take something out.

I am taking two luggage with me. One is a 28/29" and the other is a 20" carry-on. Both are made by Atlantic. I don't know if they are a good brand but they were on sale and it looks different than just plain black. I really hope it won't break on me!

I wanted to write down a list of things I'm bringing with me but I don't want to tempt the fates by opening up my perfectly packed luggage so I'm going to list things from memory.

Check-in: 

• Clothes 
• jeans, leggings, tights, yoga pants, dress pants
• long sleeves, short sleeves, sleeveless, tank tops
• dresses (casual and formal)
• winter/fall coat, blazer, light jacket
• scarves, hats, gloves, socks
• Make up & tools
• Toiletries - small size shampoo, conditioner, body wash
• Sewing and medicine kits
• Body lotion & deodorant
• Shoes
• runners, flats, flip flops, heels (1 pair each T.T)
• Gifts

Carry-on:

• summer clothes
• under garments
• important documents
• little make up bag
• small first aid kit
• snacks
• hair straightener + plug converter
• jewelry

I'm also taking a big purse as my personal item to keep things I need access to readily like my passport, wallet, ipad, etc. 

I might be a tad too over organized because I've already picked out my airport outfit. :) 

Update on Visa and Packing

We received our Visa Issuance number!...and now we wait for the Korean Visa. Mine will be ready by July 14th and Neil's on July 17th-ish.

I started cleaning, organizing and packing my suitcase. Neil has less stuff (:P) so he's pretty much packed. I, on the other hand, have been doing it almost every night. Going over all my stuff and putting them into, take, keep and throw piles. I've pretty much sorted all the "keep" stuff and now need to decide between take and throw. It should be done by this weekend. And then I have a week and a half of living out of my suitcase :)

This is my take/throw pile of make up/lotions

This whole process has been pretty quick from the moment we decided to apply online. This wasn't something spontaneously decided on a drunken night. We've talked about it for a while and even applied for EPIK but neither of us made it through. So the next logical step was to apply for private schools through recruiters. I started applying online at the end of May and Neil started at the beginning of June. Below is a time line of how quickly everything happened. (Please note it probably helped that we both had our documents ready before we got a job offer)

May 26 - I applied online
June 2 - Neil applied online
June 9 - contacted by TEK to apply as a couple
June 14 - potential job offered
June 15-16 - interviewed with the school
June 17 - accepted job offer
June 18 - officially confirmed/job offer - emailed signed contract
June 19 - sent documents/paperwork to SK via Fedex
June 22 - my documents arrived in SK
June 26 - Neil's documents arrived in SK
July 2 - Visa Issuance number received
July 2 - I went to the Korean Consulate in Vancouver to submit my papers for the Korean Visa
July 3 - Neil mailed his documents to the Korean Consulate in London
July 3 - exchanged CAD$ for British Pounds and Korean Won
July 14 - pick up Visa & Passport in Vancouver
July 16 - I leave for the UK
July 17 - Neil to receive Visa & Passport
July 21 - we leave for SK
July 22 - arrive in SK

All of this is happening in less than a month! Like I said, super quick!

Korean Won and British Pounds

When I'm done packing this weekend, I'll let you know about all the things I'm packing. While most things are available in Gwangju, there are some things that's not readily available, like deodorant!