I’ve written about the pickle I get myself in when packing for a Toy Photography gathering before. And that’s when I’m only making an 80-kilometre trip from the coast to the city of Melbourne. What about when I’m making a 14,000-kilometre trip from Australia to the U.S. for the Oregon Toy Photo Safari?

Some things change

I’ve never had to pack spare camera batteries. Spare SD cards have never been on my list either.

Passports, Visas and foreign currencies have never been a requirement to take photos of toys either?

I’ll be the ticket if you’re my collector
I’ve got the fare if you’re my inspector
I’ll be the luggage, if you’ll be the porter
I’ll be the parcel if you’ll be my sorter
The Damned – Love Song

And speaking of toys, every group Photo Meetup I’ve attended here has been LEGO. I’ve never had to pack toys for a trip, apart from family holidays. LEGO is easy to pack. It’s small. It fits neatly into a container. And I can pack a lot of it. Maybe too much?

But packing toys is a whole other ballgame. Man, they take up space! And that’s space in my limited baggage allowance? LEGO I can over pack. Toys I have to be selective.

To the toys that didn’t make the cut this time, I’m sorry. I’ll bring you back some new friends to play with.

I’ve never had to think about printing photos for a photo exchange. A gift for the white elephant gift exchange? Never had to think about that before. And Tim Tams? I’ve never had to think about how many packets of Tim Tams I can fit into my luggage for a Toy Photo Meetup before either!

Some remain the same

Even though I got an insight into the locations we might be visiting for the Oregon Toy Photo Safari from Shelly’s planning post, and the wonderful stories and posts shared by Janelle, Cindy and Leila, I still got myself into a pickle selecting what LEGO to pack. Beaches, forests and concrete are familiar to me. Well, Australian beaches, forests and concrete? Would what I’d pack for trip down to my local beach work all the way over there? The local moss looks like ours, but the trees are different. And despite all the puddles, the concrete at Battery Russell looked a lot like our concrete.

So, as I do when I’m only traveling 80-kilometres up the road to for a #brickstameet, I’ve no doubt over packed LEGO. No doubt they’ll be LEGO that never leaves the container. Or maybe it will, finding a purpose in front of someone else’s lens?

Packing pickles? Nah, packing cookies!

Packing pickles? Nah, packing cookies!

With less than 2 weeks before I fly out for the Oregon Toy Photo Safari, I’m sure of a few things. I know I’ve over packed LEGO. I know I’ll rue omitting some the toys from my packing. There won’t be enough Tim Tams packed. And I know I’ll have the most amazing time!

-Brett

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