April 22, 2026
Retiree on the Road / Travel / Travel Tips & Resources

The Retiree on the Road … Nova Scotia #1 (Prep and Packing)

Thursday, September 23 is a big day. This will be the day that the Love-goddess and I and some friends strike out on a road trip to Nova Scotia. The house-sitter arrives at the crack of dawn, and then we are off! This will be our first post pandemic… If you can really call it “post” given that we’re still right in the midst of the fourth wave…. travel adventure.

We chose this destination for our first expedition out of province because we had done a trip through the Maritimes with the same friends a few years ago, but we really did not get a chance to explore much of Nova Scotia, other than seeing some of Cape Breton.

The Love-goddess and I have vacationed in Nova Scotia many times. We love the province and are really looking forward to showing our friends around. Part of this outing includes a rental of a lovely home on the ocean near Chester where we will spend a week, chilling, watching the tides roll in and out, and eating a prodigious amount of lobster and mussels.

“The Retiree on the Road” is a new feature I am adding to my site. The purpose is to share photos and tales of our various journeys as they happen, and to let you get in a little vicarious travel and maybe pick up some ideas for future travel destination for yourself. This will include photos and anecdotes from various stops along the way as we wander about. Most trips will be covered in multiple posts.

This travel adventure is a literal “road” trip in a car. This first post covers the little bit of prep we undertake before an automobile road trip, and how I am attempting to master packing for a trip of any length with my new carry-on backpack travel bag. I will be using the packing tips I identified in my recent “Travel Tips – Part 2” post. If I can manage with just this one single bag on this trip I know I will be able to do it on months’ long trips anywhere in the world. You’re about to find out if this is doable as I work my way through it.

The photos in this post, and others in this series, are best enjoyed on a desktop/laptop or in horizontal view on your iPad. There is an issue looking at them on cellphones which I am trying to get resolved.

First Up – A Couple of Thoughts About Trunk Space

I must be honest; this is the first time I’ve ever thought of doing this. I decided that we would check out how all the bags we were planning on taking would fit in the back of the car. Didn’t want to get to our friends’ home at 6 o’clock in the morning on the day we left and then discover that we could not take everything we wanted with us.

Because we have downsized to a smaller SUV I knew we would not have the same trunk space available to us as we had on our last road trip down east. On that trip, we took our friends large SUV which allowed us to take our golf clubs, and we each had a decent sized suitcase.

As it turned out, it was a very good idea. As you can see, everyone was sensitive to the reduced amount of trunk space we would have, and everything fits with room to spare.

 

I also remembered that under the floor of the trunk there was an additional storage area a few inches high above the spare tire where we could cram all the golf stuff we were taking… shoes, foul weather gear, hats, balls, tees, etc. All of this can just stay in there until we need it. And it will be easy to get to because the suitcases will be inside our accommodation already.

Book Prep

As you will read in part three of my Travel Tips series, I will be recommending that you read e-books on your iPad rather than carrying paper books with you. Unnecessary bulk and weight. Travelling by car is very different because you do have extra space. The point being, don’t forget to stock up on reading material. J

Say what you will about Amazon, but when you order a couple of books on a Sunday, and they are delivered to your front door the following day you do come to an understanding of why they have grown so large and why so many people do an inordinate amount of shopping on their site. Really looking forward to digging into these two beauties.

Packing… the Moment of Truth

I decided that if I wanted to achieve “one bag travel” enlightenment, I really should start deciding what I was going to take and get it all packed up well in advance. I did not want to be beset by last minute panic trying to decide what to take and leave out.

So here is everything I decided that I would need to take with me. The only thing, or things, not shown in this photo are all the adaptors for the gear I will be taking and some other doodads. I thought this would give me a variety of clothing for different situations and weather.

 

Here is all the clothing rolled up using the Ranger Roll methodology I highlighted in my Travel Tips – Part 2 post. As you can see, it greatly reduces the volume that all the stuff will take up in a suitcase. I did not Ranger roll the pants and shorts at the top of the picture… I just rolled them up as is.

 

The Ranger Roll is so easy to do that I can still do it now even though I no longer have any fingertips. Lol!

 

Here is my first run through with stuffing everything into the four packing cubes I bought. The thing I like about the three black ones is that they open all the way, the blue one does not… It converts to a backpack, so I guess it is a small price to pay. Pardon the feet. 🙂

 

And here is my final arrangement. I needed to get my second pair of shoes in here someplace, so I chucked out one long sleeve T-shirt and stuffed all the socks into the shoes. It all worked out beautifully. I added a gray pullover and dropped the blue dress shirt (discards in top right of photo). I really did not need three dress shirts.

 

And here it is. All of my clothes and extra shoes are zipped up inside the four packing cubes and the pants I am taking are zipped up in the large lid pocket. My toiletries are in one of the small zip-up lid pockets along with the Ziploc bags I never travel without in the other. The laptop and iPad go in their special pockets tomorrow morning.

 

Locked and loaded and ready to go. Next up, Quebec city.

 

 

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