Absolutely not, Mom said. In no way would the packing explosion in my room contaminate the rest of the house. Request to “stage” bags in the living room: denied.

I didn’t blame her; my room looked like the aftermath of REI fire sale.  Fleece and camp crap every which where. When it came to packing for six months in Antarctica, I was way out of my element.

So I did what any good dummy should do, and asked for help from the experts. Say, Antarcticans, what should I bring to your fair continent? The responses varied widely.

Bring Liquor, one said. Bring Whiskey, another said. Stuff your USAP parka with bottles of liquor, another said. See? Wide and varied responses.

One feller took an unexpected turn with “bring Burt’s Bees products.” Moisturizing is key on the Ice, he said. And while marinating your liver in booze is also key, soaking your hands in liquor won’t help.

Besides the booze, everyone said the same thing: don’t be a zealous new kid over-packer. You can get everything here, they insisted. But I overpacked anyway, unwilling to sacrifice my romantic notion of penguins and polar ice for Starbucks and strip malls.

As usual, the truth is somewhere in between. And my rebellion only means I’ll have to lose about 10 pounds before the flight to Antarctica.