I'm horrible at packing. Even after all this time and all the traveling I do. I still overpack, and it's kind of shameful when you meet up with your co-traveller(s) and see how they've managed to get a month's worth of needs into an old Jansport booksack from high school while you've got on a huge, pricey backpack you've been personally fitted for at an outdoors store (can that be considered a bespoke backpack?) and you're strapped into it with so many clasps and belts you'd swear it's a jetpack. And they say, "Dang, what have you got in there?" And you smile sheepishly and think of how you've dedicated so much time to pulling out and considering all the things you really wanted to bring, had your own internal committee narrow it down to what you think you can get away with and then brought in an external auditor to analyze the contents and tell you that no, you really don't need all that.
I suck at this part of the planning stage, obvs. But the good news is I know what books to bring! (Pictured above) I've got the textbook for the Teaching English as a Foreign Language course, hereby referred to as TEFL course, two travel guides of Prague and outlying areas with cool pictures and illustrations n' stuff, and a phrasebook.
I've decided against any leisure reading as the last two times I've ventured abroad, they only took up space. I never even cracked 'em open. And really, there's all kinds of pretty scenery to take in anyway. I figure travel info and useful phrases are enough reading for me right now.
Interesting bit I discovered in the phrasebook: A "c" does not make the same sound in Czech as it does in English. It makes a "ts" sound. So "cats" would sound like "tsats" in Czech. Now, add a couple of strange accent marks to that "c" and everything you know about how your tongue and lips make sounds just fails you from then on.
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