By Lisabet Sarai
Don’t
laugh. I’ve done a lot of traveling, visiting every continent
except Australia. On almost every trip, I’ve been weighed down by
excess luggage. I recall my first journey to Bali, in the mid-1980s.
I’d bought a new soft-sided bag, what seemed like a clever
innovation with four small wheels on the bottom and zippers that
allowed you to add capacity, in several stages. I wasn’t able to
find a picture even on the Internet—that’s how long ago it
was!—but imagine something like a vertically expandable rolling
backpack. Plenty of space, I figured, plus with the wheels I wouldn’t
have to carry it. I stuffed it to the gills. Then I spent hot,
miserable hours dragging it behind me along the dirt roads in Legian,
looking for a guest house.
In
2000, my husband and I took a dream vacation to Provence. Ten days.
Four suitcases, two large and two small. We’d booked an intimate,
atmospheric hotel on the harbor in Marseille, quintessentially
French. I adored the place—except for the fact that it had no
elevator, just lovely spiral staircases. Our room on the fourth floor
had a wonderful view. What I recall most vividly, though, is
wrestling those heavy bags up to the room, then down again. We had to
do that twice each way, since we both arrived and departed from
Marseille and stayed in the same hotel both times.
Never
again, I swore. I’m going to be really careful on my next trip,
taking nothing but the absolute essentials. Just one suitcase for the
two of us. It would have to be bigger of course, and would be
somewhat heavier, but surely a single bag would be easier to handle
than two... That’s a fine theory, I discovered, as long as you’re
not traveling by train in France, where many of the smaller stations
have no lifts and no elevators. (I was a bit shocked at the lack of
concern for handicapped passengers, to be honest.)
Why
do I always end up packing so much? There are a number of reasons.
For one thing, my travels often combine business and leisure. That
means I need both formal and casual clothing, and the shoes to go
with them.
Yes,
shoes are a major problem. Another one of my life goals is to find a
single pair of shoes comfortable and sturdy enough for walking miles,
while still fancy enough to go with a suit or a dress. In fact, I
can’t walk in any pair of shoes for more than a day. With my
seriously pronated arches, I get blisters from any shoes if I wear
them consistently. Thus, even for a few days away, I need several
changes of footwear.
Another
issue is weather. I live in a tropical climate. If I’m on my way to
some place more temperate, I have to pack warmer clothing, including
bulky outerwear, plus lighter items to wear on the way home.
Excuses,
excuses!
Yes,
I admit I usually pack more items than I need. I don’t want to have
to figure out a week’s wardrobe ahead of time. I like to have a bit
of choice about what to wear. Is that a sin?
If
it is, it’s one I pay for in backaches and exhaustion.
We
had a friend visit, back when I lived in the US, a woman from
Scotland who was former stewardess. She’d come for a two week
vacation, all the way from the UK, and was traveling across America.
All she had in the way of luggage was a rolling suitcase that would
easily fit in the bin above an airline seat. Yet she managed to look
fabulous during her entire three day stay with us.
I
realized after looking at what she carried that one key to traveling
light is having the right clothes. You need stuff that is
compressible and that won’t wrinkle. Everything needs to follow the
same color scheme, so you can mix and match. Plus you need
lightweight fabrics that you can wash, preferably by hand. If your
destination is chilly, plan to wear layers rather than bringing
individual warm but space consuming pieces.
I’m
proud to report that I am getting better, though I haven’t yet
truly met my goal. Lately my DH and I have been managing with a
single medium-sized bag for all our clothing and toiletries, plus two
carry ons. Those hold our laptops, tablets, cables, charges and other
essentials of the twenty-first century. That’s something I didn’t
need to worry about when I went to Bali.
At
the end of September I’m off to Europe on business. It will be a
relatively short trip, but I’m already stressed about packing. I’m
especially concerned because I will likely still need crutches due to
my broken leg. Clearly I can’t pull a suitcase behind me.
Some
people have nightmares about monsters or murderers. As for me, I have
a recurring anxiety dream about packing. The details vary, but it’s
always a situation where I have only ten minutes before I leave on a
trip. I have to select what to take, often no more than what will fit
in a backpack. I race around, frantic, trying to make decisions about
what’s essential.
I
guess that’s the critical point: deciding what’s essential. For
the upcoming trip, I’ve decided that it doesn’t matter what I
look like. The main point is surviving the twelve hours in the plane,
not freezing to death, and managing to get around while I’m there.
I
wonder if I can do that with just a carry-on?
