While we’re talking about traveling…
And we were talking about traveling, weren’t we?
So it’s probably time to revisit this Jenna Marbles video about packing. This is me, unfortunately—a “just in case” packer. Plus, just my hair products alone weigh several pounds:
I used to send boxes ahead of time for longer trips. But in recent years, the price of sending a box has become exorbitant, so I’ve stopped doing that. Now I just take an extra suitcase if need be (still only $35 on Jet Blue and free on Southwest) and rent one of those cute little carts at the airport.
This next one is apropos of nothing, but I like it so much I’m just going to throw it in:
Actually, maybe it does have something to do with travel. When I returned my rented car at the airport on my most recent trip, in the flurry of activity I left my black coat on the black rear seat. I needed that coat for my Boston airport arrival, and luckily Enterprise got it right back to me, dispensing someone to drive it over to the departure drop-off area where I stood (with my cart and my suitcases), waiting. Now that’s service.
Lastly, if you—like me—sometimes skirt the 50-pound limit on your luggage, this is a great purchase I recently made and am very happy indeed with it:
I’ve figured out a new way to do Amazon links; if you click on that photo above, it leads you to Amazon. I can’t find the exact size I got, which was about a 28-incher and weighs 5.3 pounds, far lighter than other suitcases of its size and yet very strong. The zippers and the wheels glide like dreams, too, and it comes in a myriad of colors and sizes. On Amazon (and sometimes at TJ Maxx) you can find them quite inexpensively.
I am grateful Mrs. parker packs lite. Even trips to Europe, Asia, or Latin America we both manage to get by with carry on luggage. Mrs. parker has long, straight, red/grey hair requiring little products or care, and she is a bit of a tom boy so her fashion sense is bare bones.
“I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:
The shapes a bright container can contain! ”
And then she packed amain…
I am sorry to say I’m a just-in-case packer who lugs far too much hither and yon. But now I’m planning a faraway solo trip this summer, the first time I’ve been overseas in many years, and I am bound and determined to overcome myself and pack light this time, dagnabit. Already making lists and looking up advice on capsule wardrobes and such. If I hadn’t already bought a lightweight little wheelie carryon, I’d be very interested in yours, Neo.
I’ll report after July on whether or not I succeeded in overcoming my baser nature. My bad shoulder will tell you, too.
When I assembled goods to put into my backpack for my 5-month post-baccalaureate trip to South America, they weighed 15-20 pounds. In addition to what I was wearing, I took two pairs of pants, two long sleeve shirts, three pairs of socks and underwear, a sweater, and a poncho. A book or two. That meant that I had to wash clothes pretty frequently, but that was the cost of traveling light.
I did buy some clothing while I was on the trip, such as T-shirts and a pair of sneakers.
By contrast, my sister and her husband once combined a New England-Florida-Maryland-New England trip around Thanksgiving time. Granted, they had to pack for a variety of climates, but they had SIX suitcases for two people for two weeks.
At the other end of the scale, I recall when touring the Queen Mary it was mentioned that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor had luggage amounting to fifty steamer trunks worth of stuff…
(First-time commenter. Love your site.) Isn’t it possible to “decant” at least some of your hair products into smaller containers? I travel at least a couple of times a month and I swear by GoToobs, which are silicone-based travel tubes that come in various sizes, all below TSA limits.