Okay, the second blog post is not as terrifying as the first. I’m not saying that I’m still not frightened by writing, because I am. However, I’m probably equally or more terrified of traveling with too much luggage. I know, so many issues.
My mother was an impeccable packer. She needed to be. In her life as a military wife with my dad, they moved 33 times. You read that right. Thirty-three. My brothers and sister were all born in locations around the world, The Philippines, California, and Germany.
Me? I was born in Cowansville, Pennsylvania. Seriously.
Back to my mother. She was a ninja packer. No folding. Only rolling. She could fit so much into a small suitcase. It was like the clown car at the circus watching all the clothes that came back out. Easily two weeks worth of clothing. Not a nook or cranny went to waste.
When I travel, I’ve adopted some of my mother’s love of packing but also the necessity to bring ONE bag for your clothes and one carry on. If you’ve ever flown with me you’ll know that I am completely ridgid about this.
You can imagine the look on my face when my not-yet-husband and I went on our first trip together and he showed up with three bags. Three.
I may have lost it. Nope, I’m sure I did. I went a little off the deep-end and rambled on about the need to downsize his suitcase.
Luckily for me he’s a patient man, oh, so patient, and he heard me out. I explained the need to be able to move about quickly, because you could be running for a plane, or a train and having three bags makes this very difficult. Don’t even get me started about trying to roll a suitcase across cobblestone. It’s almost impossible—you need to be able to carry or at least pick up your bag and go with it.
For me it just feels better to lighten your load. I love not carrying too much stuff with me. There’s a sense of freedom and a big weightlessness that happens when you just have to make do with what you have. Plus, there’s the added benefit of not over packing and leaving some nooks and crannies for those treasures you want to bring home.
Here are my top three tips for packing your suitcase for flying.
- Use a carry on. Better yet, try a backpack.
- Roll everything and use compressions cubes to pack with.
- Lay everything out and eliminate half of what is in front of you.
Traveling by car. A completely different story. Go ahead and load it up.
Well now I HAVE to try rolling! Was going to it after I read Marie Kondo’s book, but didn’t. Then my sister told me she learned to do that when she transplanted to New York 30 years ago. And I was momentarily inspired again. But – third time’s a charm! So the next time I see you, Amy please as me how the rolling’s going! And love the ditch 50% tip!!
I also use packing cubes. I love packing cubes.