Packing for travel

[indigo_rose99]

As I prepared for this trip, I thought a lot about what to bring and what... not.

Livingdeb forwarded me a link to someone else's packing philosophy. This reminded me that my ideas are not for everyone. The minimum necessary for me is not for everyone.  That said, we do agree on many things -- for example, packing clothing detergent and printouts of all reservations. My first hotel on this trip could not find my reservation. Ah, printed confirmation numbers!

A lot of what we differ in involves purpose.  Her packing appears to be for vacation.  I travel for work.  For work, I MUST have a laptop with cables.  I often need classroom tools or toys.  Work attire is more involved than vacation clothing, and often should not be washed in a hotel sink.  So rewearing work clothing is a delicate balance on a single trip, even assuming I could sneak it past the people who are staring at me all day every day.  Thus, I must bring More Stuff.  *sigh*

Of course, there are some items she brings that I do not. I have no need for makeup, I skip the daypack and the umbrella, and manage without the travel clothesline, towel, titanium cup, tea bags, and spork.

Instead, I have epsum salts in a ziploc, a travel sink stopper (works for when I'm washing clothes or soaking feet), chocolate covered coffee beans, travel slippers,and a silk sheet (keeps out bugs -- don't ask -- and is a compromise for those many European hotels that only have a thick quilt, no sheet).

Most of my travel up until now has been international, and most hotels do NOT provide even vaguely adequate shampoo and conditioner.  So I pack solid ones.

My plane flights  reminded me that I pack a bunch of things to keep my sanity on the long flights:
* a tiny container of painkillers, swallowing at least two at the beginning of flight
* gas-x (always happens when I least expect it, and usually from being so hungry I eat plane food)
* water flavoring
* an empty water bottle, filled in airport
* PDA (for the books)
* PDA battery
* mp3, & headphones (headphones sub for ear plugs)
* spare battery for the mp3
* eye mask
* tail-bone sensitive pillow
* blow-up pillow for the small of my back
* blow-up pillow for around my neck
* a prescription sleeping pill
* 2 books - 'cause on really long flights, I run the PDA out of both batteries and finish the first book.

Those seats are HORRIBLE.  My back and tailbone ache sitting in them for just a few minutes.  For hours?!  Are other people really that flexible and immune to pain?

Instead of judging what to pack by what is the minimum I could possibly survive on, I judge what to pack based on what I will USE.  Not use once, not perhaps use, but use over and over again during the trip.  If it is something I will use every day and REALLY appreciate having... That moves it up considerably on my potential packing list.  For instance, indoor slippers.  Do I NEED them?  No.  Will I use them every single day in a hotel?  Oh, yeah.  Hotel room floors make my feet itch.  Psychosomatic or not, the slippers prevent me from trying to levitate about my hotel room.

Unlike MissMinimalist on the one extreme and many of my fellow travelers on the other, I pack two pairs of shoes. My plane shoes are workout shoes, for evening walks, and always for the plane. My work shoes are comfortable and I can walk distances in them, but they are not meant for the gym.  I have found that walking 5-10 miles a day in a single pair of shoes, no matter how wonderful, means that I need to wear something else.  My feet just really want change.  This assumes no blisters or other problems.

I wonder at MissMinimalist's ability to have only 3 pairs of socks with her.  My socks take 36 hours to dry.  Yes, I've tried washing/drying them several times on trips over the years.  She must have special fast-drying socks.  But with the time it takes to dry, I have to BE checked into a hotel for longer than it takes the socks to dry, or I am trying to travel with wet clothes. Double *ick*.

Comments

[texpenguin.livejournal.com]

We've traveled on both ends of the spectrum. It all depends on where we're going and how much we'll be moving around. We've traveled for two weeks in Scotland and Ireland with just one carry-on and one small duffel each. But we knew that a) we could buy there anything that didn't fit or was forgotten, and b) we'd be in one place in Scotland for several days, and one place in Dublin for several days, so we'd be able to send our laundry out. Conversely, when we went on a two week cruise, we had two ginormous suitcases plus two duffels. Where we were cruising, we had to pack for weather ranging from below freezing to 90 degrees, and for activities ranging from hiking to dressy dinners. But, we were in one cabin for the whole trip, so it didn't matter how much luggage we had.

On our most recent trip, we packed way more than anyone else, and we were VERY cramped in our 45 sq. foot closet of a cabin, but it was still worth it. We were told to bring very little clothing, wash it in our tiny sinks, and dry it on the back deck, but it rained 3 out of 7 days and the humidity never dipped under 85% for the whole trip. So by Day 3, everyone else was wearing either dirty sweaty clothes or clean but damp ones, while we were still fresh and dry.

Quick dry clothes are great, but are very expensive and don't often come in extended sizes. Some people on our last trip just brought all their old clothes, wore them once, and threw them away. Actually, they gave all the shirts to the crew to take to the thrift store, and just threw away the socks and underwear. Not a bad idea if have old clothes to get rid of anyway, but I actually had to go buy clothes for this trip so no way was I going to throw them away!

[ovrclokd.livejournal.com]

My trick for quick-drying socks / underwear washed in the sink is to squeeze them out in the sink, then lay down a spare bath towel on the floor, lay down the wet things in a single layer, and fold / roll them up in the bath towel so that each wet thing is sandwiched between towel on each side of it. Then I stand on the towel-roll while I brush my teeth. The pressure squeezes out more water, more gently, than I could by hand - and the towel absorbs it. When I shake the washed items out of the towel, they're halfway dry already, and even cotton socks (the worst offender for holding moisture) will then dry overnight if I hang them in a closet & leave the closet door open. (If the closet has a self-closing door, I find some way to hang them in the room instead.)

I just did a five-day business trip to two cities with two laptops, a firewall, and 3 pair of shoes in carry-on luggage. My backpack weighed a ton, but it was worth not having to check bags!

[sclatter.livejournal.com]

I guess I'll throw out that except for a specific model of plane seat that has the headrest positioned at exactly the wrong place (and I haven't run across that in a while) I don't actually find plane seats painful. I don't at all like sitting that close to a stranger, but that's a separate issue.

But then I've never had trouble sleeping on planes either. I sleep like a champ. :-)

I am assuming from your drying times you are talking about cotton socks? Absolutely anything else will dry faster. I'm partial to wool--of course I make my own. If you can wear wool I think you might like wearing wool socks. I realize they might not be so practical in Texas summers, but in Baltimore I wear wool for most of 3 seasons. Great for sensitive, blister-prone feet!

[sclatter.livejournal.com]

Oh, and planes give everyone gas. It's a cabin pressure thing. :-)

[tiger-stripes.livejournal.com]

This is useful. I have to go to Baltimore in September. Thanks for posting.