You’re at the ticket counter ready to embark on a trip and you hear those dreaded five words. “Your bag is too heavy!” If your suitcase is large enough to fit a family of four, needs a full size pickup truck to transport it, and the airport porter turns and runs, join the club, you may be a chronic over-packer. Here’s what I learned during my trip to the Himalayas:
- Bring appropriate clothing. White doesn’t bode will in the jungle.
- Cut your clothing in half. Don’t pack twenty-two outfit for each day of travel.
- Don’t bring a traveling pharmacia of 484 pills. Prescription medication and a multivitamin should suffice.
- Don’t be obsessed with your gadgets. Leave the water pic, white noise machine, curling iron and electric toothbrush at home.
- Try roughing it when it comes to cosmetics. Don’t pack the entire Estee Lauder line.
- A carry-on should include essentials in case you are separated from your luggage, otherwise you may find yourself in downtown Bangkok, at midnight, with a strange man shopping for a toothbrush and underwear.
- Get a smaller suitcase. There will be less space for over-packing. You will save money and prevent bodily harm from lugging around a ninety-five-pound beast. Nobody looks cool lifting that thing off a moving carousel.
- If it isn’t necessary, leave it at home. You won’t use half of what you plan to take.
There is no better way to travel then to leave behind the material complexities of your life. When you take control of your over-packing tendencies you will lighten your load, be agile and flexible, eliminate stress, and focus on the actual purpose of your trip.
Do not get discouraged. Recovering from an over-packing addiction is not something that will happen overnight. For some it may require a lifetime of effort, but have no fear —with a little courage, fortitude, and determination, over-packing can be conquered!
Good luck and travel light!