[Tom Otley]

I think one of the problems of packing too much is getting to and from the hotel in a taxi – often they aren’t set up for four people plus bags.

This is us going back to the airport at Mumbai a few years ago…

Nothing fell off…

[LuganoPirate]

I also keep a bag ready packed for travel, though I rarely need it now. Just the essentials, wash kit and a chnage of clothes, but it served me well in the past.

I also leave a case at the Mount Nelson in Cape Town with a wash kit and summer clothes. they are very happy to keep it for me.

[Ahmad]

LP,

For many years I used to have a cabin bag ready with essentials for a 3-4 days’ trip and simply picked it up on the way to the airport or at times had it brought over to the office before leaving for a trip without even going home. Thankfully those days are over and I send younger people on such trips, which are few and far between anyway due to the advent of video conferencing etc.

[stevescoots]

The bizzare thing is I have home in China, now Vietnam and come back to all my clothes washed and pressed, but i still lug a case from UK to asia every 3 weeks….i need to change my habits!

[LuganoPirate]

[quote quote=876532]Thankfully those days are over and I send younger people on such trips, which are few and far between anyway due to the advent of video conferencing etc.[/quote]

I agree with that sentiment Ahmad. I still carry a small kit in my car though just in case I get stuck somewhere and have to overnight.

[quote quote=876547]i need to change my habits![/quote]

Ha ha, a very clever play on words there Steve. 😉

[Poshgirl58]

As a leisure traveller and female, I’ve tried various ways to cut down on what I pack. I’ve packed the large case the evening before travel, then unpacked two-thirds of it, as I’ve changed my mind!

I’ve tried using tissue paper, rolling up items such as t-shirts. Never wanted to go through the palaver of using vacuum bags, housekeeping staff could find it difficult to understand why you want to borrow their cleaner when you’re packing to go home. Only kept to a few of the many tips I’ve read. Place shoes around the edge of the case, with soles to the outside, then items such as socks and undies can be stuffed inside. T-shirts are folded once, width-ways. Finally items such as dresses and skirts are left on hangers. They are folded so the hangar is on the inside. As for quantity of clothes, one outfit for each evening, worn again the following week if there for fourteen nights, plus one extra in case of accidents. Used to take a separate shoe bag until stricter baggage rules were imposed.

[canucklad]

hi Poshgirl58

Not sure if you’ll take this advice, none of my ex’s ever did, so I’m presuming it’s a female affliction, when it comes to packing……

Eliminate the aptly named “Just in case” mentality …..

Just in case it rains…
Just in case it doesn’t
Just in case we’re invited to the ambassador’s residence
Just in case my heel breaks
Just in case they don’t have coffee/tea
Just in case I buy a same coloured top
Just in case my make-up runs out
Just in case I have spaghetti bolognaise one night

Or my favourite…
Just in case someone else in the resort has the same outfit

Invariably, this mind-set ends always ended up with all this added stuff lying about the room and not just in the case?

Drove me bonkers, until I realised it was pointless getting irritated and it’s just the way of things when travelling with the fairer sex !!

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LuganoPirate, Poshgirl58

[capetonianm]

canucklad : You’ve hit the nail on the head there.

When we go to ZA in the summer, she has to take a thick winter anorak, thermal underwear, a space blanket, and winter boots ‘just in case’. When we go Iceland in winter she has to take a summer dress ‘just in case’.

Wherever we go, she has to take the full set of electrical adapters and transformers ‘just in case’. Not to mention food supplies in case of famine.

[Charles-P]

Me on discovering Mrs P still had a set of keys to her old car in her handbag,

“I’ll throw these away shall I ?”

“No, best if I keep them just in case”

“We don’t own the car anymore, we don’t even live in the country where the car now is !”

“Yes but…… well you never know”

On our current RTW trip she has also packed under the heading of ‘just in case’
i) A pair of shoes that she doesn’t like.
ii) A skirt that she has never worn once since buying
iii) Three pairs of gloves
iv) A pair of broken reading glasses
v) Both her French and Belgian ID cards in addition to her passport.

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Henryp1

[capetonianm]

My o/h walks round with every store card, credit card, etc that she possesses, wherever we are. I have tried to explain the security risks in doing so. I travel far more than she does and although I don’t have store cards, I have at least a dozen bank cards across 5 countries, and at any given time I only carry the one(s) I need.

[Charles-P]

[quote quote=876724]My o/h walks round with every store card, credit card, etc that she possesses, wherever we are. I have tried to explain the security risks in doing so. I travel far more than she does and although I don’t have store cards, I have at least a dozen bank cards across 5 countries, and at any given time I only carry the one(s) I need.[/quote]

Don’t get me started on the staggering quantity of cards in Mrs-P’s purse, it quite literally no longer closes anymore ! Credit cards, bank cards, gift cards, loyalty cards and the rest. I travel the world with a slimline wallet that contains one bank card, two credit cards, my Belgian ID card and Euro 250.

[Poshgirl58]

Careful canucklad, I may report you for inappropriate content!

Thankfully, I don’t fit into that mentality. My mother and aunt (her sister) do, it drives me spare. I now remember not to say “in case of what” because that usually prompts a lecture about attitude! Last time I packed, I didn’t take everything out and re-do it. Having 23kg allowance helped. Yes, I’ve been guilty of packing a waterproof “just in case”. Got it right as heavens opened in Kos on two days, so it was needed for walk from room to restaurant. If I see someone wearing the same outfit as me, then I silently appreciate their good taste.

A close relative packs cheese, biscuits, snacks because they’re cheaper here. They’re off to Orlando next week, staying in a villa, so goodness knows what will be in the suitcases! She’s the same person who insists on changing money at the hotel, even when the bank was just across the road.

Best recollection is of a friend (now sadly deceased). We were staying in Crete and decided to take trip to Spinalonga. Several of our fellow travellers laughed when she got out an umbrella. As the temperature increased and there was no shade, we had the last laugh…..

[AnthonyDunn]

Hmmm. I employ a few of personal rules. The first, from my late ex-RAF father, was pack everything flat so fewer folds, nothing rolled up and that maximises what you can get in an available space. Then, for any trip under a couple of weeks, if it’s taken more than 15-20 minutes to get the bag packed, there’s too much so a cull is required. Finally, if we’re going anywhere that produces decent wine, we take a polystyrene box which can accommodate up to nine bottles and get them back through checked baggage in one piece. There are certain priorities in life….

[jsn55]

I over-packed for years because I love clothes and I always want my “stuff” … feather pillow, coffee supplies, nice robe. Travel with a monster checked bag, a large rollaboard and a backpack full of computer stuff. Always work with a list that I conform for every trip. But I broke my wrist on a trip 18 months ago, travelling alone. It was such an awful experience to try to get everything packed to go home that I vowed to start lightening up the luggage. And of course for months after, I couldn’t lift or pull anything very heavy. I am astonished to find that I really enjoy packing less. Now it’s kind of a game to see if I can still look as good as always with fewer bits packed. My husband thinks I’m nuts.

[LuganoPirate]

[quote quote=878418]My husband thinks I’m nuts.[/quote]

Why do our spouses always think we’re nuts? Eccentric maybe, nuts never! But then again??? 🤔🤔

Reminds me of an old Italian neighbour of ours, she would travel with a small coffee pot, (the one that percolates 1 cup), coffee, her favourite spoon and 2 litres of Italian water so the taste was just right for her morning Espresso.

I thought she was mad, errr eccentric, but then a young Italian student researcher arrived at our home on the game reserve with exactly the same (minus the spoon). Must be an Italian thing!

[Author]

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