Have Bag Will Travel
The ability to pack for a long trip using only a carry on bag is a skill I have perfected; it is also a skill I have shared with friends. This skill is one that took many trips to perfect. My first international trip? Lets just say I packed and when I say I packed I mean I packed. In anticipation of my 10 day trip I purchased a large check bag (a bag I don’t think I used again after that trip). When my accomplice for this trip picked me up to to the airport saw me come out with the large bag she looked at me side eyed but said nothing (I think this was her way of letting me learn my lesson the hard way).
The comedy of errors started at the hotel in Istanbul. Our hotel was a really cool historical boutique hotel just outside of the Sultanahmet with a very tiny 2 person elevator. Because of the size of my suitcase we had to take turns taking the elevator to the room. When I got to the room with my bag big enough to hold a small adult (I kid but not really) she asked me what all I had brought that I needed such a large bag. I began to list off all my essentials her smile grew and by the time I got to “work out clothes” her smile was a full on laugh. “You actually think you are going to work out?” she asked mid laugh. I responded confidently “yes”. I didn’t. Not one time. Unless you count the morning stretch I did during the call to prayer the next day , to shake out the jet lag. Half the stuff I brought I didn’t use. At the end of the trip my bag got a solo ride in the elevator and arrived, in all its burnt orange glory, just as we descended the last stair. Thankfully that trip was a one stop trip. If it had been a multiple city trip like the ones I do now I probably would have just left the bag there.
Now that I am wiser, more experienced, I travel much lighter. A carry on bag (even if I check it), outfits with interchangeable pieces or simple dresses that I can re-wear, a quart size bag of toilettes, mascara, sunscreen, tinted lip balm, and a small jar of tiger balm (cause I am that person who says we are so close lets just walk it), a small curling iron, 1 pair of underwear for each day (plus 4 spare pair - just in case), my trusted pair of Tevas (which are at this point almost as well traveled as I am), a swimsuit, a heating pad (cause I am not only that friend I am now out of warranty), a small pill container with anti-histamine, bupropion, antacids, and reflux pills (again I am out of warranty and grew up on the 7Ps), and packing cubes. The packing cubes are a recent addition. The last few trips I have made internationally have all been multi-city adventures and I have found it helps to pack the cubes (going there at least) with the items I am going to take to the next place and leave my primary bag at the hotel I am using as a home base. While they do save a little space, but not as much as you would think, I primarily use them to organize my clothes.
