Thoughts on Packing: Do as I Say, Not as I Do

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Let's talk about packing. A couple of weeks ago in my post on travel hacks I referenced all of the great resources out there for packing light. I said I wasn't going to reinvent the wheel, and I'm not. But I do want to talk a little bit about packing, mainly because every time I see one of those perfectly styled Pinterest shots titled something like "How to Pack for 180 Days of Winter and Summer Weather in One Purse-Sized Carry On That Only Weighs Two Pounds", it makes me want to jab a sharp stick in my eye.



And yet, I still have a strange compulsion to look over and over again at perfectly styled capsule wardrobes because they are so pretty, and who doesn't like pretty things? The capsule wardrobes have two fatal flaws, though. They assume that everyone's idea of a vacation is spending 10 days in Paris, and that the weather will be a perfect 70 degrees while you're there. They also assume that everyone's idea of being stylish on holiday epitomizes dressing like a 24 year old boho hipster - not that there's anything wrong with that if that's your style.

I don't profess to be a packing expert by any means. In fact, anyone who knows me and has witnessed my packing struggles over the years is laughing out loud right now. But I have accumulated some personal experience on the subject, and I'm going to share that. Maybe you can benefit from some of my disasters.

All the forethought in the world doesn't matter if you're a procrastinator by nature.

I hate packing. There, I said it. I have always hated packing, although I am much better at it now than I used to be. Despite being a major procrastinator, I am also a compulsive list maker. I'll make lists all day long of what I'm going to bring on a trip, but I never used to put the stuff in the bag until 20 minutes before it was time to leave for the airport.

Once, in a desperate and frantic attempt to avoid packing, I even went out visiting at 10 p.m. the night before an early start, threatening not to go at all because I just "couldn't" pack. Total. Meltdown. For everyone who has ever thought that traveling is so "easy" for me, I would direct you to this story. It's not easy - I have just learned to power through the part that makes me horribly uncomfortable because I know I will be fine when I get there.

Pack what you like to wear and what makes you feel comfortable.

This one seems like a no-brainer, right? But what happens when you are packing for something you've never done before? Going to a place you are unfamiliar with? I'll tell you what happened to me. I packed a bag better suited to the kind of woman who dresses like a high-school-gym-teacher-meets-bad-safari-cliché and felt miserable for two whole months.

In 2002, I spent a couple of months camping my way across Africa from Cape Town to Nairobi. The packing challenge? I had never been camping before (go big or go home!), I had never been to Africa before, and there was a luggage weight limit of 26 pounds that included my sleeping bag and other gear. What?! 26 pounds for two months, 7 countries, and innumerable mysteries? Well, dang. I studied and researched and read, and I put together a capsule wardrobe for the ages: 3 sleeveless polo shirts, 3 pairs of quick dry nylon pants with zip-off legs, sneakers, a bathing suit, a sarong, a long sleeved linen shirt, a waterproof pullover, and an array of unscented toiletries.

The problem with this? I would quite literally not be caught dead in a polo shirt or quick dry nylon pants under normal circumstances. I don't wear sneakers recreationally. I never wore them before, I have not worn them since, and I did not wear them on my trip. I picked up a pair of $2 flip flops at a department store in Namibia and lived in them until I came home. I definitely needed more shirts and found myself opting in to a number of death defying adrenaline stunts along the way partly for the "free" t-shirt you got if you survived - sky diving, bungee jumping, white water rafting. No stone unturned for a clean shirt! After lugging the sneakers around unworn for weeks, I traded them for some carved wooden bowls at a market stall in Arusha, Tanzania.



The truth is, regardless of what you pack, you will always make do with what you have. I am most comfortable barefoot in a dress. In the winter, I add a cardigan and boots. That has been my go-to since I was a toddler. I don't think I ever wore pants until the gym teacher called my Mom when I was in third grade. Evidently, I was doing somersaults and climbing ropes with my rear view hanging out and it was creating quite a stir amongst my classmates. It is probably worth pointing out that, while my level of modesty hasn't changed, my level of discretion has. But, I digress...

This is, you could say, my natural state. I was fine with my fancy quick dry shorts and my newly acquired t-shirts during the day, but when I got dressed for dinner in the evening, I was longing for a glamorous silk kaftan that screamed Talitha Getty in Marrakech. I didn't have a kaftan, but I did have a linen popover and a sarong that I wore every night and styled 20 different ways.

Pack what makes you feel your best but, for Pete's sake, don't overpack!

The year after my Africa camping extravaganza, I spontaneously decided to join a friend in China and Vietnam for another long trip. I had no restrictions on luggage this time, and after the seeming deprivation of the camping trip, packed a lot of little luxuries. I was also packing for two very different climates - hot, humid, and raining versus 30 degrees and hovering on the edge of winter - but basically chose to ignore common sense on every level.

For the first time, I was determined to be a proper backpacker and carry an actual backpack. I should have known better. I can't stand the feeling of being restricted in any way. I don't even like wearing turtlenecks - being strapped in to a giant backpack was a recipe for certain disaster. As it turned out, I overpacked so many unnecessary luxury items that, on a test run of the "correct way to pack a backpack", I stood up - with great difficulty and some assistance from friends and family - and promptly fell over onto my back like a turtle. I remember being so annoyed that everyone in the room was afraid to laugh out loud. It wasn't pretty. I returned the backpack for a duffel bag on wheels the next day.

Everything seemed to be sorted, but then I got to China and could barely lift my bag. I dumped everything out on a hotel bed in Hong Kong and started separating the essential from the extravagant. Once I was free of the haze of fear and loathing that packing creates in me and I could see clearly again, I hauled 50 pounds worth of stuff to the post office and mailed it home. I'm not even joking. If you take nothing else away from this post, remember this. There is almost nothing you can't buy in another country if you need to!

However, do at least a little research into the weather and culture at your destination, and try to be prepared.



On that same trip to China, I somehow managed to gloss over the fact that there would be distinctly winter weather happening while I was there. Whoops. I did have some warm items: wool socks, a cashmere sweater, a fleece jacket. Again, I got creative, and each day, simply rotated the top layer to give the appearance of variety.

During a summer spent living in Morocco, I learned another valuable lesson about clothing and being prepared. In terms of packing, I was really hitting my stride by this point. I could usually manage to get it done late the night before, and I was being far more sensible about what I brought. The variable I hadn't considered was intestinal parasites. I will save the gory details for another post, but I will tell you that I now add another factor to my pre-trip packing list. How quickly can my clothing be completely removed in a squat toilet in case of emergency (and by emergency, I mean every few hours)? Yes, this is a real consideration. It all needs to come off and, in the event there is no acceptable place to set your clothing down while you are otherwise occupied, you learn how to hold it all in one hand over your head while you do your business. Fortunately for me, my style and my logistical needs were cosmically aligned this time.

Sometimes, though, it doesn't matter how well you prepare.

There will always be surprises. The only real rule of packing is to bring your sense of humor! I once packed for a four-month long work trip in the Midwest. I was attending a training program, and I was told that it would consist only of classroom work. I was especially proud of the packing job I did this time because it was as simple and pared down as it could have possibly been. I took 20 dresses - still on the hangers - and folded them into a suitcase, grabbed a handful of underwear, two pairs of shoes, and my coffee maker, and called it a day.

You can imagine my great surprise when I was informed we would be doing live field exercises. This was how I found myself in the middle of a field of swaying, golden, thigh-high grass somewhere in rural Kansas holding an M4 wearing a cute little dress and Birkenstocks. By the end of the day, the instructors were calling me their "little Afghan freedom fighter" and everyone was laughing about it. I earned a lot of respect that day because I made the best of a ridiculous situation, and it didn't hold me back.

These days, my packing goes pretty smoothly. I have had lots of practice over the years, and lots of hilarious mishaps. My last few trips, I have been packed a whole day early in just a carry on for 10+ days. I do have a certain sense of satisfaction from this, but I'll tell you a secret. I don't have as many funny stories as I used to have either.

So, what do you think? Email me at erika@thewanderlusttrunk.com by October 31, 2015 and tell me your funniest packing mishap! I will feature my favorite stories in an upcoming blog post.

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Erika Lafrennie is the Founder of The Wanderlust Trunk, a gift box containing locally sourced, unique handmade goods from a new country each month. She would love to hear from you on Twitter or her blog. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.












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