In terms of budget travel and packing efficiency, no category of visitors beats the backpackers. These travelers seems to hew to the doctrine of planning their trips well. They seem able to pack their clothing and essential needs in luggage strapped on their backs. Thus are they considered the quintessence of economy and efficiency. Suitcase on wheels? How do you drag this, through pot-holed streets in search of cheap rooms?
For packing light, there are principles backpackers can teach even upscale travelers who stay in hotels with three pools and expensive laundry service.
Forget just-in-case attire. What if you are invited to a ballroom competition in San Diego — what do you wear? How probable is such a predicament? Such over-preparedness is bound to bulk up traveling bags. Sure, suitcases are now lighter and easy to push around with four wheels in any direction. But packing them to bulging is sure to require a fitness regime to bulk up upper body strength to hoist them into overhead bins.
Recycling allows for reuse. Who ever made the rule that clothes should only be worn once in one day and then replaced? Attire is designed to be worn repeatedly, especially if they are plain in color and design. Caution: satyrs chasing nymphs through a forest as a design for shirts will look too obvious at the buffet breakfast three days in a row. The satyrs may even start to look tired.
Consider laundry. There are laundromats to be found in major cities, or certain rental rooms that include washing machines. There is too the bathtub at the hotel. Underwear can be washed while worn in the bathing process. Laundering apparel reduces the number to pack. Be sure to dry them off first.
Of course, weather determines the volume of packing needed. Summer allows for lighter clothes. But even winter does not require a different sweater for every day of the week. Layering can may make one look like a gift-wrapped puppet but combinations can extend the utility of the various pieces. Anyway, avoid winter for optional travel.
The forgetful packer also travels light. She justifies shopping as a way to offset amnesia. This careless approach can be costly requiring the purchases of toiletries and varied missed items like trousers. It promotes the illusion of a spacious suitcase, until she packs for the return trip.
The word for baggage in Latin is “impedimenta” which pertained to all the paraphernalia of food, clothing, wash basins, cooking pans, and even traveling companions following an army going to war. It’s not surprising that this term for baggage became the English word for a burden or hurdle. The advances in warfare strategy involve shortening the supply line as the weight of luggage slows down the attack, or retreat.
We are all traveling through life even when we don’t carry passports. So our impedimenta of imagined slights, prejudices, and artificial limits of what we can achieve should be disposed of, as they are sure to slow us down.
Companies that travel light and don’t have much legacy baggage can be first to market. They are called “nimble,” determined to focus on fewer goals and pounce on new technology, unburdened by legacy investments and supplier commitments.
For TV interviews, the guest who comes unattended by lawyers and assistants projects competence and mastery of his subject. As well, the absence of documents on the table (yes, can you read the third paragraph of that letter?) as well as the lack of visual aids, demonstrates a familiarity with details that can be organized in simple declarative sentences.
If traveling light is a virtue, what about dispensing with impedimenta altogether and just live off the land (or relatives) and be open to getting what one needs or can rent from the place or situation to be visited? This almost spiritual option of choosing not to be weighed down by concerns and extra boots may also be the wave of the future for travel. Instead of backpacking, what if the necessities (razors, slippers, and umbrellas) are provided by the hotel, allowing her to board trains, boats, planes with just a small carry-on bag for a few clothes?
Traveling light can be liberating. It allows faster moves and the ability to adjust more easily to life’s little surprises.
A. R. Samson is chair and CEO of Touch DDB.
ar.samson@yahoo.com
