Recently I had a chance to review Karen McCann’s latest book, Pack Light: Quick & Easy Tips for Traveling Everywhere with Just the Right Stuff.
I’m an overpacker. I admit it. I’ve gotten better (a little bit), but I still do it. And every time I overpack I regret it. When you’re traveling with too much luggage, you make it harder to get around, harder to explore, harder to do pretty much anything you want to do.
Karen, on the other hand, has it down. She’s lived as an expat in Seville, Spain (and written a highly entertaining book about it!), and traveled pretty much everywhere. Last year she and her husband spent several months traveling Europe by train.
Now she’s condensed her years of travel experience into a nifty guide into packing right.
So bring it on! Would love if you’d share your biggest packing frustration in the comments below.
Hello Susanna,
I am also an heavy packer.
The worst for me is when we go back home for X-mas in cold Paris with all the gifts and way too much clothes. As a results we have to carry gifts from others to replace ours and pay extra luggage weight when we want to buy stuff we cannot find in our host country. For example the cooking chocolate “Nestle Dessert”, I don’t know why, but I never found this product in Japan, USA or Russia. Needless to say that no matter how much I buy of this product I end up finishing it before the end of January.
ive been travelling for five months now and still haven’t got the pack light thing, which is driving me nutty! I’m going to be travelling for at least another five months and Id love to travel lighter. Currently have a med size suitcase and a Backpack. My biggest problem are my allergy and asthma meds that I must take with me as I travel the world, and then there are the cleansers etc etc. HELP!
The most frustrating part of packing for us is not knowing what to expect. When we travel somewhere new I never know if I will need heels? dresses? capris? tank tops? water shoes? conditioner? I’d love to underpack but worry that I have appropriate clothes.
I’m halfway through a 3-month trip in Europe and mad at myself for packing way too much. Why, oh why, did I bring long-sleeve sweaters and a jacket when it’s 90F? And I didn’t need 5 pairs of pants – could have gotten by with 3. If I weren’t going back to Chicago in a few months, I’d give half of the clothing I packed to someone local. Even though I only have a 25″ spinner and a small nylon carry-on bag, it’s too heavy to get around easily (and several ticket agents have graciously waived the overweight baggage fee). Next time, everything has to fit in a 21″ pilot case or it’s not coming with me! Luckily, my shopping mantra is “I can only buy what I can carry or consume!”
Ah, confessions of another over-packer. I love it 🙂