Packing for a trip: When in doubt, leave it out

I’ve written about packing for travel on countless occasions. But the advice is so essential that it must be repeated. More trips have been ruined by overpacking than by all the hurricanes, overbooking and surly waiters of the world combined.

Except on a cruise (which involves different considerations), it is important that you pack light. Take no more than one medium-size suitcase per person, partly empty, and you will ensure the success of your trip. Take more, and you become a fatigued beast of burden.

It’s also important to realize that you probably will not be invited to a garden party, to the opera or to meet the queen while on your trip, and that it is not necessary to include an outfit for every occasion. Nor is it necessary to take pharmaceuticals, Kleenex or Band-Aids; even Katmandu has a 24-hour drugstore.

I’ve seen tourists arrive at London’s Heathrow airport with an extra suitcase packed with bandages, iodine, toilet paper, lotions and shampoo. London! The birthplace of the pharmacy. The only paraphernalia you will need is transformers for your electrical devices (like hair dryers) or adapters for foreign sockets.

A light suitcase means freedom. To emerge from a train or plane with bundles in each hand means porters and taxicabs; it means that the first hotel you pass must be the hotel in which you’ll stay. With a light load, you can walk out when the desk clerk quotes too high a price.

A light suitcase means you can concentrate on the attractions and activities of your destination rather than spending hours unpacking and repacking in the hotel room.

Remember, too, that problems increase as the journey continues. However heavy your suitcase might have been when you left home, it’ll get twice as heavy as you go along. At every stop of your trip, you’ll pick up mementos, gifts, books, papers, tapes, souvenirs. Unless your suitcase was one-third empty to begin with, you’ll be festooned with extra parcels and packages near the end.

Make the right decisions and buy the lightest good-quality suitcase available. Fill it with the skimpiest set of clothing your courage will allow. Then remove half these clothes from the suitcase and depart on your trip.