It was a great packing tip and one that I hadn’t previously heard or practiced. The other tips always seemed to fail me: roll, don’t fold; use packing cubes; apply the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 rule; implement the bundle technique; use compression bags; leverage tetris skills; pack, edit then edit some more. All perfectly valid, but if you haven’t packed light, you’ve packed too much. And that was the underlying problem of my packing woes.
So when lamenting to my aunt about my poor packing abilities while planning a month-long adventure through the middle east, she offered some savvy advice. “Pack your old knickers, socks, bras and nighties and just discard them along the trip creating extra space in your suitcase then buy new when you get home”.
How had I not heard this before? To date, I have been doing the opposite, setting out a few days before I travel to buy new undergarments. Sadly, the rationale of my timing was for the sake of vanity. In the event my luggage was flagged to be searched, I was avoiding the embarrassment of having to standby while some security person rifles through my tattered bras and faded skivvies. But the possibility of gained space from my Aunt’s tip seemed well worth any potential indignity I’d face.
So I packed my unwanted undergarments that should have been discarded months ago and would now serve as suitcase filler to be left behind on my travels. They would mark my route through the desert like a trail of breadcrumbs or possibly someone’s sexual fantasy, and leave locals wondering about the mystery woman leaving her panties in foreign places, creating her own silk road? Oh dear, I digress.
So across the UAE underwear were abandoned from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, socks strewn in garbage bins in the Iranian cities of Tehran, Yazd and Shiraz, and bras relinquished in Salalah and Muscat, Oman.
Brilliant! Overworn undergarments removed and space created for souvenirs. With the caveat of course that those souvenirs must be of similar size and weight to those items of discarded clothing.
Alas, I did not keep this limitation in mind when I purchased the intricately designed hand stamped tablecloth after watching the craftsman apply the Persian art of calico in Isfahan. Nor did I consider this stipulation while visiting the Meybod Caravanserai where I bought the beautiful handwoven rug created by the local weaver with the kind smile and weathered hands. And the restriction certainly didn’t limit me when I was beguiled by the kohl rimmed eyes of the lovely Omani ladies at the Nizwa souk and readily accepted their advice to purchase scarves to bring home as gifts.
In fact all of the items purchased ended up occupying a lot more space in my suitcase than my now discarded underclothes, leaving me to evaluate what other artifacts of my clothing I would need to leave behind in order to close my suitcase.
Ultimately, if you haven’t packed light, you’ve packed too much. And yet, with every travel adventure resulting in another overpacking fiasco, there’s fortunately an opportunity for redemption — another adventure to do better, a challenge I relish.