I used to be one of those people who could pack for a week at the beach using an overnight bag. I would pack maybe 2 outfits and 10 pairs of panties. Seriously, I figured as long as I had enough underwear to get me through, it didn’t matter if anyone saw me in the same outfit more than once. My thinking was: I am a tourist; I don’t know these people and will probably never see them again.
Believe it or not, Mister was the over-packer at our house. When we left for the weekend that man had clothes for any possible occasion along with him. We once went to a casual wedding in Florida and one of the ushers was unable to make the wedding, Mister said “Let me go to the car and change.” Another time we were on boat deep sea fishing and he rooted around in his bag and pulled out the Yellow Page Directory to look up a phone number. I can’t tell how many times he loaned me a coat or t-shirt when we are away from home.
In the beginning I would tease him about over-packing. I said if you leave home with a change of panties you are travelling. He would just laugh and say that it felt good to have his stuff with him when he was away from home.
Then I started asked him to put a pair of my shoes in his bag. That was the beginning of my over-packing. Before I knew it I needed one of those suitcases with wheels. We leave for 2 days and I need 3 outfits, 2 pair of shoes, accessories, and 3 pair of panties. I still say you need fresh panties every day.
I have now embraced over-packing.
We recently went out of town for a long weekend. I had my wheeled suitcase so filled I could barely zip it. Along with all of my clothes I also brought along a couple of outfits for my Chihuahua (you know, so we wouldn’t clash).
Imagine my horror the first evening when I opened my suitcase and realized I had packed NO UNDERWEAR!! I had 6 different outfits with me and not one change of panties. All of those clothes and I was washing my smalls in the sink each evening. Just because you over-pack doesn't mean you are travelling.
Until I married Jim, I packed for a week in an overnight bag. HE always told me to "take everything, you never know what you might need or want to wear". It is totally HIS fault that I now pack 5 suitcased for an overnight trip. He is okay with it, though, even though he always carries my bags. He says if we need it and didn't bring it, we will buy it when we get there. It is nice to travel like that!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is the truck driver philosophy, from being away from homebase so often. If my packing keeps expanding we are going to need a tractor trailer soon.
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