Travel & Hotspots
MINIMALIST TRAVEL: I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO IT
This is how you halve your luggage
At Schiphol, you see two types walking around: the types who are lifting a freaking hernia with their luggage (like me) and the modest types who can normally pack for 3 to 4 days and can easily get by with just a small carry-on suitcase.
I've always been amazed by the latter group (read here about May's struggles with just a mini suitcase in Capri) and will probably never belong to this minimalist club. I'd rather pay those extra few bucks to kindly send packing stress out the door. But hey, I know for sure that you score points with your boyfriend if you don't have to check in eighteen suitcases, and I also see those eyebrows raise on press trips when I walk in with half my life. I know, I KNOW; I always have a lot with me. Even when I'm not traveling, I sometimes take a suitcase to the office if I have a lot of stuff that day. My suitcases just feel like an extension of my arm. I can't help it.
‘But taking two pairs of shoes? Jesus, I'd rather stay home.’
This time everything would be different. I'm currently chilling with my butt in Barcelona (more on that later, of course) and Sander and I had agreed not to check in a suitcase this time. “Oh, I can definitely manage that for once,” I said coolly last week. “Then I'll just pack a couple of fluttery dresses, a bikini, flip-flops, and I'm done.” The moment I was rewarded with a proud look from my boyfriend, I already knew I had made a gigantic mistake.
The night before departure, I had a panic attack. How the hell was I going to fit all my outfits in that too-small thing? Did that damn suitcase seriously SHRINK? And what about my laptop? I have to write too, right? But taking two pairs of shoes? Jesus, I'd rather stay home. With my tail between my legs, I call Sander. Or maybe I could, uh, just a little bit... because the suitcase is so small and... beautiful new shoes... The disappointment is palpable. I suggest if I can fill half of his carry-on suitcase with women's stuff, but that's too much for him again. And so I'm a loser, the whole plan has failed, and I ended up quickly booking a 23-kilo suitcase the morning before departure. Wimp.
Are you going on a trip soon and is only carry-on on the menu? Then I'm going to tell you now – how ironic, I KNOW – how to handle that well.
– Change your questioning. Not ‘What would be handy on a trip?’ but: ‘What can I do without?’ What doesn't help, hinders. Do you want to travel light? Then you better be just as strict with your suitcase as those passport control guys are with you.
– Accept your natural hairstyle on vacation. Dragging along a dryer and straightener is also an option, but that easily weighs three times more. You don't want that.
– Mini is the magic word. Minivideo. Minishampoo. Minitoiletries bag. Or for the daredevil: take hardly any toiletries with you, buy it there, and leave it there.
– Even if you leave the house looking like a snowman, the clothes that take up the most space in your suitcase should absolutely be worn on the outbound and return journey.
– The golden minimalist rule: two of each is often good enough: one to wear and one to wash. Okay, okay, if you find that too exciting, three is also fine.
– Stacking clothes in your suitcase is so 2015. The real wanderlusters roll their clothes up. Apparently makes a big difference. Also Google ‘packing cubes’, those are travel bags that make packing more efficient.
– And finally: accept who you are, the number of nice shoes in your closet, and don't compare yourself to the rest of a group. If you're willing to spend those extra bucks, just book that extra suitcase. Done.
