Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to pack for specific days. You can pack
Speaker 1: lighter and more efficiently by identifying when you will wear
Speaker 1: whatever goes in your suitcase. So I am always fascinated
Speaker 1: by the psychology of packing. At home, people will wear
Speaker 1: the same things over and over again. Then on the
Speaker 1: road they pack multiple bags or check giant suitcases full
Speaker 1: of things because maybe, just maybe they might want them.
Speaker 1: On some level, I get it. Travel can be anxiety producing.
Speaker 1: Sometimes people want all their creature comforts with them, or
Speaker 1: they think they'll want lots of options, or that things
Speaker 1: will come up that they haven't expected. It's good to
Speaker 1: be prepared, but then you are stuck dealing with your
Speaker 1: giant bags. If a flight is canceled or delayed, you
Speaker 1: can't go get on another one easily if you have
Speaker 1: to track down your bags first. Hauling a giant bag
Speaker 1: up four flights in a tiny European hotel is just misery.
Speaker 1: Giant bags don't really fit on bullet trains in Japan,
Speaker 1: And the truth is, if truly novel opportunities come up,
Speaker 1: most places have stores, It is almost always better to
Speaker 1: pack light. One of the best ways to do that
Speaker 1: is to actually plan ahead of time what you will wear,
Speaker 1: as in, go through your trip day by day and
Speaker 1: plan out your outfits. What will you wear on the
Speaker 1: plane probably the heaviest stuff. What will you wear the
Speaker 1: next day and the day after that. If you've got
Speaker 1: a special event, you can plan that into the mix,
Speaker 1: or if you'll be swimming or doing something active. And
Speaker 1: if you don't know what you'll be doing exactly, that's fine,
Speaker 1: but I'm guessing you know roughly if you plan to
Speaker 1: be in a city or a jungle or a beach,
Speaker 1: so you can plan an outfit for each day accordingly.
Speaker 1: Then if you are thinking of throwing a shirt or
Speaker 1: another pair of pants in or another dress into the mix,
Speaker 1: and you don't have an identified time to wear it,
Speaker 1: you can just take it out now. Okay, maybe you
Speaker 1: could do one extra shirt just in case, and I
Speaker 1: will allow for extra underwear case your flight home is
Speaker 1: canceled and you're stuck an extra day. But there is
Speaker 1: no prize for coming home with a lot of clothes
Speaker 1: you never wore. Indeed, you lose in a way because
Speaker 1: you are hauling around stuff that you didn't need now.
Speaker 1: To plan outfits, it helps to know the weather, but
Speaker 1: that is easy enough to find. Layers are good for
Speaker 1: places where the weather will be variable. You probably also
Speaker 1: want to limit the number of shoes you take, because
Speaker 1: they tend to be bulky. I spend time before every
Speaker 1: trip thinking through what I will need and what kind
Speaker 1: of shoes can do the most work. I plan my
Speaker 1: outfits with those shoes in mind. But when I'm headed
Speaker 1: to the airport, I want to know that what I'll
Speaker 1: be wearing is what I am wearing every day of
Speaker 1: the trip, and as a result, I can go carry
Speaker 1: on only. It's worked for trips of ten days or
Speaker 1: more in multiple climates. If you go longer than that,
Speaker 1: well maybe you can find a place to do laundry.
Speaker 1: When you pack for specific days, you are more likely
Speaker 1: to think through your trip and think rationally about what
Speaker 1: should bring with you. It's a different philosophy than just
Speaker 1: throwing in whatever you think you might want, but it
Speaker 1: tends to result in bringing fewer things you don't need,
Speaker 1: and the more you can travel light, the easier it
Speaker 1: is to move through the world. In the meantime. This
Speaker 1: is Laura Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.