I’m usually a night-before kind of packer. But I usually over-pack and over-prepare. I’ll bring everything from sunscreen, to rain coats, extras of every piece of apparel, even extra toiletries when I can.
I go from being totally unprepared two days prior, to basically ready to go on a month-long trip for a week vacation, in less than 4 hours.
That is my wife.
We agreed a week in advance to pack a specific size luggage. I had my luggage packed a week in advance. The night before she finally packed and we had to check a extra bag.
We were going to another metropolitan city. 😭😭😭
Oh, you’re me.
In my case it’s similar, but specifically I overpack work stuff (camera gear, mostly) thinking I’ll be taking time during vacations to film personal things/try new techniques/update my website/plan future shoots/do marketing/etc etc etc. All the stuff I never have time to do while grinding away at home.
Sometimes on big road trips where we don’t visit family, I manage to film some personal stuff (landscapes, etc), but right now we’re on the annual family visits trip and feeling like fuck no am I not gonna bother haha. Then I spend the whole time complaining about why on earth I felt the need to bring this cumbersome stuff every time I’m packing the car…
Something about, having it being better than needing it?
IDK.
I think I yyy- u ow u****- in
Packing is overrated. Bring basics. Buy what you need when you need it. Leave it behind.
Yup, passport and money are the necessities. Probably want a change of clothes too I guess. Everything else is just nice-to-have things.
Exactly. Backpack is usually more than enough. Bring some fresh clothes but otherwise just wear what the locals wear. Often they wear it for a reason.
Travel is simpler when you stop trying to recreate your corner of the world in a place it never belonged.
Edit: but even you are probably overpacking
I travel light but I still pack days (sometimes weeks) early because once it’s done, it’s done.
Also, unrelated but I don’t care if I look like a tourist. I am a tourist, doing touristy things.
You’re overpacking
Your mom is overpacked.
My pack is 3 days of clothes, a spare pair of shoes, medicine and the necessary papers/electronics.
Buy, take, break, throw it away.
You’re overpacking
That’s a good attitude to have when you are trying to calm a mind anxious about whether you forgot something, but it is a really wasteful strategy long-term
I suppose that depends on what and how much stuff you need while traveling. New travelers tend to overestimate when answering that question.
Regardless, traveling light is a far superior experience, in my opinion. Hauling possessions around really isn’t the point.
Traveling light and buying everything at your destination are two completely different things. It’s not an imposition to carry a backpack around.
You’re overpacking
Let’s have a more constructive discussion. Between a wallet, phone, charger and a 2-3 sets of clothes, what part is overpacking for a 1 week trip? That much stuff should fit in any adult-sized backpack, with room to bring some destination-specific outerwear if needed.
OK you’re not overpacking
Who tf has enough clothes to pack for a trip and still go through a week of work and laundry
Is this some kind of privileged meme I’m too working class to understand
There’s a third, who starts packing on the day of departure and is ready after half an hour.
That’s kinda me, though a little more than half an hour tho.
I already know the things I need to have passport, wallet, toothbrush, etc. Then it’s just clothes which is just knowing I how many days I’m going for and having that number of clothing. And yeah I’ll often do laundry day of, because I know how long it takes to do, so why not?
It’s not really all that difficult. But I admit I often forget the headphones so I have a few sets that I’ve bought at the airport. But not a big deal.
The execution happens last minute, but the mental planning has been going on for well over a day.
Edit: And over the course of 10 trips, “don’t forget your toothbrush and toothpaste” slowly precipitates to the top.
I have a bag in my wardrobe with washbag, rollmat, sleeping bag, chargers, and spare clothes, in case I need to head somewhere in a hurry
What I don’t get is when I was a yoof I was a disorganised, impulsive, random mess. So how is it me that’s the organised one who has everything planned and packed and my wife who’s literally doing her laundry the night before. Life is very odd.
Peter Moore, The Full Montezuma: Around Central America with The Girl Next Door (2001) – six months of intensive traveling together will let you know if you were meant for each other (yeah, his next book was called Swahili for the Broken-Hearted …)
I’m pretty sure six days will do.
I travel two different ways. Either with kids, or for work.
Either way I try to travel as light as possible. I don’t want to pack more than 2 days worth of clothes if I can avoid it. Having kids means they are going to bed early at least every other night and most hotels have a laundry room.
I just don’t want to deal with it.
Plus wherever I’m traveling probably has a store where I could buy a shirt if I really needed to. Hell, casual wear is my usual souvenir when I travel anyway. Trucker hats especially, but hoodies and T-shirts as well.
How is it not more work to deal with doing laundry?
How much work is doing laundry? Put it in one machine, press a button, put it in another machine, press a button. Fold it enough that it doesn’t wrinkle. Done.
I’m just gonna sit in my room and stare at my phone during that time anyway.
How much work is packing? Put some shirts in a suitcase. Done.
It’s more about how much luggage I have to tow around with me, baggage claim, etc. Airports make me anxious. They’re big and open and crowded, I just want to get out quick.
Yeah I agree with this completely. Better to pay to do laundry than lug around a bunch of bags.
And it’s the airports not the airplanes that make me anxious. Once I’m on the plane and in my seat, I’ve done what I was supposed to do, it’s up to the pilot after that.
Though if I’m somewhere for a few weeks I’ll buy a bag there and fill it with stuff I’ve bought and check it. But only a carry on when going outbound.
I am panicking right now about how I will be packing the night before my flight in a month and a half. Fuck you brain! I have a system. ^what if that system fails?^
I swear it’s easier to get a toddler out the door than my wife.
When a toddler is finally all dressed up and ready to go, they invariably suddenly need a diaper change. Is it the same with your wife?
No, I always remind her to pee first.
Hopefully they’re both yeetable
My wife is not yeetable.
Why was I reminded of this
Can I interest you in a very nice Trebuchet?
Careful there. You may not wish to insinuate that his wife is 90 kg.
Wives under 90kg are weighed at tue maternity ward.
Simple catapult it is then
A rare case, in fact the first I’ve heard where it’s preferable (unfortunately not a ranged weapons expert though)
This is my wife and me. Also, she loves to plan trips and I love to be spontaneous. The compromise is she plans everything for the trip and doesn’t tell me anything. That way she gets her organization and I get my surprises.
Wholesome!
Does she remember to pack your angry eyes? You never know when you’ll need those angry eyes.
Last trip I went on I packed six days before, but on the night of the trip lay in bed awake, anxiously worrying that I’d chosen the wrong luggage and wanted to use my other stuff instead, so I had to get up and start repacking everything at 2AM and I was destroyed with tiredness the day of the flight.
So I’m not sure what that makes me.
Somehow you managed to choose both, lol
MULTI TRACK DRIFTING!!!
when you have a travel list with notes to remind you of your past lapses:
[ ] deodorant (!full!)[ ] 3DS
[ ] 3DS charge cable[ ] Cable Adapter for different kind of outlet
Those are my parents.
I day before and have a list on my phone for the things that can’t be packed until the day of (cpap, meds, etc.). I mark them off as they get packed. Then I reset the list to use on the next trip.
My wife talks about packing early, but always ends up putting it off to the last night before the trip. Then she gets stressed out that she is missing something because she refuses to write down a list.
Outside of trips I can’t keep track of most things because of ADHD and she is the reverse, not needing lists for most things. Our travel habits are the opposite of the rest of iur lives!
I’m somehow both of these people. I hate it
I’m the sort of procrastinator who avoids tasks because I will obsess over them until I am consumed by them. I have a trip in three weeks, and I want to start packing right now so that there’s time to shop for anything we might need but don’t realize we don’t have, but I also know that I’ll be doing laundry the night before we are set to leave because I always forget that one thing.
My wife will pack a few days in advance, and will pack the clothes she has clean. Maybe there will be one load of laundry to wash the one thing she knows she wants to bring but she knows it is dirty and knows exactly where it is. She will do that load of laundry three days before we leave. She’s like some kind of sorcerer.
