My wife walked into our bedroom closet and came out with a few outfits that she laid on the bed. She added a couple shirts and other things from a drawer. We still had a couple of days until we left for our weekend away, but her packing was coming together.
Of course, you have the other type of traveler, those who wait until the very last moment, throwing things “hither and thither” into their bag even as they’re trying to get out the door.
And then there’s me: the good news is that I pack in advance, I’m prepared and packed based on wherever we’re traveling. The bad news is that I never stop. Here’s what I mean: I’ll have everything ready to go, I’m all set, but then my brain kicks. Every weather forecast known to man may say that it’s going to be sunny and 70 degrees. It doesn’t matter. I ask myself what I’m going to do it if it rains or the temperature drops? Best to have a sweatshirt. We might go out to eat, oh, yea, I need a nice shirt. I can’t forget about the pool, I better throw in a pair of swim trunks too.
Before you know it, my four outfits have quadrupled, and my overnight bag is bulging, the seams stretched to their max, and I look like I’m packing for a month-long trip around the globe or the end of the world, whichever comes first.
Who else is with me?
Oh, I’ve seen all the “essential packing lists” and “minimalist packing recommendations” that the so-called experts like to point to and recommend. Yeah, yeah, I’ve seen it all. I try to be like my wife, but inevitably I start adding to my bag.
Packing with the Boy Scout motto of “always being prepared” does sometimes have its advantages. On our last trip away from home, we decided to pick up a bottle of wine to celebrate our last night of vacation. I may have had plenty of clean clothes that had never been touched on the trip and over-packed to the nth degree, but we weren’t scrambling when we needed a cork screw to open the wine bottle.
I came prepared! Of course, I was ready for anything.
Writing from the Heart with Brian 
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