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Backpacking by Bus

Book Reviews: Books on Packing for Travel

by Leslie Strom

This month I noticed I have quite a stack of packing books in the vast halls of the Get Lost Magazine library, and thought you might like to see how they compare. We start with the King of Lightweight packing, Rick Steves'

Europe Through the Back Door, then move on to
Chic Simple Components: Packing
Pack It Up by Anne McAlpin and
Fodor's How To Pack by Laurel Cardone.
Finally, Get Lost Magazine's exclusive seven travel tips the tipsters forget.

The best packing and travel books, in my opinion, are the ones you write yourself from misery and experience and personal advice. As a journalist, I don't journal as dutifully as one would imagine, but I always carry a hard-backed wire bound book and a roll of double-stick tape in which to put postcards, receipts, photos and ticket stubs. I actually start these journals before the trip with things I might want to see and phone numbers and such. The book needs to have the kind of binding that will expand thickly when you stuff it, rather than becoming stressed and wedgey. I also carry a retracting x-acto tool for cutting out newspaper articles and magazine pictures. (post-terrorist note: This can go into checked bags but not a carry-on.)

One piece of advice everyone in these books gives and I have yet to take, is to keep a list of what you take each trip.This list can be kept in the suitcase and refined over the years. In general, I take too few shirts and too many books, but have it pretty well figured out. My own philosophy is to wear an outfit, pack a change of clothes, something to sleep in and maybe an extra shirt, a swimsuit and some underwear and forget the rest. All the books provide lots of packing lists, some more useful than others.

Europe Through the Back Door

by Rick Steves

Best Packing Philosophy

Best Book that Ignore Garment Bags

Let's start with the King of Lightweight packing, Rick Steves. He must have dozens of guide books and each one drills the concept of lightweight packing. It's a good idea on so many levels, but he does get a little insufferable about it. His other obsession is the money belt, which is also an excellent idea, except most women I know would rather not walk around with their valuables wadded around their waists. A neck pouch, I believe, is a good alternative if it's worn under the clothes. Trust him on the lightweight packing notion, though. He sells a travel backpack of his own design, which forces a person to pack lightly. A rolling carry-on may be the same size, but will invite heavy loading which is fine until you have to hoist it overhead. My favorite thing in his book is the picture he took naked in a hotel room of all his stuff laid out neatly on a bed.

Pack It Up

by Anne McAlpin

Best Accessories tips
Best Cruise Advice
Best folding tips
Best Checklists

A great guide to packing any bag. When Rick Steves drums his mantra to pack light, Anne McAlpin tells you how to do it with somewhat less Spartan zeal. This is the book I used in 1998 to pack my new Eagle Creek Switchback (a rolling carry-on suitcase which can convert to a backpack) for two weeks in Europe in winter. Two very worthy elements of her book are instructions on how to fold and pack any suitcase and keep the whole pile from shifting (creating an understory with a divider works wonders), and vast lists of travel tips that I swear leave no situation unaddressed. The only thing I take that she doesn't suggest is a roll of double-stick tape, for sticking bits of paper souvenirage into my wire-bound journal.

Chic Simple Components - Packing Bags to Trunks

Text by Walter Thomas, photographs by James Wojcik

Best Quotations
Best Psychology of Packing
Prettiest book

Part of a glossy, fun series of little palm-sized books on stylish living, Packing Bags to Trunks "explains how to prepare efficiently and successfully for all kinds of travel situations, from the quick commute to the long holiday, with tips on selecting the best luggage."

It's a fun read at 103 (little) pages, loaded with wonderful quotes about travel (including Betty Ford's pointed "Have a nice trip, Dick."), gorgeous dream items like Louis Vuitton campaign furniture and luxury train cases, and much practical gear and advice. It elevates the zip-loc plastic bag to chic status which seasoned travelers worldwide have always known. (one woman I know packs exclusively with zip-loc bags - toiletries, underwear, plane tickets, sleepwear....)

The worst part of the book is the collection of packing lists, which are rather overwrought and if not assiduously pruned, would fill a footlocker or sink a ship. Where Fodor's would suggest leaving the electronic stuff at home, Chic lists hair rollers, curlling iron, and an assortment of other hair dealies. For lists, have a look at Fodor's How to Pack, or McAlpin's Pack It Up.

The best thing in this book is a strategy they call a hierarchy of bags. Putting smaller individual bags (wallet, cosmetics, medicine, travel documents) into bigger bags makes changing luggage or purses a grab-and-go affair.

Fodor's How to Pack
Laurel Cardone

Best Packing tips for Families
Best strategies for more occasions
Best tactics for Dirty Clothes

The strength of this particular volume is the emphasis on building a travel wardrobe of bags and clothing, and assembling "kits" that are ready to get thrown into the bag on short notice. If you use the Bag Hierarchy trick from Chic Simple Packing and create kits suggested in this book, even your everyday life becomes vastly simpler.

This book doesn't assume we all travel with just a carry-on, and addresses the easier task of packing a Pullman, packing for a whole family, and packing for a cruise. There are also many good tips on packing the rather shapeless duffel bag, and the garment bag. The packing lists for winter are very useful. Packing for the way back is something no one mentions except here, with a tactic of "reverse packing". In my own luggage I know when an item has been worn because I leave it inside-out. My father, who flew for the Air Force for decades, had his concept of "clean dirties" and "dirty cleans." When he came home from a trip, it was hard to tell which was which.

Packing tips the experts all forgot:

Margaret Vanderwarden's Exploding Panniers Ritual: This trick I leaned from a cross-country biking friend before my own cross-country bike trip: Each night, pitch your tent, throw your bags into the tent, put on the light and take every last thing out of your bags. Mail stuff home you don't need, count your money, eat the squashed peanut butter sandwich so the bears won't find you, toss out the bad string cheese stuck to your Rock Creek Montana Testicle Festival t-shirt. Pack it all back up again.

The Little Hard Plastic Box: I carry one by Sterlite that holds 3 cups. It's just right for cheeses and squishy foods you can't resist, you can take leftovers along, and they won't squish further, or migrate. Stuff in a few airline-sized tequila bottles with a good Rochefort and you have quite a snack.

Adhesive transparent map dots: Get a variety pack from a map store, use them on your maps and in your guidebooks. Use the red ones to emulate chicken pox at the border. Customs officers don't think it's funny, but you'll get a good arrest story out of it.

Tic-Tacs. No substitute for these. Babies the world over think it's funny when you shake them. (The Tic-tacs, not the babies.)

For women, panty liners will keep your underwear cleaner longer. They're small, so bring lots. I can't speak for men.

A compass and small mag light, in your pocket all the time: You will use these at least once a day. Especially the compass.

Spenco Plasters and a bottle of Nu-skin: The hell with moleskin. You WILL get blisters. You will experience foot misery. Spring for these costly lifesavers and get on with your trip.

Leslie Strom has a goal to travel through Europe for a month with nothing but a band-aid box.