Packing for a 10 Day Trip to Italy That I'm NOT Going On
Musings—Aug 30, 2010
It may seem bizarre to you that I’d pack for a trip I’m not even going on. It’s almost hard for me to believe it! Earlier this summer, Michelle (the travel agent who got me a flight home from Europe when I was stranded by volcanic ash in April) asked me if I’d give a presentation to her group of 22 adults and youth who were going to Italy for 10 days.
Since I’m passionate about packing light and using only carry-on suitcases—and I planned to prepare a presentation on packing light anyways—I jumped at the opportunity. Nothing like a booked gig to get me ‘creating’ the presentation I’d talked about doing for the last 6 months.
During the process of writing down what I would cover and developing the handouts, I realized that since ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, a fully packed suitcase could beautifully demonstrate that a carry-on suitcase is all you need for a 10 day trip to Italy. I thought a reasonable goal would be to keep the suitcase’s weight at 22 pounds or less. After all, it was Italy in the heat of the summer and heavy clothing was not necessary.
After spending an inordinate amount of time getting my ‘prop’ ready, someone near and dear to me said “I can’t believe you spent all day packing for a trip you don’t even get to go on.” Sad, but true.
Seeing the humor in that statement, I called my mother and left the following message on her answering machine “Call me when you get home….I know you’ll want to ask me what I was doing today”. And sure enough, a short while later she called and asked me just that. I got some pleasure in responding “oh, packing for a 10 day trip to Italy!”. After a pregnant pause she asked me something about the trip. It was then that I confessed what I was doing – packing for a trip I wasn’t taking.
I suppose I’m consoled a little knowing the bag’s final weight was just under 21 pounds and knowing that I have a great packing list prepared so when someone says ‘lets go to Italy for 10 days’, I’ll be ready in an hour!
