The Perils of Packing

The Perils of Packing

Our holiday is fast approaching. Life has been flying by so fast of late, that I haven’t even had time to get excited about it… yet! However, our long awaited Bali break will seem a little more real once the suitcases are in situ and we, as in David, start packing.

I shall make no secret of the fact that I hate packing. It is my nemesis. What’s more, I am just not good at it. Not good at all, which probably explains why I hate it so much!

At any given time, I make every attempt to possess the largest suitcase possible, and still I can never fit all my worldly goods inside. It’s very frustrating. Packing light is an anathema to me. I take for a weekend, what the every day person would take for a week, or even two!

Some might say I’m a packing princess. When it comes to packing I have mastered the art of delegation. As a child, my mum expertly sorted my suitcases, and later in life, I found friends who were fantastic at the packing lark. They would labour over my luggage on demand. I was a lucky girl indeed. When mama or said friends, weren’t available, there was a lot of mess, a few tears and cases were usually closed by the sit-on-and-zip-up method. (It doesn’t look good but it does the job!)

I may not have married a man who is a dab hand in the kitchen, but I have married a man, who is a case packing wizard. Every trip, big or small, my beloved artfully places everything in my case, with military precision while I look on with total admiration. I wish I could do it like that. Best of all, he graciously takes the things that (even he) can’t fit in my case, and takes them in his. That’s true love, that is!

Then there’s only the matter of the Woe and Weigh to attend to. I resorted to buying one of those travel scales to check the weight of your suitcase at home, or away, just not at the airport.  Having an outsize suitcase is all well and good, but it’s actually pretty pants if you can only fit everything in at a  price. Excess baggage, price!  A ridiculously expensive price, at that. For this trip, I am allowed the luxury of 20kg, and whatever will I do? My hair products alone weight at least that!  All I can say is that it’s lucky my husband hasn’t got much hair! There’s nothing like a weigh in at check in to bring me to the brink. Miraculously, I have never been stung for excess baggage but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. Let’s just hope it’s not this time!

Is packing your nemesis too? Or are you an expert packer? What are your tips for perfect packing?

photo credit: ntr23 via photopin cc