How To Travel Light: What To Pack

I leave today for RWA’s National Conference in San Francisco! I’m all packed and thought I’d give you a run-down of my strategies (as I sit here wondering if I packed enough or overpacked). This is my 13th conference (yowzas!), so I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing what I do and don’t need to take.

First, any site that proposes to tell you what to pack for YOUR trip, without knowing who you are and where you’re going and why you’re going there, is quite presumptuous. They have no idea what your needs are during your trip. Most places would tell you NOT to pack your own pillow (and every time I follow that advice, Husband winds up having to overnight my pillow to me). So, I won’t tell you stuff like that.

What to pack depends largely on the trip, what you’ll be doing, the changeability of the weather at your destination and what types of functions you’ll be attending (a week on a beach in Hawaii requires vastly different packing strategies than say, a week-long writer’s conference in San Francisco). Also, you need to balance personal comfort against minimalism in packing.

My trip to San Francisco is both business and pleasure. I’ll be touristing as well as attending workshops, dinners and industry functions. What I need for each of those things is different. I don’t have ready access to a washing machine, nor do I want to purchase a bunch of stuff once I arrive, so that also changes how I pack.

The Clothes

For Touristing

Total time: 3 days (travel late Monday, free time Tuesday, Wednesday until dinner, Sunday until evening flight)

travel clothes: 1 pair pants, 1 lightweight t-shirt, 1 lightweight jacket, tennis shoes (wear your heaviest shoes while traveling… lightens the suitcase)

In addition, I packed another pair of pants (weather forecast for San Fran is hovering in the mid-sixties), another lightweight t-shirt. Can wear the same lightweight jacket if I need it. Same tennis shoes.

Also packed a front-zip sweatshirt in case weather in San Fran really gets chilly. Being from the Pacific NW, mid-sixties isn’t uncomfortable for me, so I should be okay.

For Conference

Total Time: 4 days (begins Wednesday evening, ends Saturday night…. very late)

• 1 pair comfortable, but nice-ish pants
• 1 skirt
• 2 tank tops
• 3 lightweight sweaters (I will probably only wear two, but if I spill at lunch, I’ll be happy for the extra)
• 1 pair sandals, or I could wear my nice tennis shoes if my toes get cold
• 1 dress for nicer functions such as industry receptions, the Cherry gathering, and the RITAs.

Other Clothing

• 1 pair pajamas
• 3 pairs socks
• Unmentionables

All of that took up roughly 1/3 of the suitcase.

The Other Stuff

This is where things get heavy. I travel with my own pillow (3.5#). I’ve learned that when I don’t travel with my own pillow I don’t sleep well and a good night’s sleep is very important to me. Especially once the conference starts and time allotted for sleeping falls to something like 4 hours/night (on a good night). It’s a sacrifice in weight that is necessary for my personal comfort while traveling.

Toiletries packed using strategies to meet the 3-1-1 guidelines for carry-on liquids, (including 1.5 ounces of clothes-washing soap–with room to spare in the baggie). Believe it or not, that weighs 3# with everything full. On the upside, for the trip home, it will weight about 1/2 pound because everything will be empty. On the downside, the remaining 2.5# will be used many times over by books (okay, that’s not really a downside). I’ll be using what the hotel provides for shaving, teeth-brushing, and body cleansing.

I also took meds for my back/neck pain (another reason to pack my own pillow), a few doses of other OTC meds I’ve learned are essential for me when traveling (especially the anti-inflammatories for the inevitable headaches—um, 4 hours of sleep? totally not enough, but sleeping is such a waste of good conference time).

Cosmetics.

Cellphone cords, camera cords, laptop cords.

Cellphone, camera, laptop (a whopping 6.8#).

Hair clips/rubber bands.

Empty thermal mug for carrying large quantities of coffee during conference (see lack of sleep and resulting headaches above).

Slippers.

Hair towel (I have long curly hair—a thin hair towel makes my mornings go so much easier–again balancing personal comfort against minimalism).

Glasses. Sunglasses. Stick sunscreen. Gum.

Business cards–not a bunch, but enough to hand out should anyone ask.

Cheat sheet for how much a book weighs–very necessary at this conference.

Did I Overpack?

That’s the quandry. I think I did pretty well, even though the suitcase is 80% full. Where I might be able to cut back if I want to save a pound or two (and a little bit of space) is on the extra sweater, the extra sweatshirt, the slippers. Which I would probably do if I had a connecting flight or had to carry my bag long distances. Every ounce makes a difference in that situation. BUT, I am taking a direct flight. If I take BART to my hotel, it’s 8 blocks from the train station; if I take a taxi, it’s door-to-door service. So I’m going to keep the few extra things and call it good.

Because my neck and back are bothering me so much right now, it’s probably a good thing I have to get one more trip out of my old suitcase–it has wheels. I wasn’t able to purchase the Red Oxx Sky Train that I lusted after in my first traveling light post because the money had to go to an external hard drive, which was more important. Also, 14 is going to need a new clarinet in September–and since money doesn’t fall from the sky (dang it), choices had to be made.

Total weight on the suitcase, as packed (w/o laptop): just shy of 27#