25 - 31 January 2001
Issue No.518
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 25 - 31 January 2001 Issue No.518 |
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Travelling light
When my travelling days began I was given a piece of advice by a well-travelled friend. "Given the choice, travel heavy," she said. I soon found the snag that lay in the word "choice": it only works when someone else is footing the bill for your baggage consignment. If not, you need to weigh things up -- literally.
In the old days they knew how to travel in style, dressing for dinner in the jungle and what not. The 19th-century Dutch baroness Alexine Tinne reputedly dragged 48 boxes of silver through Africa, as well as her mother and her aunt. She was, not surprisingly, robbed and murdered by her guides, and word soon got around that such dedication to comfort had its drawbacks. By the time Freya Stark visited the pyramids, she was travelling so light she was unprepared: she took a picnic and a bottle of Omar Khayyam, only to find she had forgotten to bring a corkscrew. This illustrates the ultimate downside of travelling light.
GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES: The answer is pack it, but pack it small. I never go anywhere without a Swiss army knife and a miniature office -- stationery, post-and-paste kit, laptop for e-mails. When a pebble shattered our windscreen near Ras Banas and the driver cried wretchedly, "If only we had a roll of cellotape!" -- guess who opened her bag and produced one? It was only a small roll, but it held the glass together until we got back to Hurghada. Tweezers and antiseptic for emergency removal of fish hook from desert dog's lip? Me again. Miniature brandy smuggled from the plane to revive a frozen swimmer? You got it.
Of course, it depends where you're going. In Rome or New York you'll find pharmacies, not -- heaven forbid -- children and animals needing urgent first aid. Off the beaten track you could be caught without essentials from tourniquets to toilet paper. Don't overdo it: shampoo doubles up as laundry detergent, moisturiser as body lotion. To save giving space to a half-full bottle as your bags fill up with souvenirs, take miniatures and throw away the empties.
Treats -- hot chocolate sachets, tea bags, trail mix -- can save you paying mortgage-size prices for a pack of peanuts from your hotel mini-bar or starving to death if your vehicle breaks down and no one around happens to speak the same language as you. On your way to the world's more remote areas, you can arm yourself with duty-free cigarettes for folks who come to your rescue and ball-point pens for stray children. All worth the space, and off-loadable before you fly home (you can also leave extra supplies, from magazines to tights, in your hotel room as tips).
RESOURCEFUL THINKING: Be culturally selective. Don't waste suitcase space on shorts if you're flying to Kuala Lumpur, or chocolate if you're on your way to Bern. Which brings us to clothes. My friends always seem to be the sort of people who bring too much and then put things in cases belonging to others who've had the forethought not to stuff theirs too full. I'll never forget my horror at meeting up with a friend in Bangkok just before we set off on a train journey across Asia only to find she'd packed in such a hurry that she'd brought every garment she owned, and I had to carry half of them. Our compartment was so full of clothes that there was barely room to lie down. At the other extreme, I travelled with a friend who prided herself on carrying only one small bag -- and then proceeded to use and wear everything of mine.
Clothes are less necessary than guide books, sun cream, and comfortable shoes, so only take things you can wash and wear. The only thing Ford Prefect took when he hitch-hiked round the galaxy was a towel; in my experience, the ultimate garment is a roomy sarong -- beach and bath cover up, evening skirt, table cloth, spare sheet, chador and flag to attract planes if you're stranded on a desert island. If you have room for more, stick to one colour-combinations and the shoes and accessories you'll need will be kept to a minimum. You men needn't gloss over this bit, because it applies to you, too. Black/grey for town, brown/beige for the country, they used to say.
TEA WITH THE QUEEN: Never imagine you won't need to dress up. Always pack a tie or evening garb. You may not need it, but it'll break your heart if you're invited somewhere smart and you have to buy an outfit that doesn't fit, costs too much and you'll never wear again. Friendships can make or break on this. Once I lent a visiting friend my second-best dress to wear to a party -- I was wearing the best one -- and she never spoke to me again. I blamed myself for not letting her wear the Zandra Rhodes -- but why on earth didn't she bring her own?
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