Less is More

Three weeks ago I ran through New Haven towards the train station in inappropriate footwear. I thought momentarily about dropping my shoulder bag and just living out of my purse, and decided against it. Instead, I kicked myself for bringing so many things with me, schlepped my bag to the other shoulder, and ran on.

Does that sound familiar?

While weight-bearing exercise is good for everyone, lifting weights as a part of a pre-departure fitness program was not appealing to me. However, I didn't want to be THAT person on my flight who couldn't lift her bag into the overhead bin (or worse, as I saw this fall) the person not quite strong enough to prevent my roll-aboard from bonking someone on the head. What to do?

My answer has been to take less. Each time I travel I evaluate what I brought that I
- needed
- brought and didn't use
- didn't bring and wish I did or had to buy

There are usually items that I brought with me that I didn't touch, and a couple of them are still travel necessities (medications, etc). However, keeping track mentally or otherwise of what you must have in Houston in December vs. August can help prevent travel shoulder in the future.

Case in point: I use an unreasonable number of personal care products. I know this. I have special lotion for morning, night, eye cream, hair gel, and a number of other products most folks would find unnecessary. My solution to this particularly troubling limitation (thanks to the TSA quart-sized bag of liquids rule) has been contact cases. Seriously. I travel with three contact cases but wear no contacts. I have labeled each with a sharpie, and am able to travel with six liquids for the space (and weight) of one.

Note this solution isn't fantastic for watery liquids, but ideal for creams, gels, lotions and other quasi-liquids. Depending on your usage, you could certainly fill TWO containers with the SAME THING, but I find that one container for morning face lotion and one container for evening face lotion is perfectly suitable for a ten day travel period.