Warning: This is a rambling post, and while I write a lot of rambling posts, this one might take the cake. It’s what happens when you blog while bored.
I have five days of travel this week and 3 or 4 next week. I work with people who travel all of the time. When I grew up my dad travelled all of the time. I couldn’t do it.
I think some people are born to travel. Despite a love of traveling for pleasure, traveling for work is a whole other ball game. For my first overnight I packed my thing into a small duffle bag. I was proud. Then I met up with my co-worker who had luggage the size of a laptop bag. What??? For this trip I didn’t screw around. I still have my things in a smaller suitcase but I am ready for all types of scenarios.
What’s ironic is that I can travel around the world, quite literally, with nothing more than a backpack. I remember when Wonder Boy and I once visited my friend Delicious in DC he saw my luggage and started laughing. Delicious and I spent three weeks traveling around Europe with only a few days worth of clothes on us. We washed underwear in sinks, visited laundromats. We weren’t above wearing dirty clothes. And then I rolled into DC for a long weekend with enough luggage to last about 3 weeks.
As I jammed my suitcase full of stuff last night I tried to reconcile the differences in my packing styles. I decided it all came down to one thing: flip-flops. Initially I thought it had to do with if I wanted to impress people or not. Because if you want to impress people who pack different things for all sorts of occasions, right? But really, the things I packed for this trip? Neither impressive or the type of clothing I’d like to be associated with. Business dress… blech. (As I type this I am in my conference outfit of company polo and dress slacks but also sporting Chucks, so there is still some room for creative expression.) Now DC was a trip where I wanted to look cute so maybe it’s sometimes about wanting to impress people.
The trips I like, the trips I can pack well for, are ones where flip-flips are appropriate for all occasions. Flip flops are fabulous. They let your toes enjoy the warm weather, they don’t make your feet sweat, they can look great with a dress outfit and just as good with a T-shirt and shorts. I used to use flip flops as part of my tag-line when I did freelance writing for Time Warner (see the bottom of the story).
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