Less is more when it comes to packing

I watched, deeply irritated, as my suitcase tumbled from an overladen luggage cart at the Paris airport and bounced across the tarmac.

The cart’s driver sped on unaware until fellow airport workers shouted at him. He wheeled around, scooped up my bag and flung it back on the teetering mound of suitcases.

One more reason to never, ever, check luggage on flights, I muttered to myself.

On many trips, I don’t have suitcases to worry about since I travel with carry-on luggage only, including on a two-week trip to Japan.

Yes, I wore the same clothes day after day since I had only one skirt and two pairs of pants (including what I wore on the plane) and some tops. Yes, it got boring and I certainly wouldn’t win any best-dressed prizes.

But it was worth it. Traveling with only carry-on means no waits at baggage claim (and often quicker airport check-in, too). Traveling light also means no worries about a suitcase getting lost, damaged or pilfered. Best of all, there’s no heavy suitcase to lug around during the rest of the trip.

Most travelers overpack, says Anne McAlpin, a travel-industry veteran who formerly worked with Seattle’s Holland America cruise line. She now runs her “Pack it Up” business of seminars, books and videos aimed at showing travelers how to go with less (www.packitup.com).

“It all started when I was working on the ships (as an entertainment director). I’d see people come with these huge bags, bringing way too much,” says McAlpin, now based in Ashland, Ore. “So I decided to give a talk during a cruise on how to pack – and a hundred people showed up for the first one.

“The biggest mistake people, especially women, make in packing is to take too many shoes,” she says. “Most women take eight pairs of shoes, which is pretty unbelievable. You really only need three: walking shoes, sandals and loafers can get you through everything.”

McAlpin has been an advocate of carry-on only, but now focuses on showing people how to pack less for longer trips when they still want to check a bag.

Some tricks for going with less:

•Start packing a few days ahead so you have time to prune. Put out what you want to take, then see if it fits in your suitcase or carry-on bag. If it doesn’t fit, start choosing what to leave out. And remember, you really need much less than you think.

•Resist the temptation to overstuff your carry-on bag. When flights are full, as they are this summer, airlines may make you check it instead.

•For clothing, take dark or khaki-colored pants or skirts and tops that mix and match and can be layered for warmth. You can wash clothes in your room’s sink; synthetics, especially microfiber, dry much more quickly than cotton and don’t wrinkle as easily. Some people like to take along a small travel clothesline (available at travel-accessory and luggage stores); I find clothes hangers work just fine for drying.

•Plastic bags are a traveler’s friend. Organize underwear and small items in zippered plastic bags. McAlpin advises packing clothes such as dress shirts in dry-cleaning bags to minimize wrinkles caused by friction.

•Cut down on toiletries. Don’t take big bottles of hair and skin products. Instead, take travel-sized ones or buy reusable plastic containers and fill them with what you need for the trip.

•Photocopy or tear out the sections you need of your guidebooks instead of hauling along the whole thing.

No matter what size suitcase you take, pack defensively. Always carry valuable documents, medicines, jewelry, cameras and anything breakable in your carry-on bag.

If you’re traveling with someone else and checking a suitcase, try what McAlpin calls “interpacking.” Divide clothes and shoes between two bags so if one suitcase goes missing you’ll still have some stuff.

I frequently travel with my teen daughter, but we don’t “interpack” since I take a hard line and insist we fly with carry-on only.

Yet as every parent or teacher knows, life with a teenager is a compromise. We may leave with carry-on only, but we often buy extra stuff – thanks to teen-inspired shopping expeditions – and need to check a small bag on the flight home.

That’s how I ended up watching my suitcase bounce across the Paris airport tarmac. It emerged in Seattle scratched and dented, but fortunately with nothing damaged inside. But we did have to wait 40 minutes for the bag to show up at baggage claim.

Next trip, I vowed, it’s carry-on only – both ways.