When my fraud complex kicks in and I question my competence, as I’ve done in situations like this, I ask myself what I’m really, really good at.
Malcolm Gladwell believes it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert, citing, inter alia, the Beatles’ prolonged musical boot camp in Hamburg’s dives. (I actually think the Beatles reinforced some bad musical habits in that era and only blossomed once they got into the studio with George Martin. More Beatles stuff here).
I feel like I’ve clocked 10,000 hours into suitcase packing over many years of travelling. Packing, for me, is an art, a science, and a kind of zen practice. It’s my time to shine.
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Well, you’ve raised my packing consciousness, Brad, which until now had been stimulated only by the frustration of discovering missing items in a location far from where they could be replaced or manufactured!
One TSA/USA potential attention grabber is the 3 oz max. liquid rule which has undoubtedly helped the small bottle manufacturers and some opportunistic airport entrepreneurs like the crafty post-security newsstand operator who sold me a new expensive toothpaste after my large tube had been confiscated by TSA on a recent flight.
As for multiple electric adapters, there’s an excellent website that specifies voltage, plug design etc. for every country which has allowed me to pack in only a few adapters for each trip. see http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm.
However I’m now in SW France, and thought I was cleverly using a step-down transformer to downgrade the local 220V current for my wife’s 110V curler heater; only to find out it didn’t work and she was forced to go to our daughter’s wedding here all straight haired. Later I found the heater worked when I plugged it directly into the wall. It didn’t flame out or blow up (had a hair dryer do that once!) because this device, like most computers and many other gadgets, are now 120-220 compatible. One less thing to pack?
Maybe you can teach a packing workshop sometime, says the wrinkly-clothed man who can’t ever seem to fold things well.
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