Since his very first travel experience man has struggled with the question how to pack for it. Should he attempt to travel the continents and cross ten time zones with only the bare necessities? Should he pack those shoes that he will only wear once on his trip just because they go with those pants that he really wants to wear because they make his ass look good? I have been traveling for years and yet I seem to be devolving in my ability to determine what is necessary. I was a generous packer the first time I traveled alone. I packed everything I owned for a weekend in St. Louis and changed clothes three times a day just to be able to wear everything. Later on I became better at editing my suitcase. By the time I went to Europe for the first time I brought only things that were black or charcoal gray. When I look back on the pics from that trip I look like I either saw all of Europe in one day, or didn’t change clothes for two weeks.
I have been to eight other countries besides our own and now I consider myself a traveler. Switzerland, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Great Britain, Spain and Mexico. However when I went to Europe again just last year I could not believe what all I had brought with me. Non-coordinating clothes and too many separate outfits badly and quickly thrown together. I did not even have room to buy clothes there without sending home a huge parcel. I had a beret and an overcoat! Who wears that kind of shit? There are pics to prove it, but vanity precludes their posting as I look like a world-class jackass in that outfit which I wore only once on the trip, but took up a quarter of my suitcase. It is the age old question of style over convenience children, and you know how that one always turns out.
This week I will be adding two new countries to my roster; Honduras and Belieze. I will be in Mexico as well as some of my friends have convinced me to check out the Caribbean side. Mexico is the easiest vacation packing I know of. Linen shorts and pants and shirts and who cares about the wrinkles? I am writing this as I am thinking about beginning the packing process. The one hitch here is that I am going on a cruise so that means that I will have to look presentable at least part of the time, especially since I am going with a rather large group of gay guys. I would like to think that I have grown as a man and am able to lunch in the same outfit that I wear on the zip-line canopy tour of the jungles of Belieze, we shall see.
On this trip I am going to bite the bullet. I am not bringing a tuxedo for one night with strangers. I am not bringing those snake skin Donald J. Pliners that go with those jeans that make my ass look good. I am NOT bringing that velvet jacket, or silk shirts or other extraneous fashion. I am traveling for comfort and style, and I think that I can have both. I am 36 years old and I don’t need to impress anyone anymore, so clothes should not be such a big deal. I will post pics when I return and then you can see if I managed to pull that off. Toiletries are a different story though, I don’t go anywhere without moisturizer.
Moisturizer. Indeed. You’re going to have a great time!