Why do I hate packing so much? I’m convinced it’s because every magazine and tv programme conspires to make me believe that there is a platonic ideal of a capsule wardrobe I should bring with me. I ought to be able to pack for three months by carefully selecting a base colour plus two accent colours plus three belts and a scarf which, by tying in twelve different ways, will give me 745 different outfits, each one guaranteed to wow the locals (in a good way) and never leave me frantically burrowing through my bags saying I know I should have brought those extra 5 pairs of shoes.
Anyway, I’ve been trying to pack for three months and three different climates, plus freaked out by the fact that I’ll be hanging out with artists and does that mean I need to start wearing cool, arty clothes and what does that even mean? And all within a 20kg luggage allowance.
I turned to the redoubtable Mrs Davidson (author of the original Hints to Lady Travellers) for consolation. What does she say?
"The days are, happily, now long past when the cherished tradition of the Englishwoman, that one’s oldest and worst garments possessed the most suitable characteristics for wear in travelling, excited the derision of foreign nations, and made the British female abroad an object of terror and avoidance to all beholders."
Even the fact that I’m not an Englishwoman does nothing to console. I am about to become an object of terror and avoidance to all beholders. Oh-me-gee, as Natasha, daughter of Roisin’s Greek next-door-neighbours, would say.
Hah! You think you're oppressed by the capsule wardrobe? Our mother told us we had to emulate Dervla Murphy who travelled to Afghanistan with a spare pair of knickers and a toothbrush. Our dilemma has horns: would you rather look like an eejit with nothing to wear that doesn't stink, or feel hideously guilty for having failed to live up to your mother's high standards.
ReplyDeleteShe's a terrible packer, by the way.