Packing a bag for a journey tells you a great deal about yourself! I'm quite a seasoned traveller and have often gone off for long stints that span months away from home, and it is here that the tricky bit comes in: what to take and what to leave behind! So I have devised a simple methodology. I pack my bag a week ahead of any trip, immaterial of whether its just a few days that I am out of town for, or whether its a more elaborate travel agenda that beckons! At this point I put away everything I possible believe I need, well folded into plastic bags and neatly placed into my suitcase. I then take everything out of the bag two days before departure, and go through a ruthless elimination process that virtually halves the contents in the bag!
My essential list of garments is profiled on a mix and match policy when I pack. I think style is more through the confidence of the individual and not in the designer labels that you wear. My trade mark colour is black and this is not because of any desire to create mystic meaning about myself . It has evolved because as a painter I am immersed in the vivid colours of my palette everyday of my life and so I prefer to be clothed in the starkness of black that offers me a neutral compatible with all other colours I encounter.
I love a bit of bling, and so I carry some jewelry with me. I think an outfit transforms itself with the accessories you wear with it. And the daub of a subtle fragrance becomes the concluding statement of the process of getting dressed each day. I generally hate wasting time with too much back and forth happening when I travel, so I plan a days outfit that can carry me through into an evening, where all I need is to wash my face, shake my hair into more coherence than it offers me these days, and voila I am all set a long haul into the wee hours of the night!
A good book is a great travel companion and on some occasion I carry a small black book in which I draw. No extra paraphernalia in the form of fancy make-up kits or elaborate foot wear. I keep it simple where comfort and the basics are the criteria of choice.
However I do have a confession to make. Mighty mouse travels with me on every journey I make. He has a bell at the end of his tail and a rather bemused personality at all times. Hey! Hang on! I did say that packing a bag revealed a lot about oneself, didn't I?! So chill baby, who knows what is hidden inside your own baggage!
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