We are traveling by van for the next 10 days. We are going to a play therapy conference in Minneapolis. As we can’t bear to let produce spoil, we are taking along our canning equipment, jars, rings, lids, and boxes of ripening tomatoes. We must be out of our minds.
How do you pack for a trip?
Trail Baboon 
All the clothing is rolled. Doing that lets me carry 14.78 percent more t-shirts than if they are folded. Believe me.
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I pack light on clothes, heavy on photographic equipment. Light on books because I use an e-reader.
Have never packed canning equipment. Where on earth are you staying that you will be able to do some canning?
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We are visiting our son in Brookings, SD, for part of the trip.
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Son will be thrilled, IF you leave him some jars of tomatoes.
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I think today’s question really should have been “Are you nuts?”
I have a packing list on my computer that I print out and fill in. It has all of the items that I need when I am traveling for work and then a separate section at the bottom for camping and traveling for leisure. I lay everything out on the bed and then put it in the suitcase.
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Do you offer a class in that method, VS?
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After the trip I took to RiverTown without using my packing list, I’m not sure I’m that much of an expert to be teaching!
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When I traveled so much as an outdoor journalist, I never unpacked. I kept a kit of clothes, paperback books, dopp kit and other basic gear in a duffel, only removing dirty clothing to wash it and put it back in the duffel. When I left on a trip I was already packed, although I’d need to customize the stuff in the duffel for particular destinations.
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Hmmm… if you’re going often that makes sense. I have a “mom bag” packed with things I need when I visit her… and one for t’ai chi, and one for “band” practice, and…
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A couple of days before trip:
– root through closet for clothes that might need washing
– clear off some horizontal piece of furniture for suitcase
– find suitcase and put it there
– start tossing things in bag as I think of them, including now-clean clothing
– luckily, a “cosmetic” bag is always ready to go in the linen closet, may need tweaking
– night before d-day, do a blitz of organizing and folding and packing suitcase
– remember to pack extra shoes at the last minute, and a carry on with reading material…
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That’s about the craziest thing I’ve heard since DT told PR that their horrific hurricane wasn’t a real disaster compared to Katrina. Glad you told us you’re stopping in Brookings on the way or I would have worried about you. Like ljb, I was wondering where the heck you’d be staying, thinking perhaps some airbnb hosts would find themselves with a big surprise on their hands.
I pack lightly. Very lightly. I know women who pack more for a weekend than I do for a three week vacation.
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I am a moderate packer. For a 3-4 day car trip to relatives, I will pack 5 to 6 outfits and a couple pair of pajamas, 2 pairs of shoes and slippers, all my skin care regimen, complete make-up kit (one must always look young and beautiful), supplements and whatever food I am making as a contribution to family gatherings.
The boys pack minimally, but I usually have pillows and blankets in the car for comfort and warmth, as well as snacks.
Renee, you never cease to amaze me with your resourcefulness and commitment to … whatever it is you decide to do at each and every moment. Are you stopping to see any Baboons while in Minneapolis or along the way?
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I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. Now that we are on the road I can start planning.
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The blankets are for snacks?
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Whenever we are going away for an extended period, Robin starts packing and repacking clothes at least a week ahead. I pack the night before. Draw whatever inferences you like.
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I think if I started packing ahead that early, it would backfire, since the clothes and most things I need to travel are the same things I need when I’m home.
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One might infer from your description that you are proving that “opposites attract.” Your marriage is like the friendship I had with my outdoor buddy. He was OCD and I was whatever its opposite would be.
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i take 2 shirts 2 pants 2 shoes 4 socks 4 underwear
2 sports coats 1 hat
toothbrush razor brush
phone computer book
tea cigars
swim suit
good for 4 days or 4 weeks
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Morning.
I also tend to pack the night before. Socks and underwear are the main,critical packing item. Then some shirts and pants. And all the electronic accoutrements.
Usually once there, I never have the right shirts. Not enough or nothing for dinner at the ‘nice’ restaurant. Sometimes either too many sleeves or not enough sleeves.
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Isn’t it easy enough to transform a sleeved shirt into a sleeveless one?
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Yes, just harder to go back…
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Oh yeah, electronics. I probably take too many electronics – and all their charging paraphernalia. I’ve got a cell phone, ereader, ipod, laptop. Am I forgetting something?
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I always pack both a 6′, extension cord (one of those white or brown ones) and a USB extension. Plus a night light. Pack a couple ‘spring type’ clothes pins to hold the window curtains shut or … whatever you might need a cloths pin for. BTW, those spring type cloth pins are called ‘C47’s in the movie business.
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The big decision for me on many trips was which book to bring. I dreaded landing in some boring backwash area without a good book. My duffel usually held two or three carefully chosen paperbacks.
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Yes, the hardcovers are just too heavy. On that train trip of 1998, I had a whole bag of boox thinking I would be reading all those hours on the train. Nope – looked out the window and drew stuff, shipped the boox home.
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I’m usually in favor of over-preparing. If you have the books along, even if you don’t read them, there is a certain peace that descends just knowing they are there.
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Like Wes, I roll clothes into a cylindrical shape and put them in a duffel bag if space is at a premium, which it usually is. I often forget something like socks or underwear or a comb or a toothbrush, which means a trip to a retail outlet in an unfamiliar town.
I tend to overpack, but I’m pretty certain I have never contemplated bringing canning supplies along. A small sewing kit, yes. Nothing ambitious, though.
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Stuff by George Carlin
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Excellent. My son and his cousin had most of this memorized, so I have parts of it…
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