Your stuff. In a bag. Cause you need it.

I go away for work all the time. Sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a month or more. Over the years, I have honed my skills at shoving my stuff in a bag and mostly, making out ok. I do this may times a year. So listen up, kids. Listen and learn.

  1. The Go Bag. The key to making sure you don’t leave home without your essentials is the go bag. This is the bag that I can stuff in my backpack and be ready, without thinking, to a) join a remote film festival panel on the use of the zoom b) visit my lover the Sheikh on the fly c) replace an ailing member of a children’s theatre troupe in Thunder Bay stat. This bag is the basis of all other packing. It’s the stuff you really cannot do without. I have doubles of all these objects in other parts of my house, just so the go bag can remain ever ready. Some people keep money, or the Bible in theirs, but whatever you choose, make sure it’s necessary to you. For me, this means a zip-lock bag with toothpaste-toothbrush-hairbrush-comb-and-travel soap in it. Depending on whether I gave gathered (nicked) any tiny bottles of shampoo and conditioner from my last travels, they go in here too. Just leave it in your bottom drawer, ready to toss in your handbag at a moment’s notice.
  1. Make a list. No, really, make a list. If I am going anywhere for longer than four days, I make a detailed packing list. I keep a generic one in my Google Drive and update it with every trip. It involves three headings: Garments, Toiletries, and Objects. I am not making this up. As I pack, I cross off the items digitally, even though that takes time, just because it feels good! It gives you the opportunity to decide ahead of time: Do I need three dresses, or four? How many pairs of tights will I really wear? Will I require both fashion and sports sunglasses, or is that a bit much?
  1. Remove one thing. No, three things. OK, put one thing back. When I start making lists, two things happen: I start putting too many things on the list, or I start sneaking things into my bag that aren’t on the list because I think I might need them. This is how I wound up being the only kid in grade eight who owned a portable hole punch. Which was useful, but was it required? No. No it was not. So, be vicious with yourself. You don’t need it. Don’t bring it. It’s only extra weight for you to fret about when your bag is on the scale. And you don’t need that or that. OK, but you probably need that. But ONLY that. You get one thing.
  1. You will bring too much stuff, and you will forget something essential. This is a fundamental rule of the universe. In spite of all your careful planning, judicious decision making, and rigorous standards, you will get there, you will never wear those sweaters, and you will arrive without your toothbrush and have to buy one from a general store in an industrial park.

QUICK TIPS

  • Lay out your traveling clothes in their entirety the night before.
  • Always bring AT LEAST one extra pair of underwear.
  • Pack your socks in your bras. You’re welcome.
  • You don’t need all your makeup. Unless you are on a theatre contract, and then you will need more makeup than you can possibly bring, and will wind up asking a bemused cabbie to bring you to the “Good” Shoppers’ Drug Mart in town approximately three (3) hours before a Tech/Dress rehearsal. Unless you are a man, in which case you just pack a razor and a brown eyeliner.

YOU WILL BE FINE. You planned, you are an intrepid traveler of the world, and you will make it work.