Editorial: One day i'll lighten up my travels

Okay, I'll admit it - I'm a chronic over-packer.

It doesn't matter if I'm going to visit my folks in rural Hawke's Bay, going away on a week-long holiday in Australia, visiting friends in Wellington or going on an overnighter - I always take too much.

Sadly, I cannot recall a single trip I've made during which I have worn or used every item I have packed. I've comforted myself with reassurances that had the weather suddenly changed or had we suddenly been invited to some posh do, I would have had coat and cocktail shoes at the ready. I guess that makes me a just-in-case over-packer.

This one time, when I made a really big effort to pack light, it was such a big effort for me that I forgot to pack any underwear and we had to make a stop at a Bendon store on the way to our destination.

The ability to pack only what I need has always eluded me. I've watched, intrigued, as people on telly demonstrated how to pack a small but versatile holiday wardrobe, vowing and declaring to do the same when I next took a trip. I have avidly read tips on travelling light in magazines.

All has been to no avail. The next trip comes round and I'm piling the clothes into the suitcase again, mulling over my choices, removing and adding items, trying to squeeze in one more pair of shoes ... just in case.

Nobody likes to admit a flaw, so I used to ponder if my affliction was perhaps in my genes. But lately I've noticed that my parents have managed to turn packing light into an art form, so unfortunately I can't blame them. It's all me.

It's just that I like to consider and plan for every possible eventuality.

And we all know how the weather can change all of a sudden.

A colleague told me her husband removed some 2kg of items from her suitcase when she was packing for a trip to Melbourne. Clearly, she suffers from the same overpacking trait as I but I did point out to her that every item he removed was another item she could buy while she was over there.

On a junket to Aussie some years ago, I was the only female among a bunch of male colleagues who gave me grief the entire four-day trip about my large, half empty, suitcase.

Admittedly, it was a bit of a hassle lugging the thing around but I found use for all that empty space. When I arrived back in New Zealand, that baby was chocka. Clearly, I am slow to learn.