What I Pack: Valery Gherman

Valery Gherman. Photo / Supplied

Do you travel light or heavy?
Unfortunately, due to the nature of my work being a makeup artist, I travel on the heavier side.

Cattle or first class?
Cattle, or, if lucky, Business.

I can't travel without ...
In the the US at airports, they make you take your shoes off going through security - so I always wear my slip-on shoes.

What's the best thing you've brought back from a trip?
Hmmm, a tan usually when returning to winter ...

Favourite or most exciting airport to land in?
Auckland because it's home, and JFK NYC because it's also home.

Best packing tip?
Kinda dorky, but I have these really cool plastic bags that you pack and squeeze all the air out, so they become vacuum sealed, so I always use them to compress my things. And I also just recently bought a clip-on suitcase handle that is a digital scale, so I don't have to shuffle overweight luggage between suitcases.

Most memorable trip?
Earlier this year I watched a fascinating documentary about the the ancient temples of Angkor in Cambodia, and they were showing some of these beautiful structures that are covered in trees with the roots growing over the temples. They were saying that many of those structures will be destroyed by the roots within 100 years, so the idea of visiting there entered my mind. Literally two days later, I was asked to fly to Cambodia for a fashion shoot at the Temples in Angkor Wat, and two weeks later I was there.

Valery Gherman is a New York City based makeup artist, and contributor for travel website Runawaynow.com