Travel writers share favorite packing tips

It's the "fold and roll!"

I always (err, sometimes) pay attention to the experts. I was especially chuffed to read tips for effective luggage management (also called packing!) from world renown travel experts - you know, the travel writers of the world. Their guidance:

• Pack a pashmina. Family travel writer Kate Pocock of Toronto says, "it will keep you warm in overly air-conditioned buildings in the tropics, also in cool northern climes." It also doubles as a headscarf in Arab countries and as an extra blanket on airplanes. "For me," admits Pocock, "my pashmina is my Linus blanket when travelling."
• Use zip-lock bags in many sizes. Judy Wade, a Phoenix-based travel writer with over 30 years of packing experience says she uses the larger sizes for things such as wet swim suits and muddy running shoes, medium ones for toiletries, and small sandwich-size bags for film, prescription medication, a partially-used bar of soap, a mini-first-aid kit.
• Pack your stuff in plastic bags. James Yenckel, 16-year travel writer for the Washington Post, now contributor to Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel Magazine and assorted daily newspapers, packs everything in plastic. Two or three shirts or pair of pants to a sweater bag, he says. Underwear in one bag. Socks in another. He says, "the bags protect these items from wrinkling, it's easy to unpack and repack, and the plastic bags keep clothing from getting wet when luggage sits in the rain on the airport tarmac."
• Use the "fold and roll" system. Travel writer and author Sally McKinney of Indiana also subscribes to the "fold and roll" packing plan. She groups pants or skirts and tops in the colour sets she plans to wear, adds companion pieces in folded layers, then rolls each set into a coil. "With the coils placed in the suitcase sideways," she says, "I can easily see which set I want."
  
• Throw it away. Shirley Linde, editor of SmallShipCruises.com goes the disposable route: toothpaste tubes that just have a few days left in them, a toothbrush that is due for replacement, the panty part of old panty hose. She throws then away day-by-day and returns with a lighter suitcase. She adds that most cruise ships keep their dining rooms and show lounges "way too cold" so she always packs a versatile jacket or sweater for evenings.
• Plan a basic color scheme. Travel and spa writer Anne Dimon sticks to two or three basic colours that can be mixed and matched. Add one great belt that will turn a day-time ensemble into a special evening look, plus one or two large scarves to use as evening shawls, wrap around the neck if the weather is chilly, or wear as a sarong with a bathing suit, and you're ready to go.
  

I love the "fold and roll" system. And, I swear when I don't do it my bag - filled with the same crap - weighs a good deal more. I know it's impossible, but I swear to you it does... Anyway read more about these tips and learn a few more at the great link below. Good stuff!

In other luggage news, Ryanair announces carry-on luggage only flights. Yes, I'm being serious!! It appears they hate checking my bag as much as I do...

Packing tips from those who travel for a living [Canada.com]
Ryanair to launch hand luggage-only flights [Guardian]