2 weeks, 8 cities, 1 suitcase & 10 tips

Hi everybody!

I’m now home from tour and finally starting to feel like my old self (four days of pretty much constant sleep will do that.)  It was GREAT being on tour–so many wonderful bookstores and awesome readers. But it’s also full of some fairly unusual challenges, not the least of which is…

Packing.

You see, touring is like being on vacation.  On crack.  You pack a bag, board a plane, and spend the next several days (my last tour, for example, was16 days) going from city to city, hotel to hotel.

Now, some people prefer to pack one big bag and check it, but I choose not to do this for three reasons:

*  A checked bag can easily become a lost bag, and when you’re changing cities every day it’s conceivable that you will keep traveling around the country and your bag will constantly be a city behind.

*  When you check a bag that means an extra line to stand in plus 20 or so extra minutes before and after your flight.  And when you’re on tour 20 extra minutes of sleep is important!

*  Most airlines are now charging for checked luggage and I’m…well…cheap.

So that’s why I prefer to just do the carryon thing for tour.  Is it a challenge?  Sure.  But it’s doable and here are some handy dandy tips on how.

 

1.  It’s a basic but a goodie: only take what you need. 

If you’re anything like me you’ll have to fight the urge to throw in everything you might conceivably want but then, once you hit the road, you’ll end up wearing the same three things every day anyway because those are the things that are comfortable, flattering, warm, cool, whatever.  Do yourself a favor and just leave those other things in the closet or…

 

2.  Don’t be afraid to ship stuff home.

If you get on the road and you figure out you’re not gonna wear it…  Or if you’ve already worn it and it’s dirty or no longer needed, then ask the front desk for a box and ship that stuff home.  If you’re worried about the cost, consider this: it’s probably cheaper than a single $50 bag check fee.

 

3.  Don’t be afraid to have stuff shipped TO you.

I did this for the first time on this last tour because there were some things I was going to need at the RWA convention the last week of tour that I wouldn’t need until then.  So before I left I put everything in a box, printed up a shipping label, and left the package with a friend who put it in the box the day before I was supposed to arrive in Orlando.  It worked great and I’ll definitely be doing it again.

 

4.  Don’t take more than two pairs of shoes. 

Wear one, pack one.  Other than that you’re asking for all kinds of additional weight and lost space.

 

5.  Everything you take should do double duty.

Personally, I am a fan of the basic black dress.  Some people can’t live without their favorite jeans or an awesome sweater.  No matter your style, if you’re gonna go two weeks with one carry-on suitcase you’re gonna have to rewear some of these basic things and wear them well.  It can be done!  You can do it!  (scarves, jewelery, and cardigans help, by the way.)  Remember, mixing and matching is your friend!

 

6.  Travel-sized toiletries are a must.

Honestly the hardest thing about the all-carry-on tour is the new limit on liquids.  That’s why I’m now on constant lookout for liquids that aren’t…liquid.  For example, there’s a bar shampoo.  They have these handy-dandy wipes with nail polish remover now (no more carrying around a bottle that might spill.)  And Dove makes these foaming face cloth things that I love!

 

7.  Utilize every inch of space in that bag!

Packing shoes?  Fill them with socks.  See a little crack at the bottom of the bag?  That’s where you put your belt.  It’s not a suitcase, it’s a game of Tetris.  You can do it!  (My method of choice is this: take all the long stuff like dresses and lay them flat in the bottom of the bag with the ends flopping over the end.  Then stack all your foldable things and bulk items like shoes.  Pack smaller things around the bulk items.  Then flop the long ends of the dresses or jeans or whatever over the top.  This method utilizes space beautifully and keeps your clothes as wrinkle-free as you can under the circumstances.)

 

8.  Wrinkle-free is fabulous.

I have a deep and abiding love for the pajama dress.  What’s a pajama dress?  Well, that’s what Holly Black, Jen Barnes, and I have dubbed those fabulous knit dresses that don’t wrinkle, don’t stretch, don’t stain, and feel like pajamas.  I wouldn’t dream of traveling without them.

 

9.  Clean out your drawers.

If you’ve got old socks or t-shirts or whatever and you’re getting ready to throw them away, don’t.  Put them in a drawer instead and pack them when the time is right.  That way, the last time you wear them is on the road and instead of packing or shipping them home you can simply discard them along the way.

 

10.  Hotel laundry is possible.

Sometimes you get to spend multiple nights in the same place and…whoa…that is AWESOME!  When that happens I always like to handwash what I need to or, if need be, send stuff to the hotel laundry.  No, it’s not ideal.  But yes, it is possible.  And, yeah, I’d still rather do that than get to the airport earlier, stay later, and pay to check a bag that might be lost.

 

So that’s it, folks: my big post on extreme packing for extreme traveling.  I hope it helps!

 

-Ally