The woman is a sexy talker. She knows exactly what words to whisper into my ear.
When we did the first of these six-month journeys neither of us knew what to take nor how to pack. So we ended up taking far too many clothes. Way too many pairs of shoes. Plus all sorts of unnecessary odds-and-ends that seemed important at the time, but ended up unused and sometimes even untouched during our travels.
We found ourselves loaded down with two suitcases each plus one backpack each. We could have used a couple of sherpas. All that gear turned each leg of the trip into a trek. And it got worse with each stop as we stuffed new souvenirs into those already overpacked suitcases.
But you live, you learn. In this case, we learned to get by with less, to pack more economically, and to do laundry a lot more often.
We took less on our second trip, still less on the third trip, and even less on this trip. We’ve stripped it down to the bare necessities.
And now that sweet-talkin’ wife of mine is just plain turnin’ me on. She just said the words I’ve always longed to hear.
“I might be able to get away with carry-ons next time.”
Whoa! That’s a huge step. Reminds me of my son’s Boy Scout backpacking evolution. The pack for his first trip was huge – about 50% of his size and body weight. By the time he was an Eagle Scout it had diminished to where he could spend a week in the high Sierras with a small ultralight pack.