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Carry-On Experts: Keep it simple, keep it light, and layer, layer layer

By Joyce Garcia, Travel Watch

Packing experts have taken to carrying on through the Web.

Neither Lani Teshima nor Doug Dyment are professional travel writers. But both have logged thousands of miles in flights and road trips -- Teshima as a technical writer who considers travel a "serious hobby," and Dyment as a consultant and academic who splits his time between California and England.

And both operate their own sites, on their own time, to advise fellow travelers on living out of a single carry-on bag. Teshima's Travelite FAQ and Dyment's Compleat Carry-On Traveler are aimed at keeping travels light and simple.

Here are their basic tips to the novice light packer:

1. Have a good packing list -- and use it. "Don't try to do it from memory," Dyment advises, "or make it up as you go along."
2. Acquire a bag that has been designed for efficient and reliable travel, not to appeal to the "gimmick of the month" mentality. At the top of Dyment's gimmickry list: wheeled bags, which Dyment argues are heavier, less roomy, unreliable and less able to fit in available storage spaces.
3. Base your wardrobe on a basic neutral color -- black, brown, navy or tan -- and make sure each item coordinates into at least two wardrobes, using secondary colors for accent purposes. "Never pack clothing that serves only one purpose," Teshima notes, "except for your main outerwear (such as an overcoat)."
4. Learn to layer that wardrobe to create a handful of separate garments into multiple outfits.
5. Learn how to fold clothes so they don't wrinkle. Dyment suggests the "bundle folding" method, which entails the layering of clothing around a soft core, like an organizer pouch filled with small items like socks and underwear.
   More specifically, clothing is smoothed out and layered in a specific order -- jacket, skirts and dresses, long-sleeved shirts, short-sleeved shirts, slacks, sweaters and knits, and shorts -- with the collar and waistband ends alternating, and the dresses and pants laid out lengthwise. These layers are then wrapped around the core. The resulting bundle is then tied up -- though not tightly -- and placed in the bag.
6. Be flexible. "Feel free to buy a local garment on your trip," Dyment suggests, "but feel comfortable enough to mail it home if you don't plan wear it outside of that one European country."
7. Keep regular-sized toiletries at home and transfer items such as shampoo into travel-sized containers. "Unless you are visiting the Australian Outback, you should have no trouble finding replacements should you need them," Teshima says.
8. Use specialty travel items on the market; Dyment speaks highly of items such as multipurpose tools (such as Swiss army knives and Leatherman products), portable clotheslines and inflatable travel pillows. "But be wary of what you're told at travel stores," Dyment says. "Their job is to sell you more stuff, not less."
9. Avoid lugging heavy travel books. "Tear out the sections relevant to your destination, or photocopy them and toss them as you go," Teshima suggests. "If you can't bear to do this, mail them home while you're on the road."

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