BLACK SKIRTS AND SKIMPY SHIRTS

It's all about simplicity. That's one of the great things about traveling. You have with you just your few clothes, your few books, your few choices. I love that! The first thing I do when I arrive at the motel or the condo or my mom's house is unpack my small suitcase and arrange my stuff. It's so freeing, to have just one drawer of things to wear, one little bag in the bathroom, a couple of books on the nightstand. Life is gloriously simple!

I'm packing today. Or practicing packing. Packing for nine months is really not much different than packing for a week. We three girls have our black skirts and our skimpy shirts. Skimpy as in lightweight. I've planned our trip to follow Summer all around the world. Stephen has his zip-off cargo pants and a pair of lightweight dress pants. I'm making piles on the bed. Here's what I have so far:

For us girls: 2 skirts (just 1 for Grace and Gloria), 2 shorts, 2 long pants, 6 blouses and shirts, 1 swimsuit, 1 nightgown, 5 pair of underwear, 3 pair of socks, 1 pair of good walking sandals, flip-flops, 1 light jacket.

For Stephen: 1 dress pants, 1 shorts, 1 zip-off pants, 6 shirts, swimsuit, underwear, socks, shoes, jacket. He doesn't own pajamas. (And I'm only taking a nightgown for the hostel halls.)

That should do it.

There is a difference, though, in packing for a long trip and for international travel. I have a separate pile with things like tampons, bathroom products, first-aid supplies, electronic stuff (including two new netbooks--what a great invention!), adapter and converter, sink stopper, calculator, clothesline, etc.. Then one more pile of passports, tickets, planner, notebooks, guidebooks, schoolwork.

I just bought airline tickets from Chicago to Guatemala on Mexicana, and from Guatemala to Atlanta on Spirit Air. Mexicana still allows you to check two bags free, but Spirit charges $15-$25 for each checked bag. Air travel is changing fast, and not always to our economic advantage. Spirit even charges $12 for a pre-assigned seat. Although, to be fair, the fares are staying low, and the airlines have to make money somehow. So I hope to fit everyone into a carryon bag. (I mean their stuff!) Though I'll have to deal with the stupid liquid/gel rule.

We're sorting and tossing and stashing like mad all the stuff we have here at home. Stuff is such a bother! Sometimes I wonder if I'm going on this trip just for the simplicity it promises. I'm hoping I learn something about bringing that simplicity home. I'm not a shopper, not into stuff. But still, the stuffed animals breed in the dark, the garage piles up with half-empty containers of brake fluid and fertilizer, and we all have too many clothes. How does that happen?

Someday I'd like to try the Walden Pond experiment, like Thoreau. For now, I'll enjoy the simplicity of traveling light. I'll don my black skirt and skimpy shirt (which I recently washed in the sink and hung to dry -- practicing, you know) and hit the road happy.

Now, back to packing . . .