For someone like me, who prides herself with being the “world’s greatest world traveler” (actually these are the words of my friend Bex), light packing is surprisingly a skill still missing from the list.
I have packed backpacks and suitcases hundreds of times before, but I just never seem to learn!

So today after struggling with carrying luggage from my place to Stella’s, whose place  I am staying at tonight,  I realised that something needed to be done. No chance I could carry this amount going up and down planes/buses/trains/taxis/whatever means of transport that I would be using over the next few weeks :-(

Action is required. Now!

What’s the first thing that can go? Mmm do I really need that heavy travel photography handbook? Yes. But…isn’t there an e-version available? Yes! £10 for the Kindle version, which also means I have to download a Kindle-for-PC converter and sort out some version incompatibility. But now it’s done, and I am a bit lighter (even in my wallet, but better than a broken back). Yay!

What’s next? I need help! Stella!!!! And here’s the two of us sitting on the living room floor with all my suitcase content spread everywhere, lifting one item at a time. “Are you really really gonna need this?” she asks. Yes. Ok, maybe. Not. You win.
Repeat that for half an hour in the same sequence, and here I am 2.5Kg lighter. Mission accomplished!!!

Will I do it better next time? Sadly, probably not.