I love airports. One of my favourite parts of touring is waiting in an airport lounge watching all the characters passing by.
I once saw a tiny lady who appeared to be well into her 60s, skin bronzed to perfection, wearing a beige, velour pant-suit pulling a four-car train of floral print luggage on the way to Gate B34. She towed this freight with the zeal of a woman half her age and twice her size, tromping along as if she were on a treadmill with the speed level set at the point just before running.
In the midst of spotting such a rare marvel I got to thinking. Why is it that some people insist on packing their entire three-level house for a mere two week get-away? While others, like my brother, no matter where I meet him in the world, has only his tennis racket in its cover and guitar with its case, both stuffed with a few essentials- socks, underwear, swim trunks and khaki Chinos?
Then there’s Dawson. A legend amongst my globe-trotting friends, he often travels to anywhere in the world with nothing but the clothes he’s wearing and a credit card.
Amazing, I know.
He’s somehow unbound by any sentimentality towards his clothes and, dare I say, lacks any reasonable sense of fashion when purchasing them in the first place. Tommy Bahama seems to suit him just fine wherever he lays his head. And if he hops off the plane to chilly weather? He buys a parka. Spontaneously invited to a bizarre Welsh festival? Out comes his Visa for rubber boots and a Stove Pipe witch’s hat. Then, before leaving a place he gives his purchases away to the less fortunate.
I, on the other hand, have two constant irrational fears when packing for travel: I think my home will burn down while I’m away, and unrelated, I assume I’ll need every possible clothing combination from my wardrobe. Because one never knows when both a black and brown pair of Oxfords is needed, along with a pair of white leather pants, and a Muskrat-fur Russian hat. Right?
But as luck would have it my home never burns down and not once have I needed my white leather pants. Still I keep packing them anyway. Just in case.