Episode #9 – The Magic of Packing with Mar

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Packing light sounds simple in theory, but for many travelers, fitting everything into a carry-on can feel almost impossible.

In this episode of the Solo Female Travelers Podcast, Meg sits down with Mar to unpack the strategies, mindset shifts, and practical tips that have allowed her to travel carry-on only for more than 20 years.

While Meg openly admits to being a lifelong overpacker, Mar has refined her packing system through thousands of flights, years of business travel, and countless trips around the world. From capsule wardrobes and versatile clothing to choosing the right suitcase and avoiding “just in case” items, Mar shares exactly how she consistently travels with only a carry-on, even on multi-week trips.

Together, Meg and Mar discuss the psychology of overpacking, common packing mistakes, how to choose clothing for different climates, and why most travelers bring far more than they actually need. They also dive into practical topics like packing cubes, laundry on the road, toiletries, carry-on weight limits, favorite travel gear, and how to handle shopping while traveling light.

Along the way, Meg shares some entertaining stories about traveling with multiple suitcases, navigating airports with a toddler, and learning firsthand why packing light can make travel easier, faster, and far less stressful.

Whether you’re attempting your first carry-on-only trip, looking to streamline your packing process, or simply curious how Mar manages to fit weeks of travel into a single suitcase, this episode is packed with practical advice and real-world experience to help you travel lighter and more confidently.

Here are the products they mention in this episode:

Brought to you by…

The Solo Female Travelers Podcast is sponsored by Solo Female Travelers Tours, our small, luxury, women-only tours that support female owned businesses around the world. Join us on a trip of a lifetime that helps make the travel industry more equitable.

Transcript:

Meg: Hello and welcome to the Solo Female Travelers podcast. So today, before we start, I just wanted to say that if you’ve ever watched Mar pack and arrive on a trip with a very tiny carry on, and if you felt personally attacked as I have, this episode is for you. Because somehow you managed to show up Mar with a carry on and a tote for even multi week trips. And the rest of us, myself mainly included, look like we’re moving abroad.

Mar: To be fair, I am attached to very few things. And I travel so much that my bag is always packed, like truly always packed. My home items are travel size and everything is travel ready. And rather than my travel items being smaller version of my home ones, my home ones are travel size, when I come to Spain, when you came to Spain with four suitcases, I was having an anxiety. Just seeing you and thinking you, how you were going to move everything, you know?

Meg: And we’re going to… We’re going to give context behind that a little later on because there is a defense to that. But yes, maybe it was a little over the top. There is a defense you’ll hear shortly and you can make your own opinions, but I did need to be prepared.

Mar: And then we have no space for shopping, Meg This is the important thing.

Meg: Yes, I probably should have come with a fifth suitcase that was empty just for just for the shopping. So this episode though is about packing light, which is why I’m the host and you were giving us your tips and not the other way around. So back to your light packing style. What portion of your travels is done carry on versus with a checked bag?

Mar: Yeah, we don’t want that. I only check a bag when I have absolutely no choice. And that means if I’m traveling for a really long time or mostly if I’m traveling with different climates. Like last year when I was in the Caribbean and then I was in the Galapagos and in the Amazon and in Antarctica. So I needed like rainy weather clothes, summer clothes, Antarctica clothes. So then I actually needed to pack even though the trip was seven weeks long. If it had been all to the summer destination, then I would have probably been okay. But I didn’t even have, even for that long of a trip, I didn’t have like… hundreds of kilos of weight. I think I ended up having something like 17 or 18 kilos.

Meg: And considering how infrequently you check a bag, also going to hear shortly how it was very, very unlucky that the airline has recently lost your bag. What are actually the chances of that happening of the airline losing a bag? Because this is one of the main reasons that people tout going carry on only, right?

Mar: Well, to be honest, I don’t check a bag because I hate waiting. So for me, it’s not even the possibility of a bag being lost. I actually never thought about it until it happened. And I was in denial until it happened. And it was like confirmed three days later that truly it had the probability of your bag being fully lost, like lost, lost, unrecoverable. It’s like 0.1 to 0.2%. So about 1 % of the suitcases go missing and only 20 % of those never actually make it to the person. Most of the times they are just misplaced. They didn’t make the connection or they’re just simply delayed. So the probability is really low. I’ve taken more than a thousand flights, so it was bound to happen. And to be fair, it’s only happened to me once, but we’re not going to discuss this in this podcast because this is a whole story because the ordeal of getting that resolved took months.

Meg: And that’s obviously like extremely frustrating for anybody to have to deal with, especially for someone you like you who does go carry on only, let’s say 99 % of the time. And then when you do check a bag, you experience that. So even when the EU has protections for these kinds of things in place, I understand how frustrating it is. So I’m sure from now on, you will be traveling even more steadfastly in your carry on only stance.

And we’ll leave the story of how you did how the airline did lose your bag and what you can do in those instances for another episode. But getting back to starting with the real questions to get into the nitty gritty, how do you keep your bag under the required airline weight? And what strategies do you use to travel with only a carry on bag?

Mar: Mostly it’s the way I pack and the things that I bring. it’s like, you know, I know that you’re going to ask me many more detailed questions around this, but mostly is that I am not a just in case kind of person. So I don’t bring things just in case I will need them. I only pack the things I will need and most people will pack twice as many things they need. And so that already cuts my weight to a half. And this is based on my anecdotal experience and observation of other people. So I bring one outfit per day.

Meg: I am definitely a, I am definitely a just in case I stand in front of my watch room and go, I know I’m going in summer, but just in case I need this Antarctica style parka So.

Mar: You’re a sweet case, Yeah, this is like my partner, you know, we’re in Vietnam and he brings three trousers and three jackets for winter. And I’m like, why are you doing that? It’s 30 degrees. It’s like, well, just in case we need it, but we’re going to the summer place and you’re bringing three pieces, six pieces that are and you will not need them at all. just in case. No, I don’t do that. I don’t bring things that I may need.

Meg: I did feel like, I did feel extremely vindicated though on our, SFT tour of Morocco, two years ago now, where it was the first time I had traveled genuinely carry on only, I was so excited and because there is a common, confusion a lot of the times between Mar and myself. So people confuse Mar with me and me with Mar. I remember one of the comments was, so this is how, truly how a pro traveler packs. And I just took the compliment like, yes.

Yes, I am truly the carry on packer who is the pro here. I haven’t over packed for half of my life. So I took that compliment on your behalf. But I have always been an overpacker. I remember over packing since I was 18 years old. So could you tell us when you first decided carry on was the only way for you?

Mar: It was more of an imposition than a decision. I still remember, it was more than 20 years ago when I took my first trip as a consultant. I had already been traveling for work for a year, but I was checking in a bag. My colleagues were checking in bags. We were not so concerned about time and speediness and efficiency. We were packing a bag and bringing lots of outfits and lots of shoes, even handbags. But the first trip that I took as a management consultant when I had just moved to Dubai,

And we arrived at the destination. still remember it was Kuwait. It was probably seven in the morning, like some ungodly hour. And my manager looked at me when we arrived at the barrels section and he said, where is your suitcase? And I said, well, I checked it in, I need to wait for and that look was enough for me to never ever check in a bag again. So ever since at that point, I’ve been traveling carry on. And as I said, it’s for me, it’s not so much the risk of a bag being lost, although now I do think about it. It’s more the fact that hate waiting for it when I arrive. And in Barcelona, it’s terrible how long you wait for it. In Singapore, it’s really efficient. But in Barcelona, you really sometimes need to wait 30 minutes for your bag. And that 30 minutes, it’s just like, it eats at me sitting there thinking, if only I had gone carry on and then I didn’t have to wait for it. So it’s that that keeps me going. But that first look was, yeah, self-explanatory.

Meg: feel like that first look that you’re describing is the look that you’ve given me when I’ve rocked up at destinations sometimes. So do you feel like packing light does change how you experience a destination?

Mar: Well, it’s mostly because I don’t bring just in case things. So I don’t think it really changes anything for me. I’m not really a very fashionista kind of person. And there have been very few times when I’ve been in a place and thought like, I wish I had packed this or I didn’t pack well. Sometimes if I feel like this is because the weather dramatically changed or I had not looked at the weather properly or not fully understood what it meant. And so I brought the wrong normally I don’t really feel like it changes the experience. just have simpler and easier and faster decision-making in the morning because I have fewer choices to choose from. And that kind of is liberating. And so I don’t think it’s too much of an issue.

Now in winter destinations, when you need to bring lots of bulky things, then it may limit the choices that you bring and it may, maybe you end up wearing the same thing every day. So if the weather is like in a certain way and you only have two outfits that fit that, so maybe in those cases, a bit more restrictive. But as I said, for me, it’s liberating a time saver when I’m there and I’m thinking, okay, I only have these five things to wear. So that’s it. Decision made.

Meg: So you’ve pretty much just answered my next question. So there is the strong possibility that you saw my questions before this podcast. But does it ever feel, traveling carry on only, does it feel limited or freeing?

Mar: For me, definitely freeing. Just the thought, what would be so limiting to me would be the thought of dragging a suitcase around. Just this last trip after a month in Vietnam, we did so many activities that were hands-on, which meant I was having items to take home and then some shopping and so on. And I ended up with my carry-on bag, with my handbag, and then a bag full of souvenirs and things. And just the thought of dragging these things around and like,oh my God, that just kills me.

Meg: But I mean, how do you stay fit if you’re not constantly weightlifting your suitcase? I don’t understand.

Mar: But this is the suitcase, not extra things. Plus, plus, plus, if you check in a bag, you’re not lifting it anymore.

Meg: This is fair. This is true. So if somebody wants to travel carry on only for the first time, and I did this finally in Morocco, I’m about to do this in Egypt. I’m very excited to make it happen. What’s the one mindset shift that they may need to make?

Mar: It’s this just in case things. Put everything on your bed. Think exactly about the outfits that you’re going to need for the activities that you’re going to need. If you have a 10 day trip, don’t bring 30 outfits. Bring 10 outfits. Maybe 12 or 13 just in case. Maybe, you know, like one or two outfits just in case. Maybe in the evenings you may want to get changed into something more comfortable, but you don’t need to bring one evening outfits for the two hours that you’re going to have dinner every night. You know, you don’t need to a hundred million accessories or seven shoes like… Think about bringing dresses because they occupy less space and they’re an outfit in themselves. And just don’t bring things just in case.

If you’re not ready yet, start by looking at the end of a trip, how many things were in your suitcase that you didn’t wear? For me, this is a very good measure of whether you did pack well or not. If you have so many things left in your suitcase that you didn’t wear, clearly you overpacked. And if you do that two, three, four times, you will realize what percentage of the clothes that you bring are actually surplus. I will also say that if you bring a large suitcase, you’re going to fill it. So if you have a carry-on suitcase, you are going to be limited by the space. So you will by definition bring less.

Meg: I have found that my personal overpacking habits, I pack to the space that I have. And I found that that’s definitely a mindset as well.

Mar: Absolutely. Most people will do, right? So if you’re already planning to bring a larger suitcase, you will fill it because it will be empty. And so you will just keep putting things, I start with my carry-on suitcase and only if I fit everything in it. And then I realized that, okay, I really need more space. Will I expand the carry-on suitcase? And only if that’s really full, do I go on a bigger one.

Meg: So on that, can you tell us exactly what your carry on roller and what your hand carry is? Because these are the practicalities that I feel like people really want to get into. And I know you’ve had your suitcase for a very, very long time and swear by it. So I’m very glad that that’s not the one that got lost by the airline.

Mar: Oh my God. Although I have a backup, so I already have that suitcase again, new, waiting for the current one breaks. But yes, you’re right. I have been using Tumi for the last 22 years. So I’ve only bought two suitcases in 22 years and I take fifty to a hundred flights every year. I drag my suitcase up and down the stairs. Like if I’m going down the stairs, I’ll grab the suitcase and I will not lift it. I will drag it down the stairs. Tumi is indestructible.

The alpha series Tumi which is the one to have the black one. If you’re on a big airport in a major city on a Monday morning, you are going to see so many people having that suitcase because people who travel for business have Tumis Why? Because they’re indestructible. They’re made of this ballistic nylon thing and you cannot cut it. like the current one I have is the second one and it’s 13 years old probably now. And yes, you can, you can see it’s wear and tear but it’s not broken. Everything works fine. So I use that carry on that one can be expanded.

That’s a carry-on size, international, it fits most airlines. And then you can expand it a bit more and that allows me to add three, four kilos extra. And I don’t have a larger suitcase because that’s the one that was broken in a trip last year. So I don’t have a bigger one. So that’s the one that I use always. So I’m only thinking that maybe at the end of the year when I’m returning to Antarctica and then I want to spend a few days in Patagonia and I want to maybe be in the Caribbean before that, that I will need a bigger suitcase. It will still be a medium size. It will never be a bigger one.

But I only have that one as my main one. And as I said, I bought on sale last year, I bought the same one again because it was on sale and they’re very expensive. And so I have it just in case one day it breaks because now 13 years old, I know it’s going to break at some point, right? It’s not, it’s not eternal, you know, it’s just very, very hard to break.

Meg: It is definitely the next suitcase I’m on your recommendations and having, and having also seen this thing in person.

Mar: Yeah, I mean, to be honest, how many suitcases would I have had to buy in this period? Yes, they cost a thousand euros. But how many suitcases would I have had to buy in 13 years with how much I use it? If I had bought a normal suitcase, I would have had to buy so many of those. And then what? I’m in the middle of a trip and it breaks? And then what? I have to, like the handle doesn’t pull out or doesn’t fold. And then what? I need to like drag it around the wheels break and I need to lift it myself? Like the risk of a suitcase breaking mid trip?

Like just the thought of it, like, no, for me it’s like, no, this is very important for me. I travel all the time, so I need a good suitcase. And then not only my carry-on is that size, I also have a handbag that slides through the carry-on, which I have next to me today. So for those of you who are on YouTube, you will be able to see this hand carry suitcase that you will have seen in some of our social media posts. I’ve also had it for 13 years. It’s like a laptop bag, it slides on top of the handle. So it’s the same width of the suitcase. And it also can handle so much weight in it. Like normally when I put the camera, the drone, the laptop, all of the chargers, the whatever, the this and that, it can easily carry more than 10 kilos. And it’s completely fine as well. It’s also 13 years old. The handles are perfectly fine. It can carry all this weight. So this is my set. And then I have a small like… A very small crossbody bag that’s sort of like a band bag that they’re now fashionable. I’ve been using it for a couple of years. I’m also showing it for those of you who are on YouTube, you will see it here. And I have that across my body.

So in here I have the important stuff, things like my passport, my credit cards, my cash, things that I will have on my body when I am flying if the flight is not more than two hours. If it’s more than two hours, it starts to weight on my shoulders. So I will remove it and put it on my lap. But since I got robbed on a Turkish Airlines flight last year, like when I was asleep, somebody took the cash out of my suitcase, of my handbag that was up. I now have this small cross body bag on me. And in this bag, I have the important things that I will need, like my boarding pass, my passport, my lip balm, my hand cream, my foldable hair brush, just handy things that I have on me. So this is my three pieces, right? And if the airline is like, no, you can only have two pieces this small bag can actually go inside my bigger handbag and then it’s all fine.

Meg: And I think it can also go into your clothes as well as a hidden item. And so do you have an airport luggage? Do you have an, luggage scale that you weigh at home or do you weigh your bag at the airport? Or how do you tell that like your bag is 10 kilos?

Mar: It’s kind of weird, but I know. I know that when my Tumi I know when I lift it, I’m like, okay, it’s more or less the just experience. And I know that when the tumi is full and not expandable, it fits around 10 kilos, 10, 11. If it’s expanded, I can fit up to 15 kilos in it, right? If I just have like clothes and normal things. I don’t pack a lot of shoes and I don’t pack a lot of heavy things, so just clothes. I know that that’s how much it can hold.

But sometimes that I’ve needed to wait a piece of luggage, you know that Hotel Bellman sometimes do have a scale that you can use. So you can just borrow it. And we did that in Vietnam with my partner because he had a massive suitcase. Or occasionally if I wasn’t sure or I was using a bigger suitcase or something, then I would get on the scale with it and then kind of guess the weight of it.

Meg: Which is my trick as well. So you step onto the scale, you see your weight and then you hold the bag and then you deduct or minus you minus your weight from the bag weight.

Mar: Exactly. It’s an approximate measure, but it’s kind of okay. Also, because I have priority on like star alliance and I have status, normally your bag doesn’t get weighted if that’s the situation. So you’re less likely to be weighted. If I’m flying low cost, then it really matters to the killer.

Meg: But that right there is the confidence of somebody who has been on 50 flights a year carry on of, it’s not overweight. I just know. I just know how much weight is in it. Yeah. So are you strict about your weight limits or are you flexible depending on the airline?

Mar: Well, I lift it and I’m like, I know more or less how heavy it is. Depends when I’m flying. If I know that I want to go carry on, I will, that it’s a trip that I want to go carry on. When I’m booking the ticket, I pay attention to the weight limit. It’s like this morning I was buying my flights to go to French Polynesia and you know, I’m taking so many different airlines and so many for like short and long haul. And some of them I have status with, some of them not because they’re like small regional airlines. So, and it depends, right? Like, so I’ve been checking each and every one of them. I know that I will try to go carry on as much as I can. This is a tropical destination. I just need to wear summer clothes, so I could keep it all under 10 kilos. It will be really hard for me to keep it below seven because my Tumi this is the only downside of this Tumi is that it weighs three kilos. So if the Tumi itself is already three kilos, I only have four kilos left if seven is the limit. So I have been paying attention to the airlines and I know that most of them have 10 kilos.

The one that has seven is an airline that I have status with, so I’ll have priority boarding. So I’m hoping that I will be able to get away with and because I’m checking in online, they would only do this at the boarding gate and low cost airlines will make you pay at the boarding gate, but regular full service airlines, if you are above and they do weigh your bag, then they may just make you check it in and not have to pay for it at the gate. So I’m just taking a small gamble for the one airline among the, I don’t know, eight flights that I’m taking that has a limit of seven. All the other ones have 10 or 12.

That may be the thing. And then on the way I have bought things and then I need to extend the suitcase and I know I’ll be above, then I’ll check in. But I do pay attention, especially if I’m flying the low-cost airlines, like the European low-cost airlines or some of the Asian ones that are really, really strict and will weigh everybody’s bag like I’ve been on a Ryanair flight in Edinburgh waiting to board and I’ve seen them go through every single person’s back, make everybody put the suitcase inside the measurement. What is good about having the Tumi is that everybody recognizes it, like airline staff will recognize the bag, the suitcase, and they know it’s within the limits. So they don’t make you check the size of it. And so it’s just whether they see that you are above the size limit or not. Some low cost airlines will allow you to pay more to have a higher weight. For example, I fly Vueling quite often and Vueling allows you to pay for 10 kilos. And I know that 10 kilos is enough for me when I go carry on.

If you start carrying more than 10 kilos, then I need to expand my suitcase. And so then it’s not really carry on. It’s very obviously above the limits, you because it’s expanded. So then it’s not the size either. So it’s not so much the weight, the size is obviously above. So I know that if I, need to keep it within the size and then I need to pay attention to the airline, but absolutely I pay attention to the airline. I pay attention to the class of travel. I pay attention to the luggage allowance. I pay attention to the fact of whether I have status or not and whether I’ll have priority boarding or not.

Meg: And I’ve definitely had my bag weighed, my carry-on bag weighed by airlines across the world and have done the whole like pull a packing cube out and sling a packing cube, of like attach it to my waist so that I can, would get that weight down. So you have a separate carry-on and we’ve established that you have your personal item. What do you always keep with you? Absolutely no matter what.

Mar: It’s this small cross body bag. So this will be on me all the time. And then this has, mean, I can tell you exactly what it has because I brought it next to me so that we could show it and I could make sure that I was not lying. Since I just came back from a trip, hasn’t been, it hasn’t been unpacked. So it’s exactly the same as before. So I have a small foldable hairbrush that came from like one of the airline amenity bags. I have a sunscreen stick from Sunbum I have a lip balm. I have two actually, because you know, I panic if I lose them. I have earplugs, you know, just in case. I have some cash. I have my credit cards. I have a hand cream. I have a tampon as well, just in case. And some, you know, like refreshing towels that I got from an airline that I keep there because just in case it’s handy. And then there’s always my passport and my boarding pass in it.

Meg: I can’t live without the lip balm. same.

Nice. Okay, so the burning question, which everybody wants to know everybody emails about. Walk us through exactly how you pack because you have a Marie Kondo style of packing which you’ve shown photos of in the newsletter before. And people are floored by this system and method. So walk us through how you pack.

Mar: So I brought three pieces of clothing to show actually for those who are watching us, but I was inspired by Marie Kondo. So I don’t pack exactly like Marie Kondo, know, like for those of you who don’t know, this is a very famous Japanese lady who goes into people’s homes and like reorganizes their whole thing, using up space and making everything like really neat and very nice. So I was inspired by her to pack in what I call like bookshelf style. So what I mean is that I fold clothes and instead of putting them flat, one on top of the other, where you then have no idea what’s underneath.

I put them vertical, like as if it was a bookshelf. So if you’re on YouTube, you will see me showing you two, three pieces of luggage. So this will be three T-shirts. So people would put them flat on the suitcase. So what I do is I put them vertical. So then when I am opening the suitcase and I don’t unpack normally, unless I’m staying in apartment for a long time, I don’t unpack because I see everything in my suitcase. So I opened the top of my suitcase and I see all of the clothes like vertically lined and I split my suitcase into three rows. So if you can imagine like a rectangular box.

Put vertically, I have three rows at the bottom row, I put my toiletries, any raincoat and my shoes. And so the heavy items, and then I have two rows in one row of, I put bottoms and in the other row I put tops. So everything is folded vertically and I see exactly what I have. So one time when I’m packing, I can make sure that the bottoms match the tops. When I am at the destination, I can make sure that I know what I, what I have and I don’t come home with, with like pieces of clothes that I didn’t even know I had and therefore I forget. So that’s kind of like my way of packing. And then there’s like the top part of the suitcase that is thinner than the bottom one, where I keep underwear, socks, gym clothes, beach clothes, any accessories. These kind of things will go into that part.

Meg: I feel like that could have been the mindset change for Marie Kondo, your answer. If it doesn’t spark joy, don’t pack it. So packing cubes, essential, non-essential depends. What’s your take?

Mar: That is true. I mean, to me, it goes against my philosophy of packing, right? Because I want to see everything I have. I think that this is the reason why we all go home with so many things that we didn’t wear and why we pack so many just in case things. So in my case, I’ve never used them. I’ve never tried to use them. They defeat the purpose of being able to see everything you have. Plus they take up extra space. just don’t see the point of it.

Meg: I will say that I do, I will say that I do use them to put my dirty laundry in so that I can separate my dirty underwear from my clean underwear and I don’t end up accidentally wearing dirty underwear twice while I’m traveling.

Mar: I put my dirty underwear into the zip. So like the top part of my suitcase has a zip. So it has an extra compartment in a zip. So inside I put all the dirty underwear and socks so that I don’t wear it and so that it’s separate from everything else. I was going to say that this is the only reason I would use a packing cube. But again, I would probably use just a bag because a packing cube has structure. It occupies a space and my suitcase is so neatly packed and so like tightly packed that I don’t want to waste space with something that is structured and bigger than just a plastic bag or even just a laundry bag from one of the hotels.

Meg: This is why you were giving the tips and advice and I am not.

Mar: I would love for people to let us know why they use them and like how they found them useful. I can see how if you pack by outfit, this makes sense. But if the whole point is to pack light, all of your tops should go with all of your bottoms or most of them. So you don’t need to separate per outfit. And because I have this in three, like three rows, I already separate. So if I need to put, to bring clothes for like, let’s say this trip to the Amazon, Galapagos and the Caribbean, I actually, I had to bring a bigger suitcase, but I separated the suitcase into four parts.

And each of them was for a different place so that I only had to touch from one part of the suitcase in each of the three places that I was in, in each of the four places I was in, right? So I do the same with my carry-on. I will have like all of my, if I am going somewhere where I need like water sports gear, like sun rash guards and like, I don’t know, snorkeling gear and lots of bikinis because I’m going to be many days in the water and pareos and like a hat and like things like that. I will put all of those things together.

And if I’m then needing to bring like rainproof weather for like clothes for like the Amazon, I will put all of these things together so that I can see everything. And then I don’t have to bring packing cubes.

Meg: And how far in advance do you pack? Because I feel like this is also an easy way to overpack, leaving it to the last minute. I have had a tendency in the past to just go, may the odds be forever in my favor. I’m just going to throw him a whole wardrobe in.

Mar: And I think that’s what you did when you came to Spain. You basically got everything and your suitcase and you put it inside.

Meg: So I will interrupt this podcast with a short contextual story that when I did go to Spain, so yes, technically I rocked up with four suitcases. However, I was traveling with my son. So I had my toddler, I had my two year old son with me. So I had one full suitcase, one full size checked suitcase for myself. I had one full size checked suitcase for my two year old son, like nappies, toys, like teddies, all of the stuff you need for a toddler.

I then had a checked bag, sorry, a carry on bag for myself. So for myself, I had one care, one checked bag, one carry on, and then I had a carry on for Alex. So two, two human beings, two bags per human being. That’s four bags. However, when we did land in Barcelona and Mar met us at Barcelona airport, she had rented a car for us to get around and she had rented a very small compact.

Like mini vehicle and unfortunately my bags did not fit in the rental car so we had to upgrade to a larger vehicle. It took us about an hour of realizing that these bags were not going to fit in the car. So that is the story. Yes, I showed up. Yeah. Yes, I showed up with four bags, but I also showed up with an extra human being. So, really one checked bag per person, one carry on per person and he’s a baby. So he needed more than I did. He needed like the bottles and the teddies and the nappies probably took up five kilos just that. But yes, I am typically an overpacker. I do admit that I overpack, but yes, in that instance, it’s a little bit of an over-exaggeration, I feel, to say that Meg rocked up with four bags.

I did then before I leave Spain, I did actually need to purchase a fifth suitcase for all of the shopping that I had done. So yes.

Mar: Then you’re not specifying that you also had a backpack and a stroller.

Meg: Yes, I did. Well that that’s also why it didn’t fit in the car because I did also have a stroller. But like again, they like you’re traveling with a baby. So like I mean, they were child pieces. So yes, like a back. So but that really that’s a personal item.

Mar: Yeah! a backpack that was massive. But for me, the most stressful situation was that, and for my mother, by the way, because she also saw you, the stressful situation for us was how are you going to take the bus to go to the airport with the two suitcases, the two carry-ons, the stroller and the kid and the backpack? How are you going to do that?

Meg: I am extremely resourceful. am extremely handy. And as I said, I don’t need to go to the gym because I’m constantly like picking up and carrying my bags. That is my workout. I know.

Mar: My mother was like, she looked at me and she said, we cannot let her go to the bus alone, right? So she went with you to the airport.

Meg: She walked with me. She was very, very sweet. She walked with me and helped carry my bags. It was very sweet. So yes. So I feel like it’s an over exaggeration to say that Meg rocked up with four bags. I did, but I also rocked up with a tiny human being who needed nappies and teddies and toys and all of the like yes, and, and well, yes, but the tiny human beings need more than us.

Mar: Oh my God, I had forgotten about the car situation. This is hilarious.

Meg: So anyway, that was my short interruption. I just wanted to clarify that because yes, I fully admit to being an overpacker. However, I feel like that may have led people down with a false sense of my, restraint on packing.

Let’s get back to the main purpose, which is your because you are the pro here. So do you pack outfits or do you pack individual pieces? Because you said earlier that you’re not a fashionista, but I beg to differ on that.

And I know a lot of guests will beg to differ because you do look very well put together a lot of the time.

Mar: No, I pack individual items. This is why I wear exactly the same things on every tour. And so everybody sees me and like, you’re so nicely dressed Yeah, because I, you know, I have practice. I’m taking the same tour or similar tours to similar destinations. You know, if I’m going to Croatia, I’m going to Spain, I’m going to Greece, I’m going to Tuscany, all of them in the summer, I’m going to wear the same things. Right. So I definitely pack items. don’t pack by outfit, but I do make sure that all of my items go with all of my other items. So all my tops with all my bottoms, and I do wear a lot of dresses.

And dresses are fantastic, especially for the summer because they’re a full outfit. And so they helped me like cover like shoulders and like, you know, I like to wear dresses that have a color so that I am protected from the sun. And so, and like up to the knee. so, I like to pack a lot of those because they’re a full outfit in themselves, but I will make sure that all of my bottoms go with all of my tops and that everything matches in kind of like a capsule wardrobe. This also helps me, maximize outfits and minimize the number of items that I bring and helps me pack light for sure.

Meg: And how do you choose your outfits for a trip?

Mar: I mean, I will look at the weather. This is super important. I look at the weather, not just the temperature, but actually the variation in the temperature in the hours that I will be outside. Like it’s fantastic if like I’m in Vietnam and it says that the temperature is 25 to 35 Celsius. Great. But it’s never 25 because 25 is at four in the morning. And by the time 8 a.m. comes, it’s already 30. So really the temperature is 30 to 35. And then what is the humidity? Because 35 degrees with 20 % humidity is perfectly fine.

35 degrees with 85 % humidity is really hot and you’re drenched all the time. I also look at things like the wind because of the kind of clothes I’m going to wear. So like if I’m wearing skirts or dresses that will fly away and know, like flash people.

And if it’s winter, the wind can truly change an outfit the same way that the humidity, sorry, not an outfit, the temperature, the same way as humidity can change the heat. And so I look at the weather very carefully, the chance of rain, the number of days with rain for the month, not just the milliliters, but like how many days, what is the chance of rain? I look at all of these very, very carefully to decide what outfits to pack. And then I am rarely wrong. So I will not just look at it once. I will look at it. With, you know, in the two weeks leading up to the trip, I will be looking at it every day. Like right now I’m planning to go to Japan in 10 days. So I am looking at the weather for the last week already. I’ve been looking at it every day to see what it’s trending and how it’s changing. So it is not just like a one snapshot, which could show anything, but it’s like something that I’m building over a few days.

Meg: And do you have any fabrics that you gravitate towards?

Mar: Yes, I don’t buy things that crease. Also at home, like I don’t iron, I don’t know how to iron, I can’t be bothered to iron, but traveling, not gonna be ironing on vacation or when I’m on a trip, right? So I don’t buy clothes that are delicate or that need ironing. And that’s like in general. If I buy something, like if I will occasionally buy something that’s made of silk or viscose or like cotton or linen that I know will be creased, I will roll it instead of folding it and I will put it at the top part of my suitcase.

And I will immediately hang it when I get there. And that will only be the case for things that are very thin, that as soon as I hang them, they’ll kind of be okay. it’s something that I really need it to be like very neatly ironed and I don’t want to iron, I will like hang it in the bathroom when I’m showering because the steam will help iron the thing or like keeping it a bit less crisp. And I don’t buy things that are like delicate, like in general, things that are very delicate or that can break.

I wear lots of white, but mostly as a top, not so much as a bottom because they get, it gets dirty. I don’t wear white when I’m going somewhere rainy because then it will immediately be dirty. So I do think about what I’m going to wear based on what the weather will be like, but also on certain fabrics and types of clothes that are just like too delicate and just not good for travel. I also like to wear things that are like versatile, like something that you can wear in more than one way or that can, can serve more than one purpose. I like this kind of items. Like for example, my shoes, I am quite famous for all the guests who have traveled with us because I pack almost no shoes. Like I’ll pack the pair of shoes that I’m wearing and maybe another pair to go to the gym or if I were doing some activity and maybe I’ll pack a pair of sandals or flip flops. But that’s the most, right? I’m not gonna bring more than three shoes, including the one I’m wearing. And I have this like pair of golden shoes that I can wear to maybe not hiking, hiking, but if we’re going like walking somewhere, I will wear them. And they’re cute to go for a dress, to like shorts, to like sports.

I like clothing and shoes and apparel in general that is versatile and that can help me use it in many places and pack light.

Meg: I have since purchased your golden shoes as well for me and I know many of our guests have purchased your golden shoes and they are fantastic and I do love them. Do you have them there with you? There we go. If you’re listening on YouTube, you can see them. And I went with the rose gold. They’re actually, so these are another sole sneakers and we can, put the link in the show notes for anybody watching because they are fantastic. I’ve also hiked in them. They’re very, very comfortable. can highly recommend.

Mar: Yeah, I have them here. I have them here. So I like them because they’re golden. Super comfy and because they’re gold they can be worn for like a night out in a night in with a nice dress.

Meg: And I will say too, this is also the creasing and the ironing. Cause I also cannot stand ironing. feel like millennials as a generation have really removed the cultural need for ironing. but I did learn this the hard way too, because the first trip I took to see you in Barcelona, I spent my whole, the whole annual budget that I had for myself for shopping. Cause I don’t shop a lot. I rarely buy clothes myself as well, because I don’t believe in fast fashion, but the money I did spend for that year on clothes I bought, I had no idea on fabrics. Cause I’m not in I don’t really understand the world of fabric and shopping and clothes very well and everything I bought unfortunately creases like crazy that I don’t even really want to wear it here at home because I can’t be bothered ironing it so I’ve also learned that the hard way as well.

Mar: Yeah. And I mean, I do buy things that are made of silk and cotton and I wear a lot of cotton. The t-shirts are almost always cotton, but you know, like a t-shirt that is like a bit tighter and when I put it on, it’s tight, it will stretch. So these things, don’t care so much, but if I’m buying like a blouse or something like that, I’ll make sure that it’s not super delicate or super creasy or that if it is, it’s really thin so that I can hang it straight away and then it will kind of be okay when I want to wear

Meg: So washing, on your trips do you bring laundry detergent or do plan on washing while you’re on the road? How does that work?

Mar: Not really. If a trip is two weeks, I definitely don’t do any washing. I bring enough clothes and then I may wash underwear, but typically I am able to bring two weeks worth of underwear without a problem. And if I have to, I’ll hand wash some of my underwear in the sink with some of these like detergent sheets that occupy almost no space. I guess once gifted some of them to me and a friend gave me some of these travel ones that are just like a small little box of detergent sheets that you can use. And then if I’m staying longer, like last year when I spent a month in Malta, then I had a washing machine in the apartment. If the apartment doesn’t have a washing machine or now when I was in Vietnam and I did laundry, I would go to one of the laundry places and then they weighed it and charged you by the kilo. If I am somewhere that’s remote, I will use the hotel laundry. For example, when I’m on safari and there’s no other alternative, I will do laundry.

So I do wash clothes, especially if I am going somewhere that’s like very dirty kind of place. Like for example, if I’m in the Amazon, I know I will get muddy, I will get wet, I will get sweaty. I’ll have to put on repellent over the clothes. So like the clothes are going to have to be washed after the first time and so then I plan on doing laundry and then I will just use the hotel one. I don’t hand wash bigger items because I don’t think you can probably properly wash them. then, you you cannot really properly hang them either. So  in those cases, I’ll either use the hotel one or I’ll go outside and use like one of these like laundry by the weight services.

Meg: And I have unfortunately lost bras across, like I have unfortunately been doing hand washing and I have lost bras off a hotel balcony because I was trying to hang. I don’t think I’ve even told you this story. I was trying to hang my hand washing on the balcony and then the wind comes and then I’ve got bras that have literally dropped onto the balcony below me. And I’ve just, I’ve just been so mortified that I’ve not even bothered to even try and go knocking to get them back. I’ve just like left the situation alone. but yeah, but I do.

Yes, thank you. I appreciate that. But you can’t even really get pegs across a hotel railing either. So that’s just also not. And then we’ve also been like, I’ve also had calls to my room before because I do believe in hand washing.

Mar: Oh my god. I’m gonna give you packs for your birthday.

Meg: And I’ve had calls to my room before when I’ve been at a resort to please take my washing off the railing inside because it was ruining the visual aesthetic of the resort for those at the pool below. To have my underwear hanging over the railing. but so with, I do agree to like, so for instance, our Australia tour, when we go to all the room, there are, there are actually free laundries there and you do come back because on our Australia tour, include the four hour hike of the base of all the room. We all come back covered in red sand because we’ve been in the desert all day. That hotel has free laundry, which actually that works really well for that trip because it’s smack bang in the middle of the trip. So you can get laundry done. Definitely checking the hotel facilities of the place you’re going in advance, I think is a really clever idea as well.

Mar: Yeah. And in some countries, this is pretty common. Like for example, in Japan, it is common that hotels, even five star hotels will have laundry service that you can use for like a very small amount. was recently, when I was last year scouting, I visited one of the hotels that even had like a system in the room where you could check the availability of the washing machines so that you wouldn’t have to go there and like just wait, you know. It’s quite common in Japan to have this. And in fact, of the hotels we’re staying at, I believe two of them have a free, not free, but like it’s a nominal amount that you need to pay. And the detergent is there, so you don’t need to bring that with you.

Meg: Wow. And so jumping back to the rewearing of outfits, I know I do overpack, but I also really do believe in rewearing outfits. So I would like to really normalize being an outfit repeater because I’m an outfit repeater. I’m very happy. If any guests similarly sees me at a welcome dinner, you’ll probably see me wearing the exact same thing that I’ve worn at welcome dinners before. So yes, can we please re-normalize rewearing travel outfits?

Mar: I mean, if you look at the photos on our website, you’ll see me wearing the same outfits on all of the trips. But even on the same trip, when I’m packing, I plan to wear each outfit twice. Now, if it’s really hot and I know that I’m going to be sweating, then I don’t obviously, like at least the t-shirts, they will be changed. Dresses, I mean, it’s rarely that they’ll get so dirty and unless of course you’re sweating a lot, you can wear a dress twice. Trousers, I plan to wear twice. Obviously underwear and socks never, right? So I do… When I pack, do consider that I’ll wear each outfit twice, maybe not so much the top if I’m going somewhere hot, but definitely the bottoms. And I’m not washing wool sweaters after wearing them once.

I also, for a lot of the winter destinations, I’ll bring merino wool items and those ones don’t need to be washed so often. They are hypoallergenic, they’re hygienic, they don’t need to be washed so much, they don’t smell, they’re how do you call those? They’re like sweat, wicking and like, you know, like all of these things that make great fabric for when you’re like going somewhere really cold, but also somewhere where it’s like, uh, you know, this hot and cold which will make you sweat. Then of course my gym clothes, plan to only wear them once. And so there are some things that I, I do bring enough outfits for all of the days. So if I’m going for a week long, I’ll bring three gym outfits. If I’m going for two weeks long, I’ll bring maybe six gym outfits. Right. So I do plan on average twice for each outfit.

Meg: Okay, so you’ve done this now so often that I feel like you should be able to list off your non-negotiables. Could you let us know what they are?

Mar: So I already told you what I have in my crossbody bag. So that’s kind of like the things that I cannot leave the house without that. To that, I will add things like my sunglasses. And I do pack a second pair of sunglasses in my handbag because without sunglasses, I cannot do anything when it’s sunny. Like I would have to go and buy another pair, right? So I always bring two. And then I also bring a second mobile phone, like a mobile phone in case the one I have gets robbed which happened once in my life, but ever since that, this was many, many years ago.

But since then, I always have a second phone in my handbag because I cannot be without a phone and you cannot always buy one. And then, you know, I would be buying some random one or like if I, I would be buying the same one that I have now, which is a Samsung, expensive one, just from a shop somewhere when I can probably get it cheaper with a plan from my telecoms operator. So, you know, I would rather use the older phone that I had before I bought the current one as a second phone. Then other things that I have is definitely sunscreen, like a face one.

A hat if I’m going somewhere sunny, even if it’s winter, I’ll bring like a hat, but if it’s summer, I definitely bring a hat with me. If I plan to be doing outdoor activities, I have a hat with me. And then an adapter, it’s always there with me. No matter where I go, I will always bring an adapter because it also has USB ports so I can charge some of my USB items with it. All the chargers and electronics, a very large battery pack, which I have with me now as well.

Meg: This is my favorite little adapter which has all of the different USB ports and the little things that you can snap down.

Mar: Yep. My battery pack, it’s a very large one. Definitely I don’t want to the home without that. And then I have a little bag with all of my adapters and then I have my Bose noise canceling headsets, which is the ones that I’m wearing right now. I don’t travel anywhere without them. And then my adapter, which I’ve had for a very long time, this particular one.

And then something that people always laugh a lot when they see me, when they’re traveling with me, they’re sharing the room like some of the photographers or some of the guides is that I travel with an LED face mask.

Meg: I do laugh at you for this. I do actually laugh at you for this because I’m amused. I’m amused at how you pack light but you have this massive LED Iron Man looking face mask which does actually make your face light red.

Mar: Yeah, when I turn it on, I look like I’m some sort of alien, Depeche Mode, the Matrix kind of thing. But it’s very light. It’s just that it occupies a space, but it’s very light. It doesn’t weigh a lot. But yes, I pack very, very light and then I bring this.

Meg: So what would you refuse to, so you do bring an LED face mask, but what would you refuse to pack no matter what the trip?

Mar: Refuse to extra stuff, especially more shoes than I will need. I refuse to bring stuff just in case and things that I will not need, but primarily shoes are something that occupies a lot of space and a lot of weight, and they are the difference between carry-on and not carry-on. And because I have these golden shoes that are super comfortable so I can walk on any surface with them, I can also go out at night, I can wear dresses and shorts and long trousers and skirts and all sorts of clothes with it. I don’t really need more shoes. So as I said, I’ll bring a pair of hiking shoes that I can also use at the gym and I’ll bring these ones that I’m wearing. Normally I’ll wear the hiking shoes because they’re heavier in the plane and so I’ll put the other ones inside. And then if I’m going somewhere that’s summery, beachy, etc., I’ll bring a pair of sandals that can be used to go to the pool or the beach or like, you know, in general. So that’s the most that I need to bring. If I’m going somewhere that’s really winter, I’ll bring winter boots and I’ll wear those on the plane.

And then again, the gym shoes to be doing exercise in the gym and I won’t be wearing my golden shoes, but I can’t imagine bringing more than three pairs, like including the ones I’m wearing. So yeah, I really refuse to pack so many shoes, like one shoe per outfit. Like I rarely pack high heels, like almost never pack high heels. Unless I’m, yeah. Yeah, me neither anymore.

Meg: I can’t even walk in high heels. I think we discovered that from Barcelona. So I showed up to Barcelona without, although I had packed, multiple suitcases, showed up without suitable shoes. So Mar and I went out for the evening in Barcelona. I borrowed your high heels, but because I don’t wear them normally and I can’t walk in them, I ended up walking back barefoot through the streets of Barcelona because I had so many blisters on my feet to your disgust.

And you were like, you can’t do that. This is Barcelona. Like I have to, you don’t understand. It’s either my toes are about to fall off or I risk walking barefoot through the streets right now. So, yes, please do travel with shoes that you’re actually comfortable with and don’t give into peer pressure that you need, that you need to wear high heels. So anything that you used to pack, but you’ve since stopped.

Mar: Yeah, my camera. I used to bring a camera sometimes before, but now I only really bring the camera if I am shooting wildlife. There’s only one reason in my mind to bring a camera and that’s if I’m shooting fast moving objects or those that are very far and that’s only when I’m shooting wildlife. So if it’s like monkeys or I’m on safari, if I’m in the Amazon or the Galapagos or on safari or in Antarctica or somewhere where there’s wildlife is the only reason I would bring a camera and maybe a drone. Otherwise, this is something that I leave at home and that I used to pack before. But now the phone is just so much better and lighter and convenient, you know.

Meg: And Mar and I have a continuing debate over which iPhone or Samsung is better. So that can possibly be another episode, but that is a continued debate among us of iPhone or Android for better photos. I have an iPhone, Mar has a Samsung, Mar’s photos typically turn out better. We’ll just leave it at that. is, moving on, what is the one thing that people are shocked that you don’t carry?

Mar: I people are shocked that I carry so few shoes. Like genuinely, this is the thing that I’m like, you only bring one shoe. And now I’m exercising. So I bring a pair of shoes before I didn’t even bring that. So it would literally be just the shoe that I’m wearing. And then you absolutely can pack with 10 kilos, right? If you’re not packing any shoes. People are still shocked. so everybody asks me what shoes I wear and so on. And like you, many guests have bought another sole shoes because they are pretty and they’re super comfortable, right?

Meg: They’re so pretty.

Mar: This is what people are shocked about. they’re very pretty. Very nice.

Meg: I bought the ones with glitter on the back. They’re very blingy. They’re so pretty. So how do you handle toiletries though? And how do you keep those within the carry-on limits?

Mar: So all of my toiletries are like not even travel, they’re not even the limit of the a hundred milliliters. I have these like body shop bottles that I’m showing on screen for those of you on YouTube that are 60 milliliters and they’re like, they were a gift for Christmas, like two Christmas ago. And I just refill them. You don’t really need a hundred milliliters for a trip. Like even for a month long trip, you don’t need a hundred milliliters of like face wash or face tonic or cleanser or even shampoo or conditioner, like I have enough with 60 milliliters. I don’t wash my hair every day.

So I have these small bottles and for, and my normal, like cosmetics, like my moisturizer, my eye cream, all of these are already within the limits. So I don’t decant them or anything, but if your weight is really a problem, then you can decant a very small proportion, portion of it. And then when you come back home, continue using that until you end it, because you won’t be able to decant it back again.

I don’t bring a lot of makeup, I don’t use a lot of makeup, I don’t wear a lot of makeup, so it’ll be like a blush, a concealer, a brush, mascara, and like a liner, like a brow liner and a lipstick, just one. So this occupies very little space. And then I only will bring the amount of cotton buds that I need and like earbuds that I need. I only bring the exact amount of things that I need, and I’m pretty good at knowing how much I’m gonna need, but I think most people will fill in like bottles of 100ml and you don’t really need the 100ml. Even for a month, as I said, I didn’t use 100ml. So you can definitely do with 50ml bottles.

Meg: Do you have any advice in general for people who are listening today and they do want to try and downsize their luggage but they don’t want to feel unprepared.

Mar: I rely a lot on what the hotel provides. Like I don’t pack things like shampoo or body wash or like things that I know the hotel will have. I don’t pack them. And I bring like travel size versions of like most things, but I go back to what I said the just in case items are the ones that, that you need to look out for and to leave behind. So as I said at the beginning, just try for the first few weeks, for the first few trips, don’t go carry on.

But like when you come back, look at all the things that you packed that you didn’t wear. And then start to see a pattern, you know, like, are you always overpacking the number of shoes and then always end up wearing only one? Did you plan well for the weather? Did you actually try to understand really how the weather resulted in the outfits that you needed? Had the implications that the weather, the humidity, the wind, the rain, all of this had on your, on your packing, on the clothes that you brought. Did you bring things that were inappropriate and inadequate for the weather?

And then in terms of toiletries and things like that, I feel like most people will bring things that they feel they cannot leave behind. For example, my LED mask, I absolutely can’t be one week away without my LED mask, right? Like nothing will happen. I absolutely can leave behind.

I mean, you know, can you imagine that? I don’t know. All the wrinkles will come back, Meg. You know? But there are things that I can live without when I travel, you know? Like I can live without makeup. I can live without all shaving things or like the LED mask or like there’s lots of things that we pack that we don’t really need and that we can do away with for a week, you know? So if you have a lot of these things, just like leave them behind.

Buy items that will go with everything else, buy a jacket that’s waterproof and warm so that you don’t have to bring a raincoat and a jacket every time that you go. And if the jacket has a hoodie, even better, then you don’t need a hat either. I have a lot of items that will serve multipurpose, so start thinking that way. And trust me, nothing will happen if you wear the same outfit three times. Most people will not pay any attention to what you’re wearing. Nobody will realize. And if you’re in your photos, you look like you’re wearing the same, welcome to my club go to the website and see how I’m wearing the same skirts and the same dresses on every photo. Because it’s not like I have a hundred different dresses, you know? And when you’re on professional photograph escorted tours, somebody’s always photographing what you’re wearing. And of course I wear the same outfits. I don’t have unlimited outfits and I wear clothes until they break. So I’m going to wear my dress for like 10 years, you know?

Meg: And ultimately to the same goes with clothes, toiletries, you can typically find something on arrival when you get to that destination. If you have missed something, you can typically hit a pharmacy or a shop. So do you buy anything on arrival or do you make sure that you’ve packed everything you need?

Mar: So I don’t like wasting time at supermarkets and things like that when I’m going somewhere. Also, I’ve learned that things like, for example, repellent. If you’re going to a place where repellent is necessary, very likely the locals don’t use repellent. So you’re going to have a hard time finding it. And also it’s going to be expensive. Same with sunscreen. If you’re going somewhere where sunscreen is really a necessity, very likely the locals don’t really wear it so much. And so you’re going to pay a big premium for this. So I bring the things that I need. Now, if I’m staying for a long time, then it’s different, right? Like when I spent a month in Malta, I definitely bought the toiletries It’s when I got there, right?

I wasn’t able to rely on what the apartment provided because there was no shampoo and conditioner and whatever. So I just went to the supermarket and I bought it the first day. But otherwise, I bring with me what I need. I do downsize certain items. If I use an electric brush, normally I’ll pack a regular brush when I’m traveling because it’s just weighs less and I’ll bring travel size versions of things. But in general, I don’t waste too much time when I am there and I just bring the things that I need in a smaller size.

Meg: So any specific brands that you recommend for those necessities.

Mar: I really like Sunbum like I was, said, like this one, you cannot even see the brand anymore because it’s like, you know, worn off, but yeah, I mean, like I have it in my vacuum, but Sunbum has this amazing sticks, like a sunscreen stick that I’m showing on screen that basically you can like put it on your face, like rub it all around your face, your neck, your arms when you’re on the go. So I always bring that with me. It’s always in my handbag. I always have this like, you know, foldable hairbrush because my hair is very fine and it always gets into a mess. So if I’m going somewhere that it’s windy, I will quickly take it out and like brush my hair. This is something that an airline gave me in one of these amenity kits. So like these are the sort of like stuff that I bring with me. I used to use Biore, which is a Japanese brand of sunscreen that you could put, but it makes you a bit white. It has this like Asian tendency of like whitening components into it. And I didn’t want to look whiter. And also they don’t sell it in Spain, so I can’t really find it anymore.

But I am in general very low maintenance so I don’t have a lot of, I don’t wear a lot of things. I don’t use a lot of things. So, you know, like I’m, I’m very simple. I’ve been using the same face cream, the same brand forever since I was like in my early twenties. So, you know, I just, I’m not a very good person to recommend these things. Just the sunscreen is really good and it’s non-stick because it’s a stick. you just, you don’t get, you don’t get like oily hands. don’t get sticky hands, which I really dislike, you just put it on and then you forget about it.

Meg: Now I can hear every single person who’s listening right now who’s going, but Mar, how do you shop? So Mar, how do you shop? How do you plan for shopping? Like there’s no, how, where do you put all, where does the magic space come from for your shopping?

Mar: I don’t shop. This is the reality. I don’t shop anymore. I used to shop a lot. I mean, my house is full of things, right? So I only buy two or three things. I like buying alcohol from the places I visit. So that means wine, spirits, things like that. I buy earrings and that occupies very little space. All the earrings, the colorful earrings that I wear, I bought them somewhere. And sometimes I buy handbags, but that’s more rare. Like wearing earrings and things like that. Because it’s a nice memory, lasts me a long time. They don’t occupy space. Almost every place will have some sort of earring shop and they’re usually handmade. They’re like women made. So I like this. But what happens is that I do participate in a lot of hands-on activities. Like for example, now in Vietnam, I made a water hyacinth pot. I made a bowl from like pottery glass. I made a lantern.

You know, like I got like a tote bag given by one of the hotels. I got so many gifts given and sometimes I’d be given gifts that are big and that have forced me to check in a bag. You know, like when I was in Egypt, I was gifted this very beautiful Egyptian cotton bathrobe that weighed like four kilos. So not only did it not fit in my suitcase, I actually had to pay to check the suitcase and to bring it back. So when I get all of these things gifted, I have a foldable tote bag that’s also from Tumi that I’m showing on screen right now. It comes in its own little pouch.

And it falls and it’s a very big bag, so I can use it as my personal item and then check in my suitcase. Or I’ll expand my suitcase, my carry-on, and then I can add more things. So I will plan this. I know ahead of time, if this is a destination where I’m going to buy a lot of things so that I can pay for a check-in piece, if that’s a requirement, like let’s say it’s a low cost airline and you need to pay for luggage. Or I will plan for it by bringing this kind of tote that can serve as a personal item. And then I will just check in my suitcase. But I don’t shop so much. It’s more that the hands-on activities I participated and the gifts that people give me.

Meg: And that’s fair. Well, that brings us to all of the time that we had for today. So thank you for sharing your tips. By the time this podcast episode does come out, I would have traveled to Egypt with the SFT Egypt tour. So everybody listening can start an email right now and say, Meg, how did you go traveling carry on only? Did you achieve it? And having publicly made that announcement now is going to put pressure on me to make it happen. So thank you for sharing your tips, Mar, and all of the practical advice.

We will put all of the links in the show notes to everything. All of the products we’ve talked about, including Mar’s Tumi bag, because that is the bag that I’m purchasing next so that I can actually, ninjafy my packing. Ninjafy is now a new word. You heard it here first.  And Marify, there you go. We want to Marify our packing. That is what we take from today. So please do send us an email to let us know how you go Marify and your packing. We’d love to hear your tips as well.

Thank you so much for joining us and we’ll see you next week.

Mar: You can modify your packing. Thanks, Meg. You had reminded me of the car story, of the suitcases not fitting in the car and this has just made my day. And now I will tease you about it for the rest of the week. See you Meg Thanks for listening to us! Bye bye!

Meg: Bye.

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And it’s time for this week’s embarrassing travel story. We’ll call it, How I Learned to Speed Walk. This one is from anonymous and here’s her story.

It was my 19th birthday in Europe and I was in Prague, partying like it was 2007, because it was. I downed number of absinthe shots and ended up going back to the apartment of some handsome UK chap who I don’t remember meeting that night. Really, I’ve since learned that this was probably extremely irresponsible behavior, but on with the story.

I woke up next morning in his apartment in the middle of Prague and this was pre-travel with cell phones, so I didn’t have access to Google Maps. So there I was, wandering around the streets of Prague at 6am in my slutty party dress, hungover and trying to find my way back to my hostel. I guess I probably looked like I was working on the streets to the locals, so at least twice on my walk home I was approached by local men who were interested in services I was not there to offer. I perfected the world record time for speed walking that morning. Okay, I actually have never experienced something quite like this, but I’ve definitely had to learn how to speed walk out of various awkward situations before. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. If you have an embarrassing travel story of your own, we’d love to hear it. You can submit yours on our website at www.solofemaletravelers.club.

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