Travel Used to be Easy

I used to pride myself on my ability to travel at a moment’s notice. Give me half an hour, I’d brag, and I could be out the door.

Now, I’m preparing for a short trip to San Francisco for the Macworld conference… and I’m appalled by how much stuff I have to bring along, and how many decisions to make. Digital camera, check. BlackBerry? Got it. Charging cable for the cell phone? Don’t forget that! (I often do.) Business cards—oops, almost left them behind!

And that’s without regard to packing decisions: how many gizmos do I need to bring? Will I use the camera? Should I cart along the reader for the camera’s memory card? How ’bout that new voice recorder I just got? Should I bother bringing my iPod? This is only a three-day trip, but I’ll have far less weight in clothes than I do things with blinking lights.

I could still get myself packed and out of the house in half an hour… if I knew my destination was a WiFi-free desert island. But for a typical business trip, the complexity of packing is approaching the ridiculous.—Esther, BlogMom who used to spend a week living out of her checked baggage