Thanks for the pointer to the article, I enjoyed it.

Packing for me includes taking all toiletries in hand luggage to ensure they do not leak on clothes and also spare clothes in hand luggage. I take few pairs of shoes but I must include comfortable walking shoes. Clothes are rolled rather than folded. I take some clothes that need ironing as I actually have more time to iron when travelling than when at home and to wear a freshly ironed skirt or top and to dress my daughter in a cotton or linen dress makes going out to dinner feel better, less travel stained.

Hotels always provide irons so the travel iron I bought years ago has never been used. It travelled uselessly around the world with all possible combinations of adaptor plugs as did my hiking boots, used once on that trip - now all such things stay at home.

These days we travel (overseas) with backpacks - the sort that have a flap that zips over the straps. Years ago I had a suitcase with wheels and found I had a dreadful time on the cobblestones of old German towns. Suitcase wheels are much better now but it is still easier to navigate train stations, strange towns, buses and hotel stairs with your luggage on your back.

At home we travel with smallish coloured sports bags for the car and the boat - one for each member of the family and one for the bathroom stuff. It makes packing and unpacking the car and boat very much easier. During a longish trip, individual family members lose their bag to the laundry and have to combine with others - eg the children share and Greg shares with me.

Another article on packing that Ziners might enjoy was published in the Daily Telegraph, more practical and not as amusing as the Canadian National Post article: http://makeashorterlink.com/?L677219C8 The author recommends rolling to pack clothes rather than folding in tissue paper or bundling.

Regards Anne Canberra, Australia