Slacker me!

The Carry-On Traveler:
The Ultimate Guide to Packing Light
by Erin McNeaney

and backpacker and bicycler and homeless adventurer, and everything elser...this book makes you think. Made me think, anyway--deep questions---
1. I have never ever read more than two books on a trip--why do I insist on having two backups in case the Kindle dies?
2. Wouldn't it be nice to have lightweight, quick-drying teeshirts and shorts instead of the mangy old cotton ones I always pack?
3. Why do I take cowboy boots for dress-up instead of tiny, packable sandals?

As you see, this is a thought-provoking book. But seriously, consider this: the big, boxy suitcases with swiveling wheels work great in airports...but what about outside the airport? You can't hop on a bus or walk ten blocks to your hotel, that's for sure. And you better make sure the friends you enlist to pick you up don't have an ultracompact car.

Before my next trip, even if I do stick with my 45-pound behemoth, I'm doing this:
- Look for a set of compression cubes
- Limit to three pairs of shoes: one general-purpose walking, one running, one ballet slippers.  Plus flipflops because I can't live without my flipflops.
- One backup book (paperback) but load a couple of audiobooks on the Ipod
- Take photocopy and scanned copy of passport

The idea that you can get everything you need for an extended vacation into a carry-on backpack is intriguing, and this book shows you how to make that happen. Not just vacation, either--some of the accounts at the end are from people who work on the road.  They pack their entire office into a carry-on.

I feel like an under-performer.