Most people who spend their lives within a few inches of the eyepiece of a camera are acquainted with the term “run bag.” They know how to pack a bag, and they know how to pack a suitcase. Depending on what your particular job is, a run bag will have different items in it, but its purpose is pretty easy to convey. A run bag contains the essential tools you need to do your job when your job changes on short notice. It’s what you carry when you know you gotta run.

I was a reporter for almost fifteen years,and one of the tools of the trade was knowing how to pack a suitcase. Jin that same vein, though, was how to have the tools I needed on-hand when we would, as my assignment desk editor liked to say “switch gears.” I never left the house or the office without my run bag, and although It’s been ten years since I’ve raised a microphone in anger, I can still tell you exactly what was in there:

• IFB (short for “Interruptible Feedback”) earpiece. You use it to listen to what the producer is yelling at you to do while you’re ignoring him.
• Laptop batteries and car charger for same
• Gloves, no matter what the weather is
• Fleece jacket… same rules
• Raincoat
• Umbrella
• Extra socks
• Foundation and powder. I’m not proud of this, but guys in television wear makeup. We all know this, right?
• Bug spray
• Hairbrush and hairspray (like I said, it’s television)
• Pens, pens, pens
• Reporter’s notebook too
• $100 in cash. You would be surprised how many places still don’t accept credit or debit cards, and they’re usually wherever you get on breaking news

Other items would occasionally guest star, but you have likely gotten the idea. Pack efficiently, pack smart, be ready.

So let’s talk about packing for your travels.

With very little repurposing, the principles behind the run bag still apply when it comes to how to pack a suitcase. You should consider your luggage your run bag, and just like a professional run bag, it shouldn’t be something you have to think about all the tie. It should remain quietly in the background of your life until something within it is needed. In this case, your job is to travel, and your luggage should not be and need not be the center of your travel life.

A word of warning. This advice is geared towards the traveler who finds himself or herself in motion, hitting multiple destinations and truly traveling. People for whom getting there is more than half he fun. If you are absolutely committed to wearing a different outfit every day during your journey and wowing your companions with your varied wardrobe, I may not be able to help you.

However, if you’re reading this because you want to do the maximum amount of traveling with the minimum amount of fuss, step right this way. Multiple suitcases that you have to sit on to close work at cross purposes to this goal. We’re going for the biggest bang for the buck here. With that in mind, let’s load our travel run bag.

It all starts below the waist

That’s right. I said it. In my experience, when packing clothing that can be most effective on the road, start by choosing which pants you’ll be taking with you. In a perfect world, you would only be taking one pair, but we’re going to go wild here and take two. Ask yourself the following question and stick with your decision: black or brown? Pick a lane and do not deviate from this decision, unless it’s to add a pair of jeans or shorts, or ideally convertible pants. What you’ll find by sticking with one color is that as you move up and down your body, it becomes a lot easier to pick only the shirts, blouses, socks and shoes you need. If fashion matters at all to you, you can keep the old “belt matches the shoes, socks match the pants” guideline in mind.

Your shoes are the enemy

Let’s talk about footwear for a moment. Your shoes will be your greatest nemesis.They’re bulky, they’re heavy and they don’t compress. So choose a pair… one pair… that will get you through while on the road. I can hear men and women alike shrieking in agony over this tip. I don’t care. If you’re only going to be gone for less than two weeks, you very likely don’t need more than the pair in your luggage and the pair you will wear when you leave the house. After all, they only need to match that one or two pairs of pants, right? Yes, there are exceptions for multipurpose trips like camping, skiing and the like, I get that. But if you’re traveling with more than one pair of walking around shoes in your suitcase, you have too many shoes.

Topping off

I like to follow this rule when it comes to shirts and tops: I pack as many shirts as I think I need, and then I decrease that number by one-third. I have never once wished I had more when I’m actually on the road. I then do the exact opposite for undershirts, underwear and socks, and thankfully I have a few extra inches to roll these items up and pack them, since I’m not carrying all those shoes.

Compartmentalizing

Remember the scene in The Graduate? Of course you do. I hardly need to elaborate, so I’m going to repurpose it and say that I’m going to tell you two words… packing cubes. Packing cubes are your best friends when on the road. They help you compartmentalize your clothes, and they help you avoid constantly reorganizing your clothes on the road as you actually wear the items you’ve packed. By the way, add one empty cube as you pack. That’s where your dirty clothes go as they accumulate.

I have traveled for two weeks on the road with three shirts, four t-shirts, four pairs of socks and underwear and one pair of shoes and never once felt like I didn’t have enough to get by. In fact, I often felt like I had too many pieces. I’ve actually traveled with less, by necessity, when rushed out the door on a story out of town. Granted, I was not attending any high society affairs, and I don’t travel with jewelry, a non television makeup kit or the other accouterments that can crowd a suitcase. However, I was able to travel without checking  a bag.  Plus, and you may want to think about this, if you strip down those essentials, you may have room for all… or at least some… of those other goodies you feel you absolutely must have.

I’m also aware that this is pretty basic advice, but the key is discipline. In the comfort of your own home, it’s easy to justify extra clothing, because every extra item seems like a small add compared to your normally sizable wardrobe, but you are most likely not on a modeling gig. Your clothing is one step removed from the purpose of your travels…. which is, of course, to travel. How you look is a very distant second, third or even lower ranking on the list.

Next Monday: making sure… or at least increasing the odds… that your luggage arrives when and where you do.

Onwards!

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