Travel guru, Rick Steves, is one of my idols. I’ve read several of his books and seen many of his videos, but there is only one specific quote I can recall. And it is so exactly right, so dead on target, and so painfully obvious that it makes me crazy to know that it is so universally ignored by the average traveler. Here’s what Rick says:
“There are only two kinds of travelers: those who are traveling light, and those who wish they were.”

And, of course, this is the most fundamental of all travel mistakes, and it occurs everywhere. Probably the biggest offenders are visitors here in Hawaii. The malihini getting off the plane with several suitcases stuffed with expensive clothes—something for every day, something else for every evening, and several other garments for “just in case.” And, as a resident of Hawaii for the past fifty-plus years, I know that their daytime costume is very probably going to be the same almost every day: T-shirt and shorts with rubber slippers.

Will you need to do laundry if you pack light? Maybe, but so what? The hotel will offer a laundry service and, if you don’t want to get hammered with their huge mark-up, ask a few questions and find a local coin-operated laundromat where some authentic and interesting conversation could be thrown in for free!

So, when you start packing for your next trip, think of me or think of Rick… but think! And pack light.