by Kristen E. Bower, Ph.D.

Then put away 75% of it, replacing the entire rejected collection with one trial-sized packet of Tide. If you feel yourself losing your nerve in this process, remember these key points. A trial-sized packet of Tide weighs much less than a week's worth of clothing. A suitcase larger than a carry-on might not even fit in the average European hotel room. Nobody on your travels will know if you've worn the same shirt for three days in a row. Nobody will know if you've washed your socks in the bidet over a beer in fifteen minutes. Furthermore, nobody cares.

If you're still having trouble, try to remind yourself that the advantages are priceless.

For example, on one breakneck day in Italy, we traveled from Rome to Pisa, through Poggibonsi to San Gimignano, back to Poggibonsi, and finally ended up in Florence. We would never have even attempted this with heavy baggage, knowing we would be lugging it with us all day long. We would have missed out on a wonderful day, and I may have never seen San Gimignano or Pisa in my lifetime (admittedly, missing Poggibonsi would have been no great loss). After having to wake up a nun to let us out of the convent at 5am (sorry, Sister), we headed out to catch the 6:30 train out of Rome that we had prepaid tickets for.

As it turns out, Roman subways sleep later than inter-regional trains. Consequently, we were surprised with a pre-sunrise mad dash across the city center, bags in tow, to catch our train. Fortunately, the load was light and manageable, enabling us to do this without a donkey. More importantly, we crossed the city without having to bump wheeled suitcases over Old World cobblestone - perhaps rattling out behind a Morse Code message, such as "Good God! Why did we bring all this stuff?"

Unbeknownst to us, the 6:30 train from Rome to Pisa was actually a train from Rome to Florence, followed by a second, totally different train to Pisa. This was another stroke of luck in disguise. Because we were to end up in Florence that night, we threw down a few Euro to check our third bag at the train station. Had we been toting our usual wad, this could have necessitated a financial consultant. Speaking of checking bags for a price, it is now a security requirement at almost every tourist attraction worldwide (in case you haven't noticed). This is why when packing for a trip, I force myself to utter an enthusiastic "cha-ching!" for every bag I pull out of the closet.

I try to live and let live, but at times, the luggage mongers really interfere with the rest of us. On a train out of Naples, we had nestled into what we thought were our seats and were situating our pillows when I was approached by a middle aged woman.

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