Book review: "How to Pack: Travel Smart for Any Trip" by Hitha Palepu

If you have hung around the blog for any amount of time, you probably have figured out that I love to travel! Though I am always worried that I have never packed enough of the right thing, or too much of the wrong thing. So I'm always on the lookout for books that might help me with that paranoia of mine!

Good:

First of all this is a book with a totally fitting and adorable cover.

Secondly, I like that she gives packing tips for different types of personalities. Like, do you just throw in everything willy nilly and not know what you don't have until you have to find a Walgreens in Edinburgh to get some toothpaste. She suggests the packing list.

Thirdly, this sounds like a silly piece of advice maybe, but I think it's brilliant. "Pack for who you really are". If you have thought about getting back into running after a decade absence, you are not going to start on vacation. Do not pack your running shoes.

Lastly, more simple sounding advice, only pack the things you feel good in. If you don't like how you feel in it when you are at home you aren't going to like it when you are on vacation!

Not so good:

Firstly, I was laughing when she was talking about packing your suitcase to go home and how it should be just as methodical as when you pack to go on vacation. Uh, when I'm coming home from vacation my only goal is to make sure my valuables don't break and that the damn thing zips. End of list.

Lastly, the book is a smallish book and for the packing lists in the back to be useful you'd have to have beautiful tiny penmanship that never messes up or you'd have to copy it and blow it up by about 40%.


Overall a good book, it's always worth a refresher on how to be a good packer. Except now the travel itch has intensified...it never goes all the way away.....

I was given this book by Blogging for Books in exchange for a fair review