There's a moment many travellers know: standing over an open suitcase, packing for a version of yourself that doesn't really exist. One Australian travel writer describes exactly that trap — and how hitting 40 finally broke it.
For years, she explains, every trip involved two competing versions of herself. The imaginary one wore high heels to dinner, packed silk dresses and a different hat for each day, and lugged jewellery to match. The real one had a bunion that made heels unbearable after ten minutes and just wanted to be warm and comfortable. The fantasy version usually won. Her low point: trekking Nepal's Poon Hill trail at 30, at 3,200 metres altitude, in cosmic-print leggings and a hot pink T-shirt, carrying roughly five kilograms of chunky Nepalese coin jewellery while refusing, on principle, to wear proper outdoor gear.
The change came two years ago, when she turned 40. The heels gave way to Blundstone boots, New Balance trainers and Teva velcro sandals. Outfits were replaced by a capsule wardrobe: jeans, cotton shirts, one versatile warm jumper and — the ultimate surrender — a puffer jacket. The hairdryer stayed home once she accepted her natural waves. Jewellery shrank to the simple gold pieces she wears daily, on the logic that life is too short to agonise over earrings before visiting a monastery.
What's interesting is that this isn't just fashion drifting her way — though 'gorpcore', the trend for wearing technical outdoor clothing as streetwear, has arguably made North Face cool in the meantime. She frames it as a broader shift in what she wants from travel. Rooftop bars and boutiques have been replaced by hiking trails, independent bookshops and birdwatching. The packed itinerary has loosened too: she'll happily skip ten rushed attractions to watch the light change over a mountain valley.
There are a few new additions to the bag, though, and they're the most practical part of the story. Magnesium supplements, a silk sleep mask and silicone earplugs, because a good night's sleep becomes precious after 40. A cake of decent tea, so mornings never start with a bad brew. And a massage ball — her line is that after 40 you spend less time collecting souvenirs and more time collecting ways to release your glutes.
The takeaway for any traveller isn't really about age. It's that overpacking is usually aspirational: we pack for an imagined itinerary and an imagined self, not the actual trip. The payoff for packing honestly is real — less time rummaging for matching earrings, more attention for the place itself. Her closing idea is a good one: the best thing she ever unpacked wasn't the hairdryer, it was the person she thought she had to be.
Worth a read before your next trip if your suitcase routinely comes home half-unworn. Story from Traveller (Sydney Morning Herald).
