Coming home with less?
 

Does anyone else like to come back from Europe with less than they took? I check one inexpensive duffle bag on the way over, discard things as I use them, and leave the bag itself. All I bring back is my carryon.
Tremendous feeling of lightness, not to mention the thrill of coming home to brand new underthings! Just curious, as so many posters seem concerned with "bags within bags..."

nope

You're saying you buy a cheap duffel bag and leave it there? Every time you travel? And just what exactly do you discard? Do you only take old clothes?

What starrsville said!!!

There's no way I could fit all the stuff I buy in a carry on! I also don't want to get rid of most of my clothes and certainly not my jewelry!

I don't take much of anything that could be discarded, so no, I don't do that. The only things I discard are a few pages from guidebooks that I may discard if I've finished with the area. I don't take clothes that are ready to be discarded. ugh, if that's what you mean. I wouldn't wear such things that are ready for the trash heap.

I have taken some old clothes to discard when I knew I was going to get really dirty/muddy.
Otherwise, I have my packing down to a routine, including favorite travel clothes/things.

The only thing that I come home with less of is MONEY!

I buy all my clothes at stores like Daffy's, Filene's Basement, Old Navy, TJ MAX, etc. I never pay more than $10 for a pair of pants or $8 for a shirt. When I go on holiday, I don't care if I leave a few things behind to make room for things I purchase (wine, books, etc.).

There have been times when I've gone back to England with all my clothing in a Harrods bag closed with two of those big hair clips.

I am young and thin; therefore, I can get away wearing tiny jeans that can be rolled up in a mailbag, and tiny t-shirts as big as a handkerchief.

Years ago, an excruciatingly well-organized cousin of mine used to follow the same course that you describe. She would pack her oldest clothes for a trip, and after wearing them would throw them away. She would come home with much lighter luggage.

I've never followed her example, because I'm too insecure to wear old clothes while abroad, and I'm also too cheap to miss out on the tax deduction of giving old clothes to charity.

Well, I am old and chubby, and bring home way more than I took over. None of my clothes fit into a tiny anything, and the stuff I buy makes the word "expandable" necessary in all descriptions of any bags I might take with me. Even when I was young and thin, I still brought home more than I took.

But where can you find a hat to fit on that head of yours..?

Well, I always come home with less clothes that fit me, does that count? We all know that our clothes shrink when we travel....right?!?!

Another thought--my 22-year-old kid sister recently came home with a guy named Les. No kidding, this is for real!!

Dad is not too happy, as Les has a purple mohawk and works as a busboy for IHOP. :-(

OK, must be time for bed. P M, I'm embarrassed to say how long it took me to realize that your kid sister "came home with Les".

I traveled to Ethiopia last year with 2 large duffle bags and one overstuffed backpack and came home with just the backpack. I brought extra things (gently worn tee shirts, trousers, deflated soccer balls, pens, etc) and left them behind for the hotel staff and local children that I encountered. They loved it and rely on "faranje" (foreigners) to share with them in this way. The only stuff I brought back were my hiking boots, 2 pair of hiking pants and shirts, camera, watch, earrings and journal. My toiletries were left behind, too, and I gave away my silver rings to women who helped me along the way.

Oops, sorry, I just realized I was on the Europe thread!! I've never traveled to Europe and left stuff behind.

ditto what starrs said.
I cannot even wrap my mind around the concept of coming home with less. :)


<font color="green">nibblette: <i>I have taken some old clothes to discard when I knew I was going to get really dirty/muddy.</i></font>

niblette, :D care to explain why you'd get really dirty and muddy? :D

<i><font color="green">IOC : I buy all my clothes at stores like Daffy's, Filene's Basement, Old Navy, TJ MAX, etc. ...There have been times when I've gone back to England with all my clothing in a Harrods bag closed with two of those big hair clips.</font></i>

:-o Well... whoever thought IOC was m_kingdom2 was sooooo wrong. :D

I can explain a situation like that -- I knew I was going to go horseback riding on some trips, and although I did not do this, I could see taking at least old pants to discard after that because after riding, pants really can smell of horse and you don't want that in your bags. I forget what I did in that case, I think I had to have them wrapped a couple times in a plastic bag or have the hotel clean them so they didn't smell up the rest of my stuff.

I know this is the Europe thread - but I didn't even discard the jeans that REEKED of fish after a morning at Tsjiki fish market. I wouldn't brin/wear clothes I didn't want to keep.
With one caveat - I brought all my old underwear and threw it away as I went. It didn't leave that much extra room though.