I'm blogging this not because — as you might think — it shows how second-rate the travel experience really is but because it uses "Marie Kondo" as a verb and that's something I'd encountered only yesterday — when I blogged that essay about "once-fabulous tits" that had "transmogrified into a bosom" — and because I thought it would be fun to write this sentence.
November 6, 2023
"I normally bring nice clothes to travel, but this time I brought my worst, items I could chuck in the trash — where they belonged three years ago."
"Having Marie Kondo’d these rags, I had more room in my bag and could either dress normally en route home, or carry all the souvenirs I’d buy with the $128 I saved being my own suitcase."
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The reason was immediately apparent but then the main thing holding this blog together is the host’s attraction to language and the way people evolve it as we go along. It’s 78% of why I’m here.
I’ve started driving to my west coast jobs. It is truly awful now. Super fat chicks in horrifying sandals with those shitty low cut socks make me want to vomit.
My wife came up with this plan several years back. For clothes that are worn out and ready for disposal, just wear them on the airplane and for the first day of travel. You'll be jetlagged and not on a regular schedule, and won't see anything beyond planes, trains, and vehicles anyway. On the second morning of the trip, throw away everything you are wearing. No thrift shop nor any person wants worn out clothes anyway.
This is always been the joke about the American black experience: as soon as we get free, everything we marched for became bullshit. Nobody died so we can eat peanuts and wear all our clothes on vacation to save $128.00. We wanted the elegant experience of the 60s with beautiful stewardesses and First Class meals. Fur coats became offensive as soon as black men could afford them for our wives. No matter where you look, you just feel like you got ripped off.
The last thing I’d want be while traveling is uncomfortable in my clothes. Wearing more than I need to would be nixed, as would wearing something old and tired that makes me feel depressed. I want to be comfortable and ready to deal constructively with any hiccup during travel. So, this trick is not for me, I guess.
An approached pioneered in and by Heidi. Sounds gross to me - I already hate the way I feel after a day of flying even when I haven't been too hot or too cold. I definitely don't want to be deliberately sweaty!
That said, I do wear my biggest shoes (generally some kind of boot) and "wear" the heaviest coat or jacket I think I'll need, removing it as soon as I'm in my seat, so that those things don't take up space in my carry-on suitcase. This is fine when I'm traveling to a cold place and mostly pretty unpleasant when I return to Houston and it's still in the 80s or worse.
Exception to the coat rule: when we're flying to a ski place, since we end up checking a bag in that instance anyway. And having to fly (ok, we don't have to fly, but it saves us a gruelling driving day on each end if we do) in order to ski is one of the few downsides of the Houston area. I don't even hate the wet heat as much as I used to.
Packing clothes to be thrown away has been a trick I've known for a long time. And it is easier now that no one dresses appropriately. People actually buy new clothes that are ragged so nobody notices me.
After dragging suitcases around for a couple of months I finally realized I needed one change of clothes. The other outfit would dry in the hotel bathroom after I washed it in the sink. That way I could fit my N64 console, controller, and game cartridges in the carry-on.
I absolutely refuse to ever say that frugality or simplicity is a Marie Kondo. Quit trying to make fetch happen.
Are carry-on fees really "pesky"?
Not exactly le mot juste.
Althouse once-fabulous tit'd the post for fun.
I have to ask: She's here, in the country, legally - right? She didn't arrive by...less conventional methods? I swear, travel slobbery seems to reach new lows on a regular basis.
Who's that literary character that throws his clothes away and buys new ones, whenever? We're all turning into Jack Reacher, now. Travel packing for dangerous vigilantes on the right side of justice! Who knew slobs have such high moral credibility?
"how second-rate the travel experience really is"
. . . mostly due to the uncivil slobs around you, the sorts of people who wear rags they plan to ditch--flip-flops and, gasp, shorts, in some cases--just to save a few bucks. Fortunately, still a minority.
@Althouse, do you need two tags: Marie Kondo (the person) and Marie Kondo (the verb)?
I a m on the way to the airport in a suit and tie. The rest can dress like they are Zuckerberg or some other billionaire. But they. Aren’t. They’re concerned about baggage fees. LOL.
“Who's that literary character that throws his clothes away and buys new ones, whenever? ”
Mild mannered Clark Kent.
Throw away my broken-in speedos and my lucky bath robe? Never!
"...he looked like he’d been through
A monkey wrench"
Wikipedia says that Marie Kondo actually uses the phrase "KonMari" method.
I first came across the concept reading the "Jack Reacher" novels (I see Aggie reads them too). Reacher carries no luggage and only has the clothes he has on. When the clothes become too soiled and need cleaning, he buys a new set of clothes, usually from a second hand store, wears the new clothes, and discards the old, soiled clothes (usually in the trash, in case you thought he just gave them to the second hand store). KonMari is actually a bit different from the Jack Reacher model, but the Reacher method fits the WaPo story better.
Nice one, Meade.
Not just clothes but shoes and whole suitcases - I left some of all those in Europe last summer. Good way to dispose of a nearly-worn out valise. The voyage home was... lighter. Everything I brought back fit into a backpack.
In other words, travel like a Haitian higgler.
Except they sell the extra clothes they wear when they get back to Haiti.
It's been a while but we used to see them at sj Airport in the morning. They'd be checking multiple suitcases the size of steamer trunks loaded wit used clothing and other stuff. And many layers of clothing.
I understand that there was Haitian customs on stuff in suitcases but not on clothes you were wearing.
John Henry
Mild mannered Clark Kent.
@Meade, yeah, but I call myself “Big Mike” online.
Dick debartolo, the GizWiz from mad magazine used to travel with his old clothes and leave them behind.
I've done it myself. Take all my old skivvies and trash them as I wear them.
This is nothing new.
John Henry
More obsessing over affluent white people problems huh? How 21st Century American of them. I suppose stories about how regular people are going to pay for new shoes for their children or put food in the refrigerators is way too off putting and boring for the cloud people to read about nowadays. GMAFB.
‘Marie Condo’ sounds a like a Spanish pejorative for gays. Heck, ‘pejorative’ sounds like a Spanish pejorative for gays.
I’m not sure about this but my impression is gay pejoratives are still prevalent among Hispanics. I could be wrong about that.
Then you get to your destination with a bunch of stinky, wrinkled clothes and, what, then have them hotel laundered or dry-cleaned for nearly what it would have cost to carry them in a carry-on? Great travel hack...
I just got back from a two-week vacation which included the intent to shop for new clothes. So, I actually packed a small suitcase and placed it inside a larger suitcase, which was later used to bring home the haul of new clothes. Still not the KonMari method, although I must admit it would have been more efficient to dispose of the clothes I brought with me on the vacation. Then again, my means of transportation had no baggage fees.
As if you really needed some media person to tell you that you can save room in your luggage if you wear that heavy sweater and jacket rather than packing them.
"Don't Bogart that joint, my friend, Marie Kondo it to me."
@Meade: It's Jack Reacher.
"Want to avoid those pesky carry-on fees?"
You could just stay home instead. Isn't flying bad for the planet anymore? You'll make Greta cry...
The rich do it a different way.
I know a guy (my wife's old CEO who did very well in tech) who flies his own jet (he's a pilot) from continent to continent and stays at his own house full of his own stuff.
If he doesn't have a house where he's going he will pack, but otherwise it's going from his base in Atherton to his homes in Kauai or Paris or New York or...
Not a terrible way to travel.
@Meade: It's Jack Reacher.
Jack Preacher only wears black...
Big Mike said...
"@Althouse, do you need two tags: Marie Kondo (the person) and Marie Kondo (the verb)?"
'Noun (the verb)' could work.
The Time Traveler's Wife featured a guy who jumped uncontrollably through the times of his life. Eventually he stashed a few clothes and some cash in hidden caches near the locations of his frequent appearances. Before then, arriving naked at a time & place, he got good at smash & grab thefts.
There are more ways to travel light than are covered in this comment thread.
I fly, on average, every few months. There hasn't been a trip in the last 5+ years when I didn't think that nearly everyone on board has adopted this method.
Then you get to your destination with a bunch of stinky, wrinkled clothes and, what, then have them hotel laundered or dry-cleaned for nearly what it would have cost to carry them in a carry-on?
I have a weird suspicion that Ice Nine didn't read the whole post from Althouse.
In the good old days when most folks dressed like adults on planes, the drinks were free and smoking was allowed. In those days you packed light, took only what you needed.
I once found myself going to a political convention in Chicago with three young female lawyers. We ended up one noon at Marshall Fields Walnut Room for lunch, then the discount basement there. They were damn near giving clothing away.The gals went nuts in a buying fury. We get back to the Palmer House and the gals panick, how are they going to get their teasures back to KC. Simple, go to a discount store buy cheap footlockersand ship them on a Trailways bus(remember them?). They thought I was a god.
Not sure I'm understanding the packing 'methods' described. Why in the world would you layer yourself with crappy old clothing to throw away upon arrival. Wouldn't it be easier to throw it in the trash at home instead of treating it to a one-way trip to Paris?
I DO believe in layering, though - to make room for stuff I need.
I will go to the ends of the earth for months at a time but I will NEVER check luggage again (last time I did, they disappeared a bag containing a camera lens worth thousands of $$$$ - it was a Nonstop flight!).
Spent most of October hiking the alps - my habit for the past 38 years. Air travel 'outfit' included full-size hiking boots, a short and long-sleeve t-shirt, a long sleve shirt with MANY pockets, a fleece vest and a full-size foul-weather outer layer.
All pockets that could be secured with zippers were used for stuff like lenses, chargers for various electronics, a fabulous little power station with ports for five power cords and 4 USB devices. Also a full-sze wireless keyboard that fit in a shirt pocket when folded and a bunch of litle baggies with meds that fit in a big baggie (including prescription docs, of course).
Security clearance is a nightmare as all such stuff must be removed from pockets and freqently explained. Multiple bins are involved. Inside the carry-on is a small technical day pack containing other "interesting" stuff you need in the mountains.
Believe me, it is way better to drag this stuff around on wheels than wear it on your shoulders for the full two miles between security and the boarding gate. On the bright side; as an 80-year-old, I'm not required to remove my high-top, lace-up boots :-)
I don't need 'extra' room in my bag when leaving.. A t-shirt or two takes up no space and I've learned to get a couple of Kg of unboxed sheets of Laderback chocolate home without smashing them to bits.
Footnote: Comfortable clothing is great but worn, torn clothing (real or fake) is not chic in public places; it's moronic. Just ask Opra, who was refused permission to handle the merchandise in some luxury shop on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich (torn jeans and sloppy t-shirt, as I recall). She cried "racism'. Doesn't always work.
Verbing the nouns poses interesting puzzles. When one gets rid of Marie Kondo's book am I Marie Kondoing Marie Kondo? Or when I place her book on my now empty bookshelves, thus returning to my old accumulating ways?
"I had more room in my bag and could either dress normally en route home, or carry all the souvenirs I’d buy..."
Long distance motorcycle riders have known this forever.
I spent about 20 hours on an airplane this weekend. On account of the volcanic ash from the Russian volcano, my flight stopped in San Francisco for about two hours before continuing across the Pacific. Layering up in four shirts would be intolerable to me on a flight of that length. If anything, I typically feel a bit hot on the plane, so I hang my jacket up (they no longer have the coat hooks built into the seats so I carry my own) and roll my sleeves up. I've sometimes thought about changing into pajamas for the flight and putting my clothes back on in the restroom before landing, but I've never done that in Economy. This would have been the flight for it.
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