Hackpacker

People sometimes ask if I have a packing strategy/plan/jedi mind trick for getting ready to go away. In truth I love the end of packing - the feeling that you've essentialised yourself into a bag and that's it for the next little while - but I hate the process. It always seems stressful and full of doubt. Will that be enough undies to get you through? Can I buy obscure brand of toothpaste when I get there or should I stock up? Or worse buy a travel size which won't even get me out of the airport? So I practice passive packing. About a month or so before I go, I put out a bag in a place that isn't used (spare room, shed or Donald Trump Museum of Sensitivity) and begin to fill it. Without any real urgency. Over the next couple of weeks you just throw things in as you go - if you're getting those undies off the clothesline throw them in. Side thought on undies: pack enough to equal the days you're away plus two. The daily chore of getting the laundry in starts to

Ever wondered what people pack when they go away? How do they cram their dreams, their fantasies and their toiletries into a single suitcase? At Is This Your Luggage , the mysterious Luna Laboo opens cases and shows us what's inside. Part art-project, part-philanthropy, totally weird, LL buys lost cases at auction then photographs them for display on the internet in the hope of finding their owners. It's a story that interested me so I did a Q&A and found out that people rarely pack shoes and how hanky folding can show character. Hackpacker: What made you start collecting and photographing other people's luggage? Luna Laboo: Loads of luggage went missing when they opened a new terminal at Heathrow airport. I saw a few news reports on it and started to wonder what happened to it all. I discovered through the internet where it was being sold at auction and went along to buy a case. HP: Are there ever items that you don't photograph when you open up some lugg

When do you really know you're really leaving on a trip? In the middle of your day there's the realisation in a month/week/day I'll be in another country. For me there's usually a physical prompt - something that makes me realise I'm leaving. This week I got the last of my visas, which usually acts as a good nudge. The Russian visa however is the most anti-climactic- grey scrub on your passport though. Oddly it's also the visa that cost the most and required the most organisation. Mongolia just shrugs and charges you next to nothing, while China's does take a little organisation but at least looks impressive once you have it. Packing is the other big signifier. People are always wanting to know how to pack or what to bring. I have revolutionary method that consists of putting out a bag a week before I go and dropping things into as I think of it. It's best in the loungeroom so you can look over during a commercial break and think "I haven't got

Just got word from the folks at Lonely Planet, that this cover is the final version for the Big Trip book, I've been working on for the first half of this year. It's always amazing to see covers, but this one packs in everything about travel - elephants, parachutes, trekking and a guy busking just near the letter 'b'. I really like it and hope the rest of the book has the same design snazz throughout. Working on this book was actually lots of fun and I got to feed in more ideas for design and other other elements than I normally would. I got to research topics that I'd taken for granted like visas, packing or safety from the perspective of people who'll be doing it for the first time. It reminded me of how bnervous I was the first time I set foot in another country. One bit of advice I didn't give was my own terrible packing method which usually consists of throwing things at the bag for a week before I go and hastily realising I haven't got anything use