European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 8, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Packing s Goiden Rule by Christopher s. Wren new York times in my 13 years As a foreign correspondent. The survival tips Hal got passed along to me distilled into four Basic rules Don t travel with anything you can l Cany at a dead run Tot a Haft mile. Go 10 the bathroom whenever you got the Chance. As soon As you land h the rank so of a out an never stand Between a crowd and a hard place in the Hope thai the latter three rules seem self explanatory let me devote a Finis More time to dealing with the first. Many a seasoned irate tar has been ambushed by surly porters Lardy Arnvald for connecting flights and vanishing suitcases. The Best solution is less Luggage. As Rudyard Kipling put it he travels the fastest who travels an obvious literary allusion to no excess baggage. The perils of travelling with too Many bags were driven Home while our family was living in Moscow and we drove to Finland Lor our summer vacation. Our Small russian made fial sagged under a Pyramid of Luggage that had been piled on the red roof raising the immediate suspicions of the soviet customs officials at the Border Post. They made us empty our car stared aghast at the bags fining the Road and then ordered us to open each one in succession. Are you departing the motherland help. Continued my Pago 15 May hand out. If you know that you Are Likely to have a Long Airport wait or Are going on an overnight night say to Europe i would add a Box of juice and favorite snacks even a Sandwich and some paper napkins. Allowing children to overeat is Ashing for rouble but equally their systems Don l understand undue delays and Light snacking buys quiet and Lime. All of these items fit in the Standard Small child size Backpack and can be stowed under a Seal with no Dell Cully. Older children often carry larger backpacks and Are responsible Tor More of their packing As Well. The adult travelling with Young children needs a bag with straps Long enough to go Over the shoulder thereby treeing hands that goes on the plane too. The one i use is an inexpensive Nylon number with a zip lop. Hal folds Down like a tote and two Side pockets on one Side and a zip pocket inside. In the Days when we needed them. I carried one extra Botilla and diaper in the outside pouches and another inside. If your children Are carrying backpacks your travel bag is More for emergencies than far their routine needs on the plane. You should have extras extra pens extra wipes extra tissues extra notebooks a deck or cards some Finger puppets. Put the Pup pals in plastic bags and you have extra plastic bags. For school age children paperback workbooks Riddle books and or joke books Are also a Good idea. In addition it is a Good idea to have a Liny sewing kit a packet of safety pins of assorted sizes some rubber bands a lube of sunblock and a lube of soothing Cream or ointment. Carry the toothpaste in a Small tube. Take the extra Security Blanket in a plastic bag. Take a collapsible tag or Lole As Well. It is essential to have several Rolls of hard Candy. Stowed away somewhere for Cranky times end Takeoff and Landing. 1 always carry a Large Scarf or shawl of either very line Cotton or thin Wool that can serve As an emergency Blanket. If you can t find what you like buy a Yard and a half of 52-Inch fabric and fringe it on the plane Lor something to do during the movie or while the children Nap if worst comas to worst the Scarf or shawl can be knotted and used As an extra bag. If you Are travelling with an infant or toddler. Everything has to go in your carry on bag. But ii still need not be overwhelming. You should carry extra diapers and wipes and plastic bags for disposing of them discreetly. Take juice and formula if that is what you use and a plastic spoon to go with food that the child might need. Carry two changes for the baby in pieces. I.e., two shirts and overalls not just a smart dress so you can replace components if not the whole outfit and an extra shirt or Blouse for yourself. Odds Are of course that you will need them especially what you brought for yourself. For Little ones bring two or three soft Small washable toys a rattle and Chunky or cloth books. Forget anything Large still. Or with moving or removable parts this May seem like a Long list but you should still have room to Stow the camera and a Book for yourself. With Young children Don t plan on Reading plan on being in duly and entertaining and resourceful. Plan on pacing the doling out of surprises and activities. If you end up with a few quiet moments what a treat. Now Aboul Medicine. Have doubled any prescription drugs Hal you know you need. Cany one and have one in your suitcase. A my travel bag i carry a ptas go bag with a Small Billle of tylenol and Denage. A nonprescription Medicine for diarrhoea and a Lew band aids and a fever crucial thing Here is that plastic bag. Double bagging in t an extravagance ii also provides you Wilh an extra bag should you need one. Permanently their Leader asked As he rummaged through the clothing our Assurance Hal we were going on Holiday for a Mere two weeks did nol convince him. For three hours the customs officials Tore apart the contents of each bag. You have no icons no manuscripts their chief Kepi asking with incredulity convinced we had deliberately Over Laden ourselves to conceal some precious contraband the soviet authorities to our children s fascination. Even trotted out a Small Bandy legged dog to sniff through All he Luggage. After three hours of fruitless searching the chief inspector wearily gestured us to repack our possessions which by then were strewn up and Down the russian Countryside. You must Fearn to travel Ullh Lessl he snapped. It was a warning i look to heart in the Middle East and Africa when i made Midnight transfers a Small airports notorious for gobbling up Luggage in time i teamed How Little i could get away Wilh on the Road confining it so. What i could carry if not at a dead run for a half mile then at least Lor a brisk Trot nearly that distance. The trick of travelling tight is surprisingly easy. Lay out on a bed everything thai you think you will need for the journey. Then take As Large a bag As you care to manipulate and Start packing things in order of . When the bag starts looking fun. Put away whatever is left the Odds Are that you can get Erma Bombeck in Russia when people disappear no one talks about in. They seem to be caught up in their own lives. In the United Stales it s the same. Every Day people vanish leaving no Trace Hal they Ever were. Haven t you Ever wondered where the people Are who voted for a president or a Public official who screwed up there was one local politician in Texas who won the election big. Three months later when in was discovered he had appointed a dead Man to a major Post everyone who voted for him disappeared from the face of the Earth take Richard m. Nixon. There were 47,165,234 people who voted for him in november 1972, by aug. 9, 1974,46 million had disappeared and the rest of the voters could t remember his name. The Man who built our first House is still listed As missing he vanished the Day after we took key inspection and has t been heard of since some of our neighbors thought they spoiled him driving a Good humor ice Cream truck one saturday but by the time we Gol there he was gone and you never hear from the people who on Jan. 1, make predictions about who is going to win the world series and whose careers Are going to plummet because of scandals. The papers Are full of their prophecies on Jan. 1. Bul after that they just fade into oblivion. Mothers have never been Able to find the children who say please gel a dog. If you do Well feed him. Give him Waler let him in and out when he has logo and when he drops his calling card Well clean up after once the dog is in the House he remains forever but the children who made the promises ate history you will never see them again. Another elusive species 13 the person who said lit help you move. Just Call me when you re ready they press a phone number in your hand and seem sincere enough bul no matter How often you cat the answer is the same he s gone and i Don t know where i am still mourning the loss of a wonderful salesperson i talked with on the phone regarding the return of some merchandise. She told me she understood the problem and to bring it in to her personally and she would take care of the Exchange. I should have known it was All Loo Good to be True. By the time i arrived at the store Wilh my package she had disappeared. Someone said she just went out to lunch and never came Back come to think of it our disappearances Are a Little def Leimoni than in Russia we Don t get colds first if los Angmon to syn Cut Page 16 the stars and stripes wednesday april 8,1967
