Half Suitcase – Will Travel

This may sound a little squirrelly, but hear me out.

​​
As you no doubt know, today is National Squirrel Appreciation Day. Yes, it has rolled back around already! Time to get out your squirrel-themed dinnerware and gather the kids to listen to classic tales of squirrelly derring-do. Like the one about Idaho’s heroic Joey, who leapt on a burglar who was trying to steal the household guns.
 
“Damn thing kept attacking me and wouldn’t stop till I left,” said the suspect, who was soon apprehended by the cops; positive identification was easy thanks to all the little claw marks on his arms.

Joey has become a national celebrity. "Any squirrel would have done the same," he modestly told reporters.

Incredibly, not everyone celebrates this uniquely American holiday. My sister-in-law dismisses these fluffy-tailed rodents as “rats with better PR.”

​But squirrels are amazing creatures. They can leap across a space ten times their body length. Arctic squirrels spend eight months a year in the longest and deepest hibernation of any animal. Their California cousins can survive fights with rattlesnakes (scientists are still trying to figure out how they metabolize the venom). Do squirrels deserve their own holiday? I say hell, yeah.

Thought I was kidding about the squirrel-themed dinnerware? Apparently some people go all out on this holiday. No, I'm not sure if Sophia is the squirrel or the householder. Photo: Rosabella Designs on Etsy

Why not let squirrels have their day? By this time of year, the big annual festivities are (thankfully) behind us, leaving time to celebrate simpler joys. Today, for instance, is also International Sweat Pants Day, National Hugging Day, and National Grandma Day. So pull on some sloppy athletic pants and go hug your Nana — or the nearest squirrel. Your choice.
 
This past week Rich and I celebrated National Shop for Travel Day, although to be honest I had no idea such a holiday existed, let alone that it fell on the second Tuesday in January. But when I happened across that fun fact online yesterday, I considered it a good omen. Clearly the Universe is supporting our intention (NOT a New Year’s Resolution) to travel more — and with even less baggage than usual.

​As my regular readers know, Rich is a die-hard fan of luggage-free travel. He’s never happier than when he’s strolling to the train station with nothing but a toothbrush, a passport, and a few odds and ends in his pockets, wearing sturdy outerwear and the world’s fastest-drying undergarments.

This is everything Rich brought along our first luggage-free trip, back in 2015.

Going baggage-free is fun from time to time, but I generally like a few more creature comforts. (Call me a hedonist.) For road trips lasting weeks or months, we typically each take one small rollaboard, with mix-and-match clothes that will stand up to lots of washing. But for our current long-weekend road trips, we are going even more minimalist, sharing a single small suitcase, one that divides in half with zippered compartments to keep us sorted.
 
Because how much do you really need for a couple of days without any social engagements beyond hanging out together?

​Rich and I began considering ways to downsize our luggage following our January Ideas Club gathering, where the theme was “enough.”
 
As you’ve no doubt observed, modern society pushes us toward a sense of scarcity in hopes of influencing our behavior, mostly our buying habits. We’re always being told that standards are rising and frankly, we’re not measuring up. Despite the fact that most people reading this blog have more than enough of life’s essentials — food, clothing, shelter, and heat, to name but a few — we’re told we should be as worried as one of our cave-dwelling ancestors who has just been chased out naked into the snow by a bear.
 
No wonder 62% of Americans admit to overpacking. We modern humans may not have to dodge too many bears these days, but we are constantly chased by the expectation to compare ourselves to celebrities and 20-year-old influencers. And that requires massive amounts of clothing and grooming aids.

"There is no such thing as overpacking," wrote geekgirltravel on Instagram. She says she doesn't mind hauling that much stuff around to feel well dressed. You have to admire her stamina (and her hair).

 
Luckily for me, I’m traveling with a man I’ve been married to for nearly forty years. He does not take me for granted, but I can’t say he’s always a keen observer of my wardrobe.
 
Just the other day he glanced at the trousers I was wearing and asked, “Hey, are those new?” They were the oldest pair of pants I own, faithful companions on fifteen years of journeys around the globe. You can see why I don’t worry too much about satisfying his need for novelty in my attire.
 
So what is enough stuff for a relaxed three-day, two-night road trip?

Everything I need tucks into half the suitcase, with room left over. The bag is an American Tourister two-wheeler, which I find maneuvers better on cobblestones.

Basically I wear one outfit: pants (often those comfy old favorites), a warm sweater, a long-sleeved t-shirt, sneakers, puffy vest, long puffy coat, scarf, hat, and gloves. In my half of the suitcase I pack several long-sleeved t-shirts, socks, underwear, loose yoga pants, a pajama top, and furry slippers. I just bought a smaller toiletry kit for the bare necessities. That’s it!
 
Rich packs even less. Which means there would be plenty of room for our devices (one laptop and two e-readers) in our common suitcase. But I prefer to keep those over my shoulder in a separate bag. On crowded trains we sometimes have to leave luggage in the common shelves by the exit, and why chance losing expensive electronics? This way, in the unlikely event someone ever swiped our suitcase, they would be deeply disappointed at the meager pickings, and it would be easy enough for us to replace our stuff.
 
Now, some readers may be wondering why, if I am in southern Spain, I need a puffy vest, puffy coat, heavy scarf, hat, and gloves. Shouldn’t I be basking in warm sunshine, here in my Home 2.0? Yes, I should. But we’re experiencing an unusually cold winter, with temperatures often hitting freezing and lots of fog and rain. If you’re coming here in the next week or so, pack for London, not Seville.

Dressed for chilly weather in Córdoba

The upside of this kind of bad weather, which I’ve now experienced in Cádiz and Córdoba as well as Seville, is that it helps me catch up on my sleep. I get up late in the morning and take long afternoon siestas, made all the more blissful by the sound of rain on the windows. I can see why many anthropologists are now coming around to the idea that proto-humans used to hibernate.
 
That theory sprang from discoveries in northern Spain’s Sima de los Huesos (Pit of Bones), one of the world’s most important fossil sites. Skeletons from 430,000 years ago included adolescents with marks of a particular kind of malnutrition associated with going into hibernation without sufficient fat reserves. The adults apparently did just fine.

And if Sigourney Weaver and her spaceship crew are anything to go by, humans will be hibernating successfully in the future, too.

Our furry friends in the arctic ground squirrel community get a solid eight months of sleep a year, which strikes me as a trifle excessive. But I can see the appeal of a long, deep sleep. Imagine being snug underground with a tummy full of fat and nowhere to go, nothing to do, no headlines to read.
 
I don’t need to tell you this has been a tough winter — in many ways that have nothing to do with the weather. “These are the times that try men’s souls,” said patriot Thomas Paine. “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.” So what can we do? “In winter,” wrote Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, “we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths.” And remind each other that spring always comes.

Hibernating ground squirrels.

​I want to take a moment to thank all those who reached out to us after the terrible train crash in Córdoba on January 18. Thankfully, Rich and I are fine, although horrified at the tragedy that has rocked Spain. We’re also a bit shaken to think we were riding those same trains on those same railway tracks just one week earlier. We are counting our lucky stars.


​​HOME 2.0
This is the latest in my series of blog posts exploring what it takes to create a better life for yourself abroad — or at home, for that matter. 
​See all posts in this series.

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