The Test Is Whether You Reach For It Twice
A carry-on list is easy to write and hard to earn a place on. The honest test is not whether you can imagine needing something; it is whether you reached for it twice on the last trip. Everything below has.
What Earns Its Place
An organiser that hangs, so a hotel bathroom with one shelf still works. A pillow that holds rather than collapses. A charger that covers every device you brought, with the pins for where you are going. Straps that make a black case findable. A wallet that takes a passport without folding it.
What Does Not
The travel gadget bought for a trip you have not taken yet. The second pair of shoes for an occasion that may not happen. The book you have been meaning to start. These are the three things that come home unused from almost every journey, and they are always the three heaviest.
