Dear Web Guest:

There is an interesting topic that recently came to my attention and that is the situation regarding the packing of my luggage.

I don’t think much about it because after 30 years of marriage and traveling, my wife otherwise known as my travel coordinator handles it effortlessly and efficiently. I always have enough of everything in that carry on travel case of mine. There is never a question of whether my socks will match or whether my shirts will be wrinkle-less or that my cell phone charger will not be in exactly the same spot packed away neatly on every trip.

However all good things must have an end point and my “better half” was off visiting the grandchildren in Ohio last week and I was left to pack my own carry on bag. Now as you may have guessed, it isn’t the first time I have done this in my travel life. I have packed my own bag many times as my wife does have better things to do than just pack me up. However each time I pack, I marvel at my own ineptitude when it comes to this task.

You would think it’s a simple process and it is but not for me. I always forget items like toothpaste or that darn cell phone charger. I don’t know why? It’s probably the pressure of being perfect. I can’t handle it. If I need black socks to go with black shoes, I inadvertently pack brown socks.

Shirts you say? Mine leap off the hangers in the closet and proceed to tangle themselves up in my suitcase in every which direction causing wrinkles of Olympic proportion. How does my wife get them to sit so perfectly folded in the suitcase and then leap out into the hotel room closet and hang themselves up perfectly ready for wear the next day? It must be magic!

Of course the other thing is that when my wife packs the carry on case it always fits perfectly in the over head bin on any plane. The bins seem to expand to accommodate her effort. My packing as you would expect allows my case to have a major battle with the over head bin as something is always poking out of the case top. I do apologize to all the airlines for my reconstruction of their over head bins.

When my trip is over and I have to repack how come there is never enough room in my case as when I left the house? It’s as if my clothes are cloned and I am bringing 2 sets back with me.

I am working on getting myself packing lessons just because I never like to admit defeat but if you see me at a hotel meeting and I look wrinkled, then you know my wife is nowhere around.

By the way, as an ending to my reflections as I have mentioned in the past, how about calling or writing me about any hotel management opportunities that you may know or hear about for our company? After all you didn’t think this was a column without a sales pitch did you? We are building this company and we are very good at what we do and we would like to share our story with you at anytime.

Thank you for reading my “reflections”.

Marc Leffman-COO
June 19, 2006.