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As I’ve said before, we are the taking the travel sages’ collective advice to travel light oh so seriously. Tom, the little kids, and I all have the beginnings of a quick-dry, 2-3 outfit wardrobe, and the big kids soon will as well. From our previous travels we know how important it is to to never check a bag (if at all possible). As a result, we bring only a few items that are wrinkle resistant and easily washable in the hotel sink. I’m small (my friends call me 90 cent because I don’t even weigh a buck) and can pack six such outfits in the space it takes Tom to pack one. Thus in our annual trip photos I can be found wearing different stylish yet practical outfits from year to year. Tom on the other hand seems to have been reduced to three shirts that make the rounds wherever he goes. This is not entirely his fault; like most good husbands, he packs what I tell him to. Year in and year out I seem to have been vulnerable to the charms of two striped Eddie Bauer short-sleeved shirts. Though they are cotton, they refuse to wrinkle, and hang well on Tom’s athletic frame, which expands and contracts from year to year based on his workout schedule and diet. He always complains when I choose the shirts (he has dozens of other eligible candidates), but his favorites always seem to rub me the wrong way.

We didn’t realize just how pervasive these two shirts had become until we began looking over old photo albums (from the pre-digital days). Look for the landmarks in the following photos:

Red Striped Shirt at Giza…and Delphi

in Singapore…Gibraltar… Rome…Bali

Off white striped shirt in Florence and Jerusalem

Tom can be blamed for the ridiculous T-shirt that accompanied us at least a few years running. Check out these pictures. Can you guess what it says on the other side?

Silly T-Shirt in Bali and at Masada

We have since learned our lesson. When Tom returned home from the REI sale last month with a plaid shirt, I reminded him: “Do you want to see yourself in a million pictures with that on?” For this trip, we’ll take nothing too distinctive, nothing that will call unnecessary attention to the Clampetts, as we’ll manage that without the wardrobe (”He punched me!” “She spilled her drink on my iPod!” “Stop looking at me!” “Would you PLEASE stop tormenting your brother?”) We’re considering taking a tchotchke, like the Travelocity gnome (which they not so subtly borrowed from the movie Amelie), to photograph at various locations around the globe. And if we were to use that little guy as our example, we’d wear the same thing no matter where we went.

Technorati Tags: Clothing, Round-the-world, RTW, Travel

We spent a weekend at the St. Regis in Dana Point back in 2001 when we lived in Santa Monica. It had just opened and was the most glamorous resort in Orange County. Fortunately it was affiliated with Starwood, Tom’s preferred hotel chain for business travel, so we could use points to stay for free. We pulled up in our Land Rover to a valet lane filled with Bentleys, Rolls Royces and Ferraris. As the valets opened the doors, out tumbled three kids, a hodgepodge of duffle bags and backpacks, and an assortmentof snacks purchased at a nearby supermarket. In an atmosphere of elegance and wealth, we felt like Jed Clampett and his family rolling into Beverly Hills. Now any time we enter an upscale hotel, we think to ourselves, “Here Come the Clampetts.”

For this trip, we might look like something out of a high-tech Everest expedition rather than a 60’s sitcom. Every travel guru we read says take less, less, less. Even those RTW trekkers who think they’ve started with the bare minimum end up ditching half of it along the way. So we’re working on putting together a minimalist wardrobe of breathable, quick-dry fabrics, a compact all-purpose medical kit, and just enough electronic gadgets to keep us wired and cover the kids’ school needs. Everything we’re taking is going to fit in the four carefully fitted backpacks we bought at REI for me, Tom, Dax and McKane. Kieran and Asher, whom we collectively designate the “little bits,” will have small packs sufficient to carry a journal, some crayons, and maybe a Gameboy. We’re going to try to scan all our guidebooks into our laptops over the next few months, so even they can be left behind. We know we’ll have to buy things here and there along the way as the need arises, but the goal is to streamline our needs and possessions, so we’ll be light on our feet and ultra-portable, truly a family on the move.

Tom will be posting a list of his must-have gear and gadgets soon on the Gear page.

Kieran enjoys REI’s wide selection of backpacks! Dax gets fitted by the pros.

Technorati Tags: Gadgets, Gear, Travel