Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

Travel-Ready Packing: Pack Light, Dress Right—Anytime, Anywhere
by Julie Ann Martin
Publisher: Argo & Cole Publishers
ISBN: 978-0-9791186-1-6
Publication Date: 1 Jan, 2010
Website: www.travelreadypacking.com
Amazon link: Travel-Ready Packing: Pack Light, Dress Right – Anytime, Anywhere

Any of my friends or family or people who visit my website knows how much I enjoy traveling and exploring different parts of the world. Since my marriage, my husband and I have spent months in Africa, America, Europe, Central America, India, Asia and Australia. Sometimes we traveled with our backpacks, and at other times, we went more up market. You’d think with all my experience in traveling that packing would be a breeze. Not so. It’s one thing that remains a bit of a trial for me, so when I saw that Ms. Martin’s publisher was offering Travel-Ready Packing for review, I grabbed the chance to learn from an expert.

Travel-Ready Packing has an intro which discusses things such as culture in different countries, fabric types and types of climate. The next part of the book is split into sections for each country or region of the world. Each of these sections gives the temperatures for different months of the year, a list of recommended clothing for both males and females, the risk of danger at the destination, recommended colors to wear and how casual or formal the dress-code is in the country being visited. There are also sections for business travelers and those who travel to adventure destinations, multi-climate packing and also a list for expatriate packing. At the rear of the book there’s a world map, which makes it a simple matter to find the country you’re visiting and look up the corresponding page reference. In fact the book covers everything I could think of from clothes to bags to accessories.

When I decided to “test” the book and relive my trip to Africa, the packing list was spot-on—exactly what I should have taken for my trip. It was also very accurate for my recent trips to Samoa and Phuket, Thailand. The only gap I could see was for a cruising holiday, but I think the lists for the South Pacific, which is where my cruise holiday is taking place, will do the trick nicely. I found the book easy to use, very readable, and as I mentioned very accurate with the suggested packing lists. No more back-breaking suitcases for me!

I recommend this book for anyone who intends to travel for work or pleasure. And romance writers, if you’re heading to a conference and you’re not sure what to pack, this is the book for you.

Shelley Munro

You can see from above that I’m all sorted with my packing now since I have this book to refer to. How do you approach packing for a trip or a holiday? Are you a good packer or do you forget half the things you need?

I’m doing a guest spot at The Rainbow Studio (part of the Romance Studio) and talking about reality shows and Fallen Idol. Here’s the link to my post at The Rainbow Studio.

It’s true I’ve concentrated on writing recently, but I have spared the odd moment or two to wonder about what to wear at the upcoming conference. It’s a perplexing problem, since after the conference, I’m traveling for another five weeks, which means I need to pack conservatively. Another major problem is that I need to leave plenty of space for books, both the ones I collect at the conference and the ones I buy during my travels. Do you see my dilemma?

About two weeks ago, I decided to attack the problem in a scientific manner. I’m going to write out my appointments and add details of what I’m wearing for each day. I think I’ve also decided to wear trousers to the Awards function, and this will mean one less pair of shoes. I’m also going to do the trousers/nice tops thing all the way through. All I need to do is decide the order of wearing. Jeesh! Who knew clothes could cause such a huge problem?

If anyone has any suggestions please speak up! And for those who are going to the conference, what are you taking to wear?

I have some wonderful guests visiting me this month. New Zealander, Sara Hantz is here on 9 July. She writes teen fiction. I must admit I’ve been reading quite a few stories from this genre and have really enjoyed them. Don’t miss her visit!

Marcia James is visiting on 16 July, and she’s talking about promo for both print and ebooks. She has wonderful advice for promo, so come armed with your questions. She also has a list of 150 plus promo ideas for authors. (details available on the day) You definitely don’t want to miss her visit!