Inflight I TRAVEL TALES
I buy before I fly
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THIS IS A STORY THAT WILL HORRIFY Marie Kondo, mother of modern minimalism. You see, I am a holiday hoarder. Case study #1: each time I head somewhere with the word “resort” in it, I have an urge to shop for, well, resort wear. Or, to be precise, new resort wear – because deep in my wardrobe, I already have a heap of crumpled sarongs, swimsuits with price tags intact, crushed sun hats and tangled goggles. But somehow before each beach vacation, I never seem to locate them and happily find a reason to buy more, which I will never wear anyway because I can’t swim and I don’t even like the sun or the sand. But how else can one prep for a stay in a seaside villa without a new bikini or sunglasses, right? There’s also Case Study #2 that involves us who live in the tropics buying warm and woolly things for a trip to somewhere wintry (with no chance we’ll wear them again unless we travel again). I already have a Jengaworthy stack of musty coats, jackets, sweaters, thermals, shawls, gloves, ear muffs and faux-fur hats. But when the time comes once a year for me to spend December abroad
I’ll realise suddenly that my thermal vest no longer fits, the magenta parka looks so 2017... in minus-degree weather, I’ll realise suddenly that my thermal vest no longer fits, the magenta parka I got last year looks so 2017 and that I really can’t live/ travel without the latest sweater with the cute Christmas cap-wearing unicorn. So, year after year, trip after trip, I add more
and more buys to my wardrobe, telling myself that this will be the year when I can finally do graceful backstroke in my new swimsuit or that I’ll be losing enough weight to slip into the pleather pants. I have realised why some of us are holiday hoarders. There is
something celebratory and endorphin-inducing about prepping for a vacation that you’ve spent some time and money planning. That feeling of childlike anticipation as you go about drawing up a list of to-dos and to-buys adds to the entire joyous experience of getting to the airport, boarding the plane… and starting your vacation even before you set foot in another country. But next time, maybe I’ll just revive my old clothes, or at least find them a happy home.
ILLUSTRATION KURT PARTON
Most of us shop till we drop overseas. But for PEARLYN THAM, the shopping starts even before the trip