India, Sept. 27 -- I hate packing. I love travelling; I love airports. I can happily spend hours planning a holiday, but ask me to pack for it and suddenly I will find ten other things that urgently need my attention.

I also have a terrible habit of packing for situations that exist only in my head. What if we decide to go somewhere nice for dinner? What if it gets colder? What if I need another pair of trousers? What if the children need something and I somehow end up carrying it? You get the idea.

For shorter trips, I used to organise clothes in old saree covers. They worked surprisingly well because I could put complete outfits together and pull out exactly what I needed. For longer holidays, I eventually moved to packing cubes. That...