Unpack You!

Last night, I did something that I don't often do during my travels abroad. I unpacked.

A few minutes after settling in my hotel room, the first thing I did was to open my suitcase, segregate my clothes (tees, collared shirts, underwear, socks, etc...) and arranged them neatly in the closet just in front of the bathroom. After about 15 minutes, the hotel closet looked and felt like the one at home.

I've travelled a number of times, and I've stayed in some countries for more than a month. One peculiarity I noticed during those trips is that I never unpacked. All throughout the duration of my trip, my clothes would just stay in my big suitcase. It would still be arranged and organized, yes, but it stays in the bag.

It's not because there weren't any closets available. Heck, there were really nice and spacious closets in some of the places I stayed in. But somehow, I never got the urge to move my clothes out of the bag.

The first time and only other I remember doing that was during my trip to Georgia in 2003. It was in my brother's house in Alpharetta, in my parent's closet which was already jammed with their own clothes. Good thing my folks were in Manila then, that gave me the leeway to move their clothes to give way to mine.

Now, more than 2 years after, I'm doing it again. Even if my stay is no longer than 2 weeks, the urge to unpack and fix my closet was there. Then I began to wonder why.

There's just one theory in my mind right now: I only unpack in places that feel like home.