For nearly 15 years Jim Mercer has been performing his amazing vanishing act for live audiences.They come to see for themselves how he can make an entire vacation's worth of clothing disappear inside a single medium suitcase.
Jim Mercer, a travel concierge at Rooten's Travel Center in Irvine, teaches how to pack two weeks worth of clothing into a 22-inch suitcase. He says the methods shown can also be used for a more carry-on friendly 20-inch suitcase. All clothing is expected to be washed once using his methods. Apparently, with ease.
As a mother who for eight years never left the house without two bags, three pieces of equipment and at least one child, I appreciate traveling light.
Haven't you longed to be the jet-setter who carries one small bag that miraculously holds everything? A bag so light it leaves one hand free to toss your hair behind your shoulder?
Mercer, a travel concierge at Rooten's Travel Center in Irvine, notes this is a relatively recent travel fantasy.
"We used to encourage over-packing. Getting you to buy a five-piece set of luggage to take over to Europe, those were the good old days."
Thanks to baggage fees and weight restrictions, less is more has become the new standard of excellence. These days travel has become less glamorous and more casual, and Mercer has adjusted his presentation accordingly. When it comes to packing you can't take it all with you, but he believes that with efficiency you can take what really matters.
For starters, the luggage you lug has changed.
Four-wheeled suitcases have been replaced by two wheels and a pull-up handle. Cases have gotten lighter, shifting from plastics to polycarbonates. Now Mercer notices they are getting larger again.
If you can only check 50 pounds, he says choose a bag that weighs 15 pounds or less when it's empty.
Mercer, 50, sounds like a parent sending a child to the first day of school. Roll your eyes, but it's advisable to listen to his advice.
He preaches the gospel of essentials and versatility.
"If you travel to get away," he asks, "why take it all with you?"
His advice is to start making a pile, a month before the trip, of everything you absolutely have to pack. Then, the day you pack, put half of it back into the closet.
"Half the stuff we typically take on a trip we don't need."
Clearly, Mercer is the kind of guy who would actually prune his garden.
In his demonstration he starts with the carry on, listing item-by-item the things a traveler needs in a bag that will fit under the seat.
Then he moves on to the mother lode: one checked, 22-inch suitcase for an entire vacation.
The litmus test: "How many times can I get this to work for me on my trip? If it's only once, the likelihood is that you really don't need it."
That means no more than three pairs of shoes and a wardrobe of versatile neutrals including bottoms that each match two tops and can be worn at least twice.The real estate inside your suitcase is more valuable than waterfront property: There's not much, so fill it carefully.
Mercer is a fan of rolling clothes before packing and using a modular packing system. He touts cubes and folders and kits as ways to fit more in and as easier ways to take stuff out.
"If I took it all out of the packet organization, I could never get it all in there. It just doesn't fit ... A lot of people are very skeptical, until they start using it."
Mercer sure strikes a chord with me.
In the days when my home was a succession of apartments, I never wanted to buy a couch. Real furniture, I reasoned, was a harbinger of responsibilities I wasn't ready to assume.
Everywhere I would live, from then on, I would have to take along that couch.
Couches and suitcases are not exactly a metaphor for life, but both definitely make it harder to move.
As a travel concierge, Mercer does much more than sell luggage.
"I take customers through the process: What do they need for the intricacies of this trip? It's more problem solving."
There's no hard sell here, but it's easy to be dazzled by the array of accessories – like a compression bag to suck the air out of your sweaters or compression socks to improve blood circulation on a plane.
He notes that the Orange County traveler is fairly sophisticated. We tend to take longer trips with itineraries that combine several destinations. He sees a number of grandparents taking grandchildren on an adventure. Security has also become a far bigger concern. Years ago Mercer didn't always discuss it, but now it's his first topic.
He covers the global threats, from pickpockets to security screening. If you're planning to travel abroad, then the details of TSA locks and passports will enthrall. A group dynamic takes hold as audience members share their own insider tips.
Who knew, for example, that the chemicals used in dry cleaning can register as explosives if you pack your clothes inside that same plastic bag? Who knew someone standing across the street can scan and read the chip embedded in your passport or credit card?
As for Mercer himself, well, he grabbed a bag and traveled a lot in his younger years. Now he's more partial to cruises – less unpacking.
For women's resort wear shop Avenue Verde
Article by Teryl Zarnow
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