I know my strategically minimal approach to packing inspires both awe and derision in others. For example, on this current trip I wore a scarf top out one night and when the subject came up, a typical response was ‘no wonder she travels light, she’s half naked’.

It all started when my kids were young and I didn’t have enough hands for all three of them, let alone luggage. I started a rule where we could each take just a backpack for a week’s holiday. It was surprisingly easy and instilled a deep appreciation of carry-on only packing in me.

Travelling light is one of the few ways you can actually impact the carbon emissions of flying. The less we all take on board, the less fuel the plane will burn. While I love that, the truth about my packing motivations are really personal. I simply don’t enjoy lugging lots of heavy bags around. And being based in Australia, which is geographically isolated from so much of the world, wherever you come home from it’s invariably been a long flight so only having cabin baggage means a speedy exit from the airport too.