Q&A: How Cynthia Rowley Packs for Trips

By Kassie Bracken, David Frank, Jason Drakeford and Kimberly Moy

Can't Go Without: Cynthia Rowley: The designer describes what she brings for adventures with her family.

The designer Cynthia Rowley travels so often with her husband and two young daughters that she has packing — particularly the quick, all-in-one-bag kind — down pat. "I have a checklist I keep at home," she said. It's inside her medicine closet along with toiletries, her family's passports and a wad of cash. "It's like I'm on the lam."

Even for her, though, a recent family trip to Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar required some extra planning and creative solutions.

Toward the trip's end, she said, everyone started borrowing clothing from one another. Her 14-year-old's top became a dress on her 8-year-old. Her husband's shirt became, with a belt, a dress on her 14-year-old.

"My husband usually gets the short end of the stick," Ms. Rowley said with a laugh.

Below are edited excerpts from a conversation with Ms. Rowley on packing tips for family trips. 

Q. What's on your packing checklist? 

A. Aside from clothing, snacks like granola bars, gum and mints for my daughters' ears on the plane, toiletries, pens, pencils — all in zip-locks. Reading material. An iPad with movies downloaded. Extra chargers. A laundry bag. A small bag rolled up, in case you buy something, so you can carry it home in that. And the weather report printed out for everyone.

Q. What clothing do you bring? 

A. The essentials: sneakers, heels, flip-flops, a hat, undies, a jacket. I always bring a big scarf, and for this trip I brought a couple of sturdy cotton scarves from Feed Projects. That's my travel must, a big scarf, because on the plane I wrap it around my eyes to sleep or use it as a pillow. It's a cover-up at the beach. I wear it as a skirt, put on a T-shirt, wrap a belt around it and go to dinner. It's very Peter Beard.

These little zip leather pouches from my collection or something similar is good for organizing your essentials. You can also use them for going out at night, as a clutch, so you don't have to pack one. We also have these metallic T-shirts. They're comfy, but still add a little polish. I don't bring any jewelry, so I pack a whole bunch in different colors.

For our trip to Africa, everyone kept saying, you have your khaki, right? I'm not going to look like Steve Irwin, I'd say, but I did add a little.

Q. How do you avoid packing too much? 

A. Everyone brings one carry-on. As a family we never check bags. It's just a hassle, and I like to hit the ground running.

I use this khaki Ghurka duffel I've had for years. My kids use rollers, which are easier for them to pull. Before anything goes in the suitcase, I lay everything out in little stacks. It's all there, so you can edit it. Then I put it all in at once.

Q. Do you bring anything special for your kids? 

A. For each big trip that we do, I buy journals, these little Pearl Paint ones that come in a pack, and markers and tape. My daughters can tape in things like exotic bird feathers, maps from the guides, pressed flowers or, like for this trip, a wildebeest hair. I write on the front their names, the date, the destination. The ones from Kenya and Tanzania are still circulating show-and-tell; eventually they'll go on their bookshelves with the others.

My husband always brings a book that he reads excerpts from to everyone at night. For this trip, he brought "Green Hills of Africa" — we try to be on theme. And I always bring a DK Eyewitness Travel guide. It's all photos and illustrated on really nice paper. Every night I use it to plan what we want to see the next day, and then I save it as a little souvenir, put it on the kids' bookshelves. It's a good old-school tradition.

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