In one sense, you have a choice to make: Is it more important to see or to be seen? If it's the former, a carry-on filled with just the essentials will allow you to cover a lot of ground unencumbered; if it's the latter, indulge yourself with multiple wardrobe options for every occasion and just go ahead and pay those extra luggage fees.

For those making the switch to packing light, a few random tips:

-- As you're packing, make two piles: one for items you absolutely, positively need, the other for stuff that would be nice to have. Put the first pile in your suitcase and the second back in your closet.

-- That said, allow yourself a tiny luxury or two. For me, it's a lightweight cotton kimono-style bathrobe, plus an iPod and speakers. Filled with my calendar and contacts, my iPod doubles as my PDA.

-- Limiting yourself to a single pair of shoes - or possibly two if you're a woman and/or have tiny feet - is one of the keys to packing light. I look for comfortable walking shoes with uppers that pass muster in the city. For primarily urban trips with just a little bit of country ambling I like the Ecco Track IV; for hiking trips with just a little bit of city, I bring a pair of light hikers, as they're called - low-top hiking shoes such as Merrell's Chameleon; for trips more or less divided between city and country I wear New Balance's Country Walkers, a good all-around compromise.

-- Odor-Eaters or other foot destinkers are probably a good idea if you're wearing the same shoes every day.

-- The other key to packing light is to bring fewer clothes - particularly socks and underwear - and to spend 10 minutes every few evenings washing them in your sink (see sidebar.)

-- Considering your per-hour cost of being overseas, it's generally not a good use of your time to wash your clothes at a self-service laundry. But some travelers appreciate a little down time for writing postcards, catching up on their journals, etc.

-- Drop-off laundries in some cities - Cuzco, Peru, comes immediately to mind - are notorious for losing items. When dropping off your clothes, spread them out on the counter and snap a photo with your digital camera. This should clear up any discrepancies at pickup time.

-- If you choose to have the proprietors of your B&B; or small hotel wash your laundry for you, make sure to negotiate the price beforehand. Once, when I neglected to do this in Turkey, the formerly kindly owner of a pensione flashed an evil smile and demanded more than I paid for the clothes new. It wasn't until I told her to just keep them and started to walk out the door that she agreed to negotiate a semi-reasonable price.

-- To avoid wrinkles while packing, some experts suggest "the bundle method": Instead of folding your garments, wrap them around a core object, such as a pouch filled with socks and underwear. There's a good explanation of this (and a trove of other packing-light wisdom) at www.onebag.com/pack.html. Perhaps you'll have more luck with this method than I did.

-- Cotton may feel good next to your skin, particularly in sultry climes, but it's the slowest of all the fabrics to dry after a sink washing, and among the most wrinkle-prone. I almost always pack a few cotton garments, but I try to save them for genteel activities where I'm unlikely to get sweaty or dirty.

-- The catalogs are full of miracle-fiber travel clothes, but their big shortcoming for me - and for a number of travelers I've talked to - is that they don't breathe well in muggy weather. Of man-made fabrics, pure, unadulterated nylon breathes best.

-- You can get all but the worst wrinkles out of your clothes by hanging them in your hotel bathroom while you take a hot, steamy shower.

-- If you run short of space in your luggage, wear your bulkiest clothes on the plane. If you've ever seen people sweating in the Bangkok airport in Michelin-man down parkas and big plastic mountaineering boots, they're climbers trying to beat the weight restrictions on flights to Nepal.

-- Make a sensible packing list and stick to it. Resist the last-minute temptation to toss in one more sweater or pair of shorts. If it turns out you really need them, you can buy them at your destination.

-- If a specialized activity - tennis, snorkeling, bird-watching - is the focus of your trip, by all means bring your gear. But if it's just a casual diversion, rent the gear when you get there.

-- Rather than carry an entire guidebook, just photocopy the sections you need, keeping in mind that your plans might change when you get there.

-- For pleasure reading, choose books that are acceptable to your traveling companion so you can swap when you're finished.

John Flinn is executive editor of Travel. To comment, visit sfgate.com/travel and follow the links.

This article appeared on page E - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle