Comments on: Looking Sharp While Traveling the World

By: Will

Will — Wed, 22 May 2013 23:30:52 +0000

I just posted this comment in another thread, to which I think applies here as well:
Aesthetics has always been a very subjective area. One that I still struggle with to this day. Also, the current culture doesn’t help. That is, “under-dressing is cool, over-dressing is stiff, boastful, etc.”. Some older people used to tell me that they would never go to a nightclub (in Montreal) in the 60s or 70s without a shirt, tie, and jacket. Now, wearing anything but jeans and a T-shirt is “over-dressing”. You go to nice restaurants, and people are ultra casual. Even in churches, you see women in skin tight, low-neck outfits, full makeup (suitable for clubbing) whereas in the 50s and 60s, no woman entered a church without wearing a hat and her Sunday best. T-shirts used to be considered underwear. Really. No matter what your job, you always wore a shirt with a collar. Now, everyone has met in the middle where casual is it. It’s even gone further than that. I know engineering contractors who purposefully drive crappy cars not worth over $1000 just so people won’t think they have any money. Maybe it’s the “tall poppy” syndrome. (Tall poppies get plucked. No one rises above the norm!)

I think when you travel outside the US, how you present yourself matters more. I used to always wear a blazer when I flew out of country. But ironically, I found when returning to the US, I was always scrutinized more by customs when wearing nice clothes. Now when I travel, I purposely underdress a notch. T-shirt, jeans, and sandals, you look like every other mindless slob, and customs and TSA get you through the door quickly. Dress up, then security guards question you a lot more. In fact, I know an owner of a software company that always downdresses for traveling so she has an easier time through customs and the TSA. Sad, but true.

I like sharp-dressed people, but I don’t think it gets the respect it once did (in the US anyway). Everyone is mainly concerned with entertaining themselves, let alone care about their own appearance. I belong to a different generation, I’m sure.

By: William

William — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 01:35:39 +0000

I travel allot in the Army with uniform and very little else. These themes have very good points, and can see the my bag decreasing even smaller. I think your article should be read by all, to be travelers, for time saving and money.

By: Erik

Erik — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:40:30 +0000

I agree whole-heartedly with the theme of this article and even picked up some good pointers. I love the feeling of traveling light and smart while looking sharp. I am one of those American tourists now traveling with a young daughter. You need to ask yourself how many kids you see in airports now compared with decades past. As much as I enjoy all the considerations of this article family travel is the name of the game today.

By: Marco

Marco — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 01:50:20 +0000

I once held a job that had me traveling from the states to England, Germany and Spain quite often. The owner of the firm (my boss) was quite generous, and usually had us traveling business class lest we endure the indignity of sitting with the great unwashed in economy. But no matter the cabin class, he urged us all to dress nicely; wearing a sport jacket or blazer, even if our final destination was the hot and sunny Canary Islands to do business, we would set ourselves apart from the hoi polloi and get better treatment from the staff to boot. I no longer have this job, but whenever the missus and I get on a plane, we make sure to be dressed smartly and neatly.

By: Brad

Brad — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 21:15:24 +0000

I couldn’t agree with this article more. My new job has me travel a minimum of twice a month. Not being in my 20′s any longer I’ve taken the last two years to update my wardrobe. I was absolutely amazed at how I was treated in stores, airports and restaurants. As for the upgrades in flight as far as I’ve seen that’s a thing of the past, they know who the frequent fliers are and they usually get preferential treatment based on mileage card membership.

By: Zeb

Zeb — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:23:13 +0000

My wife took me to Paris several years when we were dating. It was my first trip to Europe, so I had absolutely no clue about how to dress properly for travel. At that point in my life, I had not yet begun to dress and carry myself like a man. Dirty jeans and dingy T-shirts were pretty much the uniform for everything.

An older couple who frequented the restaurant that I worked at (and who have since become dear friends and true mentors to me) gave me some very sound advice.

“When you travel”, they said, “especially in Europe, please wear a shirt with a collar. It’s a different culture. You want to be respectful as well as respectable.”

I did not even own one at the time so the gentleman brought me one as a gift. I was really touched and took their advice to heart.

Fast forward to now. I’m a married man and more successful in my career. My wife and I travel as often as our schedules allow and I always let my clothing make the appropriate impression. A lot has changed in my life, not the least of which is having left behind the dirty, ripped t-shirts in favor of a proud and “grown-up” image.

I’m very thankful for that well-placed guidance and mentoring. What started as simple travel advice has had a profound impact on my entire life.

By: Gil

Gil — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:54:55 +0000

In summer I wear a polo shirt, slacks and loafers. If it is cool, I will wear a L/S dress shirt or oxford. Winter I will wear slacks, an oxford and light sweater.

Wearing a suit, and/or shirt and tie is probably impractical if you are not traveling on business, but I still try to look my best no matter what.

By: International Bachelor

International Bachelor — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:42:33 +0000

This is EXACTLY why I started the clothing company International Bachelor. There is no reason people should fly and look like they literally rolled out of bed. If you are out of bed, then you should look presentable because you never know what situation you might find yourself in.

The clothing line is in it’s infancy but I would recommend for everyone to check it out on Facebook (the website is in works): Facebook.com/Internationalbachelor

By: William P

William P — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:23:33 +0000

I have traveled for the past 8 years. (From East to West [roughly]: Japan, S. Korea, China, Mongolia, Thailand, Kuwait, U.A.E, Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Rwanda, Kenya, Greece, Italy, Germany, France and Ireland) in every place I never brought more than this (packed in a Saddleback Leather XL Original Briefcase now):

- 1 Heavy Coat (Great for use as a pillow [goes on top of bag, not in it])
- 1 Sports Coat (I have a dark Blue one) [worn]
- 2 Sweaters (One crew neck, the other V-neck)
- 2 Dress shirts (White and a Medium-Dark Blue) [1 worn]
- 3 ties (1 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow)
- 4 Undershirts (All white, 1 V-Neck) [1 worn]
- 2 Regular shirts (One blue, one green)
- 1 pair of jeans (Dark washed Levis, straight cut) [worn]
- 2 pairs of pants (Grey and Khaki)
- 2 pairs of shorts (One regular [light brown], one versatile [prAna brand])
- 4 pairs of socks (Two blackish, two blueish, all Smartwool) [1 worn]
- 1 pair Dress boots (White’s Semi-Dress Boots. Well worth the $) [1worn]
- 1 pair of sandals

Great thing about this list is that even with a dopp kit and some reading material/laptop you can still put it into the overhead bin regardless of what you pack it in.

Also, make sure you roll everything. Only the dress shirts ever show a sign of wrinkling.

By: A different David

A different David — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:55:09 +0000

I agree with wearing decent clothes on the journey. Not only do you get treated better, but you can also guarantee that at least some of your good clothes are available if your luggage goes missing.
I always try to travel with only carry-on luggage, but sometimes the weight restrictions make this impossible. In those cases, I make sure I’m wearing/carrying at least one good outfit to wear the first day.

I also try to wear a minimum amount of metal – pack your watch in your luggage, wear shoes that don’t contain metal, save that giant belt-buckle for another day. I even leave rings etc. at home. Metal detectors in different airports are set to different sensitivities, so if you travel to the same locations often then it will allow you to figure out what can be worn without setting off the alarms.