As far as shampoo and other personal hygiene, I’ve still got hair and I bring bottles and something to comb my hair with, and I shave too, so that means a razor and blades (although I don’t bother with shaving cream–too big!) Prescriptions aren’t usually sexist; the only reason more women might have them is because they’re not as stubborn as many men.

I am confident that there’s nothing wrong with the way you pack; anyone who spends as many nights outside as you can handle a little roughing it, but I don’t buy that there’s a huge necessary difference in our packs.

I think guys have a bit of an unfair advantage in many ways in traveling (and not just security issues). Apart from having one fewer necessary piece of clothing to wear each day, men also don’t have to worry about packing for monthly annoyances. My husband always complains that my bag is bigger than his, but it almost has to be. I have hair to wash and comb and he doesn’t. I have prescriptions and he doesn’t. In Italy, I had to pack for churches that wouldn’t allow me entry without wearing a skirt, covering my shoulders and in extreme cases my head. I wish it were as simple as “take one pair of pants and two pairs of underwear”, but I think there’s just simply more baggage associated with being a woman and traveling.