The Packing List Method: How Travel Taught Me to Edit Copy
I’ve watched a lot of people overpack. Friends who bring seven pairs of shoes for a weeklong trip. Backpackers whose bags are so heavy that they have to sit on them to zip them shut. Travelers who pack for every possible scenario instead of the one they are actually walking into.
I understand the impulse. You want to be prepared. You don’t want to need something and not have it. So you add one more shirt, one more book, one more gadget that might come in handy. And before you know it, you’re dragging a suitcase that weighs more than you do.
Editing copy works the same way. You start with everything you might want to say. Every feature. Every benefit. Every clever line you thought of at 2 a.m. It all feels important. You might need it. So you leave it in.
The Question That Changes Everything
The trick I learned from watching overpackers is this: you don’t actually need most of it. What you need is the thing you use every day. The rest is just weight.
When I edit copy, I ask the same question a traveler should ask before zipping their bag. Have you worn this? Not might you need it. Not could it be useful. Have you actually, concretely, in real life, needed this thing?
If a sentence isn’t doing work on every read, it is dead weight. If a paragraph exists because it feels like something should be there, it’s taking up space that could belong to something that matters. If a word is not earning its place, it’s just making the bag heavier.
I’ve seen copy that tries to be everything to everyone. It lists every feature, covers every objection, and answers every question before it’s asked. The result is exhausting. The reader feels the weight of it and puts it down.
Travel Light
The best copy I’ve written came from cutting more than I wanted to. I wrote a landing page that started at eight hundred words. The final version was three hundred. It said less and landed harder.
Travelers who pack light move faster. They’re not exhausted by their own luggage. They can pivot when plans change because they are not anchored to a suitcase full of things they never needed.
Copy that travels light does the same thing. It moves the reader quickly. It doesn’t weigh them down with words that don’t matter. And when the reader reaches the end, they’re not relieved to be done. They are ready to take the next step.
I edit like I pack. I bring what works and leave the rest. Everything else is just weight.
I specialize in travel copywriting for tourism brands, OTAs, and hospitality companies. If you need a writer with firsthand experience in destinations around the world, view my portfolio or reach out.