I could answer this title with something cute, like, "Don't take your mother-in-law," but I won't. (actually, I guess I just did)

As a veteran traveler, I keep a ready bag' packed at all times, with all the essentials: toothpaste, shampoo, etc., and a few basic clothes. One of my basic pieces of clothing is a swimsuit, even if it's winter, and a plastic poncho (rain gear), even if I'm traveling to the desert. You never know when you will be re-routed, and they don't take much space in my luggage.

I enjoy dressing for dinner, occasionally, even when in the tropics, so I do take a dinner jacket or blazer, and some kind of tie. Obviously, a topcoat in the tropics is a dumb idea, so I leave the trench coat behind, and load lots of khaki shorts.

The title of this article, "What not to pack for the tropics," is a bit restrictive, since coats, sweaters, and goulashes' is all it really needs as an answer, and is fairly obvious, I would think. I do see people bring things on vacations that I wonder what they were thinking, like expensive jewelry. Why take the risk to show how wealthy or stupid you are? I am guilty of traveling, wearing a Rolex watch for many years. I didn't think of it as anything more than a good time-piece, but I was roofied,' we called it mickey finned' in those days, and robbed for it, so I now wear a cheaper watch, not just when traveling, but all the time.

Children can really make a beautiful tropical vacation turn into a chore, but children deserve vacations, too. My advice is to buy them and their grandparents tickets to Disney World and the two of you go to the Caribbean; but that's just me.

Learn more about this author, Will Kester.
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