Before you set off on your summer holiday with a massive, overflowing suitcase, here's a tip from expert Val Stoner: take half the clothes and twice the money. We're all guilty of it. At the very last minute you open your wardrobe and chuck it into a mammoth case, which you have to sit on to close.

Two weeks later, 90 per cent of the clothes go back into the cupboard unworn. In the meantime you've strained your back and complained all the way there and back about how heavy the damned thing is.

Once, when travelling around Africa, I threw half the contents of my rucksack in a bin and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of my trip with a lighter step and healed shoulders.

That's the kind of story that would hearten Val, 59. She recently embarked on a three-month round-the-world trip armed only with hand luggage and was always appropriately dressed and well-equipped.

So what's her secret? One of her tricks is a new Spangler skirt, imported from Germany, which folds up to the size of a cheque book but can be worn on any occasion from business to weddings. And it doesn't need ironing.

She revealed: "I bought two and was so impressed I went back for more and the woman suggested that I sell them myself. I sold out in two weeks."

Another great space saver is a small, transparent washbag, which contains only the make-up she wears - not a massive bag crammed with stuff you never use.

The checklist looks something like this:

Samples of detergent and soap

Pots of hairwax instead of spray

Fold-up brush and mirror

Mini sewing kit, matches and scissors

Wind-up lip-pencil instead of lipstick

Eyeliner with eye shadow at the other end of the pencil

Travel corkscrew

Creams transferred into pots sold at Boots, and perfume poured into a lipstick-sized spray reduce the bulk further.

Val has perfected the art over many years. She and her husband Jim have always loved travelling, so when he retired from his civil engineering company they took off. After watching her daughter-in-law hurt her back because she took so many clothes to Australia, Val decided to revise her own method of packing.

Since then she hasn't looked back.

"It amazes me what people take. An American recently came to stay and packed seven pairs of shoes and all her clothes on hangers."

And because the Henley couple always wear their smartest clothes on the plane, they are often upgraded.

"It just takes a bit of thought. I still pack the night before, but have thought about which tops and bottoms I can mix and match."

However, there is one item Val will never do without. She always takes a kimono dressing-gown - in case there is a fire. For trip lasting several months: 1 smart track suit

2 pairs trousers

2 long sleeved blouses

1 cardigan

3 T-shirts

2 Spangler skirts

2 strapless tops

1 light rainproof jacket

1 swimsuit

1 bikini

1 pair sandals

1 pair flat shoes

2 sarongs

underwear

nightie

jewellery

Wear matching coatdress, trousers and top For weekend away: 2 Spangler skirts and/or 1 pair trousers

black body

smart belt

underwear

Wear jacket, shoes and handbag Things they say about travel "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train" - Oscar Wilde

"If you want to get away from it all don't take it all with you" - Anonymous

"The more you know the less you need"

- Aboriginal saying

"In America there are two classes of travel, first class and with children"

- American wit Robert Benchley

"The heaviest baggage is an empty purse"

- English proverb

"Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water"

- WC Fields

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.