Screenpacking…

With the after-effects of a head cold hanging around,  it’s been time to catch up on some TV and films.

Several of the celebs taking part in The Real Marigold Hotel appeared to be sporting some large bags for their three week stay in India, whilst Michael Portillo still appears to travel with a small wheelie bag…

Even those in The World’s End had cracked the problem as they stashed their bags in the boot of Gary King‘s elderly Ford Granada before tackling The Golden Mile and a loads of Blanks.

Mind you, Pegg and Frost appeared to have large packs in their rented RV in the film Paul – the eponymous alien appeared to be travelling light though by carrying the same kind of bag sported by Neil Oliver of Coast fame).

One programme that I caught on The Travel Channel last week was Around The World In Eighty Days with Michael Palin.

Apart from the dinner suit that was posted home after a rail journey on The Orient Express, Michael’s bag of choice appeared to be a very full Billingham style travel bag.

The journey was however taken in the days before smartphones, dumb-ass phones, tablets, laptops or Kindles and if memory serves me right, Michael was carrying quite a few books with him as he travelled the globe.

Nowadays, I suspect that Michael would be travelling in a much lighter manner, yet still carrying his own stuff, especially as his camera and production crew had their own bags to carry around plus all the technical kit needed to record the images and sounds whilst on the road.

Mind you the crew would now be using the latest broadcast technology to do the same job, so their kit bags and cases would also be smaller, lighter and more manageable…

On a different note though, Jason Bourne appears to travel light, as does the British super spy who has the same initials.

Go back further in television history though and there are a couple of characters that spent three series apparently living out of two pairs of saddlebags in the wild, wild, west.

Who am I talking about? Hannibal Heyes and ‘Kid’ Curry – Alias Smith and Jones of course! Not only did they have the stuff needed for any ranch work, they also managed to pull smart suit and shirt combinations out of the hat on several occasions. Awesome!