Packing for a trip is already a small adventure. Packing for a trip while wearing an extravagantly fluffy winter coat, thick white boots and a mission to look flawless is a full-blown action movie.

Our story starts in a green-painted stairwell, the kind that exists in every apartment block and always smells slightly of someone’s lunch. A long-haired blonde woman appears at the top with a big silver suitcase and a big fluffy coat in black and gray stripes. The coat is the real star. It looks like a very elegant zebra decided to go on holiday.

The suitcase has opinions. It bumps down each step with a loud rattle that echoes through the entire building. The neighbors, somewhere behind their doors, are probably wondering if a small tractor is moving in.

But she carries on with calm determination. One step, a thump, another step, a thump. Her hair swings, her coat sways, and her boots stay as white as fresh snow, which is an achievement in itself, considering the condition of a regular stairwell.

Once outside, the scene changes completely. The winter air is crisp, the trees are bare, and a dark SUV is waiting with its door wide open like a patient butler. The suitcase rolls over the cracked pavement with a determined rumble.

Here comes the next challenge: getting the huge case into the car without ruining the dramatic entrance. She tilts it, lifts it, adjusts it, and finally pushes it in with the practiced smoothness of a person who has done this a thousand times. Or at least once, but with great confidence.

Then comes the final move. She swings her legs into the car with all the grace of a movie star leaving a premiere, white boots first, coat sweeping behind, handbag still perfectly in place. The door closes, the engine hums, and the stairwell goes back to its quiet afternoon.

The moral of the story is clear. Travel is a lot easier with light luggage and plain jackets. But travel is a lot more entertaining when you bring the fluffiest coat in the building and refuse to let a single stair steal your style.