As so much of light packing - particularly for business - in an exercise in mitigating wrinkles, does anyone pack a portable clothing steamer as a matter of course? This crossed my mind as I used a 90s era handheld Rowenta steamer to get the wrinkles out of new shirts removed from their original packing material. The steamer was quicker and easier than ironing (particularly since I am not very good at ironing!).

For a very light packer, most steamers would be too big but otherwise, it seems you could bundle pack and then just get any errant wrinkles out with the steamer. Or to freshen up a shirt already worn once (assuming it wasn't soiled).

Here's an alternative. Put your travel clothesline across the length of the bathtub. Run the bath tub about halfway full of the hottest water you can run. Put you clothes to be steamed on the clothesline. Close the curtain. Enjoy a dram or two. A couple of hours should be enough. Let the water out. Let the clothes hang overnight You are done. Monte

Good tip. I may add, use the possibly still warm water to take a nice bath. :) And make darn sure that your suits are safe and don't drop in the water.

Besides that, most steam irons in hotel rooms will do the job just fine. No need to actually iron the garment. Just hold the steam iron almost vertically to the floor. Some irons shut off automatically if held vertically.

I carried a portable steamer for about twenty years and this year I finally gave it up. With better wrinkle-resistant fabrics and my improved skills at packing, I find that I have almost no wrinkles upon arrival. Hotel irons can be used to touch up shirts, if needed, but the above recommendations usually work well. Once in a while a suit coat can get a bit wrinkled and steamers are good for those; but most of today's fabrics either don't wrinkle or relax in a few hours, especially when encouraged with a bit of heat and humidity.