When it comes to travelers, I feel like people are in one of two camps: those who unpack their suitcase as soon as they get home and those who leave that suitcase unpacked until it’s finally empty or time to pack up for the next time. Well, I think we can put Simone Biles in the second category. The 2024 Summer Olympics may have ended six months ago, but Simone shared to her Instagram stories that she’s “truly ashamed” to admit that she still has one suitcase (of clean clothing) that she still hasn’t unpacked.
Simone Biles reveals that she has more than a few remnants of the 2024 Olympics laying around her home. The 11-time Olympic medalist, 27, revealed on her Instagram Stories that she still has an “unpacked” suitcase that she brought back from the Paris Olympics, which ran from July 26 to Aug. 11.
The gymnast shared a photo of the blue baggage, which was left unzipped and showed several items including a white U.S.A. sweatshirt, a blue backpack and gray sweatpants. A pair of white sneakers could be seen on the floor beside the suitcase.
“I’m truly ashamed to admit that I still have not unpacked one of my suitcases from the Olympics,” she wrote over the photo, adding that it was full of “all clean clothes.”
This comes a month after the Olympian revealed in her cover story for Sports Illustrated that she has a “forbidden Olympics closet” in her home with husband Jonathan Owens, 29.
The “closet,” she explained at the time, is actually an infrequently used guest room, which the couple has turned into a designated space for the Olympic gear Biles has from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Sometimes, when her NFL player husband was away from home, she would pull out some of the items — such as leotards and Team USA pins — and cry, she told Sports Illustrated.
Hey, I get it. Unpacking is annoying. Taking six months, though…oh, man! At least Simone has clean clothing sitting in that suitcase and not dirty workout clothes or tournament uniforms. That makes sense, though. It’s much easier to empty a suitcase by throwing dirty clothing in the laundry bin or washing machine. Sometimes, the thought of putting things away is enough to procrastinate doing so.
So, where does everybody stand on unpacking? I am very much in the former category. I unpack myself and both of my kids within a few hours of us getting home. Even if it’s late at night, I have to, at the very least, dump all of the dirty clothing into the wash to feel like I’ve done something in the unpacking process. I just don’t like having half-filled suitcases lying around and if I don’t take care of them right away, I’ll probably let them sit for six months, too.
photos credit: IMAGO/Daniela Porcelli/Avalon and via Instagram/Simone Biles/GK Elite sportswear and People.com
I unpack right away. I have to. I usually pack some of my favorite things, and I want them back! Plus, I’m an extremely light packer, so by the time I get home, everything is dirty and needs to be washed.
I usually unpack my luggage within a day. Moving boxes is another story. I still have boxes from 15 years ago.
Same. I/ we unpack right away (depending on jet lag), but we don’t travel with an entire suitcase of clean clothing when returning home. We also usually need access to the toiletries. On the other hand, we have a couple of boxes from our move years ago. It’s become a “time capsule” or “surprise memories.” Someday….
I’m definitely a Simone. Then again I try to get away every month to six weeks even if it’s just an overnight so my clean clothes stay in the case and the worn ones are in a separate bag ready to go to the wash.
Same.
Dirties are separate (usually in the carry on) and go into the wash right away. Everything else waits until I need something or get sick of looking at it. Having duplicates of toiletries, and essentials decreases my sense of urgency lol
Although I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older the duration in between does seem to be shrinking…
I’m so intensely particular about this. When I’m leaving my vacation spot, I pack up my suitcase in a way that gets it ready to be immediately dealt with when I get home. I use packing cubes. Sort the dirty clothes into darks and lights. When I get home, I unpack the suitcase in the laundry room and immediately start the laundry. I just empty the packing cube right into the washer. Non-Laundry items are grouped in a similar way that makes it easy to put away. I know myself. If I sit down and rest when I get home, I’ll procrastinate. So, instead, I immediately unpack pretty much as soon as I’m in the door. This works for me, but to each their own.
Makes notes. This is a great way to do it.
Definitely going to try this!
I’m an immediate unpacker but I think this is slightly different as the team USA athletes were gifted a ridiculous amount of clothes and stuff so if that’s what’s in the case then it’s not like she’s been looking for her favourite jeans since the summer. She probably hasn’t even tried it on. More stuff for her olympic room!
I love that she has an Olympic room!
I travel regularly, so I have one suitcase that’s never completely unpacked – it has everything I need except for the clothing. And because I don’t have a lot of storage my larger suitcase is packed with out-of-season clothes. But I’m kind of a Super Simone in that I still have unopened boxes from when I moved into my apartment a long time ago.
Unpack straight away but probably end up re-washing clothes that are already clean as it’s just easer.
Simone has ADHD, which I do as well so I’m feeling this deep in my bones as I’m eyeing a still unpacked suitcase from my trip abroad which ended Dec 13th
Usually unpack right away, but sometimes that damn suitcase just sits on the floor and I get dressed out of it.
I unpack either immediately when I get home or several weeks later. There is no in-between. A new thing I’m doing if I get home really late that gets on my own d@mn nerves is carry the luggage upstairs and put away the things that go upstairs, but anything that goes back downstairs (and isn’t breakable) like shoes, etc., I just toss over the stair rail. Then I come down the next morning to a big pile of stuff at the bottom of the stairs and rage “WHO DID THIS” into the void because I live alone. Back to Simone, I am sure she is getting help from a real therapist, but I have to wonder if it might not be better for her to purge that Tokyo stuff if it is still so upsetting to her.
Lol, I do the same thing, too. “Who’s Responsible For This?!!” The response is an echo because it’s just me.
As much traveling as I do, I don’t think I’ve ever left a suitcase unpacked once I’ve gotten home. Maybe if I’ve gotten back late, I’ll leave it til the next morning, but that’s it. And everything goes in the wash, whether it was packed clean or not. There are a few things that stay packed—the pouches with electronic stuff, the toiletries bag–but everything else gets put away.
LOL, I am the worst. Not only do I not unpack, I leave my suitcases where they lay. I have one open on the dining room floor right now.
I used to unpack when I wanted to wear what’s inside. But, the last time I did this I had a large bag sitting in a corner half zipped and just a few items left in there when a stray cat I feed made her way into my house and gave birth in the suitcase. Luckily none of the clothes left in the suitcase were any of my favorites, and they were soft and comfy winter clothes but I had to throw everything away. Even the suitcase. And I hadn’t realized how expensive suitcases are now so I don’t do that anymore. I unpack at within a few days.
You know though, your suitcase gave life!
I stayed one night at my sister’s place for Christmas. My overnight bag sat unpacked in my closet door until this week, when I finally unpacked because I needed the bag.
That’s nothing. I went to Florida in November 2021 stayed one week come back to Dallas, one of my two suitcases stayed unpack until November 2024. Unpacking is not glamorous. Maybe Simone is a bit like me.
Team Unpack all the way – even after several looong international flights – but no side eye to those who linger. You do you, Boo.
I’m on team Simone.
I just don’t have the same energy for unpacking as packing.
Dirty clothes? Yes. But all the rest that I’d probably won’t wear in the next weeks can wait till tomorrow or the next week-end.
It’s ok Simone. I still haven’t unpacked my suitcase from my holiday travels in December lol.