Packing for travel is not worth all the stress, take your time and use the following packing tips to make your trip easier.
1. Make a packing list
If you think you don’t have time for a list, you’re making a huge mistake. Making a list saves you much more time than you think. Take a time to think about all the items that you may need for your trip, list it from the most important to less so you can give priority when you have to opt things out in case your suitcase is too full.
2. Plan your outfits ahead
If you already have a schedule well planned before travel, making your outfit calendar will be very useful to avoid packing too many clothes and end up leaving some items not worn at all.
3. Avoid stains
Ever packed light clothes and found a stain on them when you arrived? Never have this problem again. Firstly you should always make sure your light coloured clothes are packed inside out, and secondly, hold on to hotel disposable shower caps and use them to cover the base of your shoes
3. Roll & vacuum pack
Don’t arrive at your holiday destination and be faced with a pile of ironing. To save space and stop creasing, roll your clothes instead of folding them, then place them in vacuum compression bags. To use these bags, put your clothes in, seal the bag, then squeeze the air out. This will leave you with lots more space in your suitcase and will prevent creases.
4. Pack multi-purpose shoes
Pick shoes that can be worn with multiple outfits so you only have to bring a couple pairs for your trip. Also, choose at least one comfortable shoes because you don’t want to walk on a city tour on heels for 6 hours.
5. Fill dead spaces
When it comes to packing, make use of every little inch of suitcase space that you can. Roll tops, underwear, socks and other small items and stuff them into your shoes to make sure every possible space is filled.
6. Use zip lock bags for electronic accessories
How do you usually organise all of your electronics, cables, those fiddly bits that take you ages to dig out at security? Stuff them in like the rest of us? Well, if you want to organise your packing then get yourself a stash of ziplock bags. Phone charger, camera charger, adaptors, headphones – take extra plastic bags (the same ones you’d use for hand luggage liquids) and use them to store electrical items, things for the journey home (house keys, parking ticket and car keys), medication and other loose accessories.
7. Empty your bottles
To avoid the worst case scenario of being robbed, it’s best to be inconspicuous: don’t flash cash or expensive jewellery. If you’re worried about valuable stuff in your hotel room, hide it in an empty sun tan lotion container. You could also use empty lip balm containers to hide rolled up notes. You can even put your valueable things in a pair of socks and put it in your suitecase.
8. Avoid extra luggage fee
Invest in some luggage scales and make sure you weigh your bags on both legs of the journey to see how close you are to reaching the weight limit. If you’re close to the limit, consider wearing some of the heavier items or cutting down on what you pack in the first place.
Another way to save your luggage weight is to buy a light-weight suitecase. Don’t assume that buying the most expensive designer suitcase will get you an upgrade – instead, it’s more likely to attract thieves at the airport and on your travels. It’s better to be inconspicuous and go for a lightweight option. If you’re using a hardshell suitcase, this can add up to four kilos of weight before you’ve even started packing, so expensive isn’t always best.
