The choices you make while packing for a trip have the opportunity to make or break a trip. Pack too much and you’ll find yourself frustrated as you haul your heavy bag(s) up and down stairs, through airports, and across dirt or cobblestone roads. The more you pack, the more likely you’ll have to cough up extra bag fees at the airport and chances are you’ll have to unpack and repack your bag several times as you move through security.
On the other hand, if you don’t pack enough, you might find yourself underdressed at religious sites, nice dinners and in cold weather or overdressed in hot weather without anything cooler to put on.
The beauty with packing is that, the more you do it, the more you realize what you actually need and use on the road. If you’re looking to lighten the load and hoping to pack smarter the next time you travel, take a peek at the tips below.
Tips
- Minimize the amount of clothing you pack by avoiding cotton and washing items that dry easily on a more frequent basis in your bathroom sink so they can dry overnight.
- If you wear contacts, always pack an extra pair even if you’re just going away for the weekend.
- Pack tight and light so you can carry luggage on board your airplane instead of spending time checking and retrieving it.
- Roll your clothes instead of folding them for tighter packing. Stuff shoes with socks, underwear, bandanas and similar items.
- Always travel with Zip-loc bags. They come in handy for maximizing packing space, separating wet from dry items, separating liquid-filled tubes and bottles from clothing items, and keeping track of small items such as batteries and safety pins.
- It’s definitely okay to unplug and escape your job while you travel, but always carry a few business cards with you. You never know who you might meet on the road.
- Pack a pillowcase. It can be used to cover less-than-desirable pillows in hostels and to separate clean clothes from dirty in your bag. Once stuffed with your clothes, it can also be used as a makeshift pillow if necessary.
- Pack light by using a dominant color scheme. If something you are thinking about packing doesn’t match that color scheme, don’t pack it. (Tip courtesy of Chris Gray Faust.)
- In most cases, if you can’t afford to part with something, then don’t take it with you when you travel. Now is not the time to pack the jewelry you inherited from your grandmother or the designer shoes you were finally able to afford.
- Carry extra batteries and a memory card for your camera. You may even want to consider carrying a smaller, cheaper second camera in case your main camera breaks or is stolen.
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