5 Tricks How to Pack Your Travel Luggage
When you go on a trip, you should pay special attention to the preparation of your luggage. To have a successful vacation, you should not leave anything at home. But nevertheless, it is quite important that your luggage is neither very bulky nor heavy, because you will need a certain flexibility when you travel, and a large luggage can bother you.
1. Prepare your luggage efficiently
The more you travel, the better you'll know how to pack - that's something I've learned after years of traveling. If at the beginning I always needed large suitcases for any short or long trip, where more than half of the packed clothes weren't even taken out of the bag, now I've learned to travel with small, light luggage, with only the necessary items. For a 3-4 days trip I manage very well with a backpack, and for a week a small cabin suitcase is enough.
Why should I travel with smaller bags?
- You are much more flexible when you don't have to carry large suitcases. Think how complicated it is to walk the public transport or through the city with large suitcases.
- You save money when you travel by plane. Most airline companies, especially the low-cost ones, charge you extra money for baggage. In general, you are allowed to only one small hand luggage for free, like a hand baggage. If you want more baggage, get ready to pay a few more tens of euros.
- You don't risk losing your baggage at the airport. You may be familiar with the images that circulated in the previous months, with thousands of bags patiently waiting to be reclaimed in various airports around the world. The risk of being left without baggage is quite high if you have hold baggage and at least one flight connection. In case of delays, maybe you manage to catch the next flight, but you are never sure about your baggage. And it is not pleasant to arrive at your destination and be left without luggage for a few days. However, if this cannot be prevented and it is necessary to have a hold baggage, make sure that you have all the essential items (documents, medicines, chargers) and at least one change of clothes in your carry-on baggage.
2. Take into account the type of holiday
Before you start preparing your luggage, you must decide what kind of luggage you need, and I suggest you start by answering the following questions:
- What kind of vacation will I have - city break, extended holiday?
- How many days will I be gone?
- Depending on this question, you can decide the size of the baggage you will take with you.
- What will the weather be like?
- Check the weather forecast before you leave, so you will know what kind of clothes or other items to take with you. For example, if it's hot and the sun is shining, sunscreen is mandatory, and if it's raining, it would be advisable to have a raincoat or an umbrella with you.
- Are you traveling by plane or by car?
- With a car you have some freedom and flexibility and you are not so constrained to baggage of a fixed size and weight, compared to a flight with plane.
3. Prepare outfit for each day
When you prepare your luggage, imagine how your days will roll on and decide for each day all the types of clothes and the necessary items. Anticipate all the needs you think you will have and pack your things in such a way that you do not lack anything, but also do not overload yourself with unnecessary things.
Hint: Prepare your outfits for days, from the moment you pack your luggage! That way, you will not take more clothes than you could wear. If you're going away for 3 days, you don't have much to do with 4 pairs of pants, 5 t-shirts and 3 dresses, right?
4. What to pack
Take into account the following categories of objects when you make your luggage:
Documents, money, tickets
- Don't forget your ID at home. If you also have a passport and are traveling abroad, it would be good to take it with you, but keep it in a different place than the ID.
- The driver's license is another official document, which you can take with you, especially if you are thinking of renting a car.
- You should have an amount of cash with you, in case of anything. At the same time, don't forget your debit/credit cards at home either
Clothing
- Pack your clothes in such a way that you can wear one outfit per day (the day and the outfit). But even so, pay attention with the shades of the clothes, so that you can combine them easily. For example, the same pair of pants you can wear several days with different shirts, you don't necessarily need a pair of pants every day.
- In case of cold weather, it is advisable to wear more thiner clothes than thick clothes. Being dressed in layers, it's easier to take them off one by one, when you feel it's getting too hot.
- Pack at least 2 pairs of pantsIf your pair of pants gets torn or dirty, it can get quite uncomfortable to start looking for buying others.
- Do not pack too many pairs of shoes, because they usually take up a lot of space in your luggage.
- If the space allows, you can pack an iron for travelingwith which you can iron your clothes before leaving the room.
- Other items that you should not forget
- Jacket
- A pair of pajamas or comfortable clothes for sleeping
- Underwear
- Sunglasses, scarf, cap or hat
- Umbrella or raincoat
- If you go to the sea or the pool, don't forget your bathing suit, beach towel or beach slippers
- Gloves, hat and scarf if you travel during the winter
Cosmetics
- When you travel by plane and have only carry on baggage, it is very important that all the cosmetics are stored in small recipients, up to 100 ml in size. For this, make sure that you already have some small bottles at home, special for transporting cosmetics, which you can fill with your cosmetics: shampoo, shower gel, moisturizing cream, etc. Or you can buy such products directly from stores, you can find cosmetic products especially for travel, which do not exceed the volume of 100 ml (eg: toothpaste, shampoo, hairspray).
- Even if you do not travel by plane or are not limited to such weights for cosmetics, my advice is to always use such small containers for your cosmetics. They take up much less space and are much lighter. I don't think you will need 500ml of shower gel for a week-long trip.
- Don't forget to take the following cosmetics and personal care products with you:
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Shampoo, shower gel, conditioner or hair mask, face and body cream
- Make-up products for ladies
- Brush, comb or other hair styling products - you can find these also in small sizes, for travel
- Sun protection cream
- Earplugs
- Disinfectant
- Pack of wipes, wet wipes
- Other items that may be necessary: manicure care products, tweezers, scissors (pay attention to the size of the scissors, if you want to carry them in your hand baggage - they must be small), needle and thread
Electronic devices
- Do not leave at home the electronics and devices you will need during your trip
- Phone, with charger
- External battery
- Laptop
- Camera, Gopro if necessary
- Headphones
- Plug adapter, if you will travel to countries with other types of plug (example: UK vs EU)
- Travel iron
Meds
- My recommendation is to always have common medicamentation with you, for situations that may arise unexpectedly, such as headaches, colds, sickness etc. If you arrive in a foreign country, maybe you don't know what types of medicines are available in the pharmacies there and you're afraid to buy by yourself. And most probably, you would not like to go to the hospital just for a cold, right?
- Do not forget the medicines for which you are taking a daily treatment. If there are substances that may be prohibited in certain countries, you should also have a translated medical letter with you.
- You can also have a first aid kit with you, in case of minor accidents or injuries (bandage, disinfectant, etc.)
5. Pack organized
After you prepared all the items you will pack, comes the hard part, when you have to put all these things in your suitcase or bag. The objects must be placed in such a way that all the space is occupied, there is no free space between the items and the space is maximised. For example, even in shoes you can store things, such as pairs of socks.
At the end, leave some room for possible purchases. You never know what souvenirs you will want to bring home, and it is important to have space in your luggage for these as well.
I hope the steps described in this article will be useful to you when you start packing your luggage for your next trip, so that you arrive at your destination with a very light and well-organized luggage.
