Planning travelling is all fun and games until you realize you have to actually decide what to take with you and what to leave behind, and more than once preparing your luggage is a total dread.
A heavy luggage, even if you only need to manage between your home and to your car is troublesome. Best travel luggage is a light luggage (or if possible none but we wish…) Also if your luggage preparation skills are too low believe me it will make your trip miserable as well as it will cost you money. In my first travels I was like a luggage monster, I wouldn’t decide what to leave so I would take much more than necessary with me with never ending ” what if I need these, what if I do that, what if I go there…”. But in time, with real experience and some research I started to be more accurate on assessing “what if” questions of my trip and successfully manage to prepare my luggage for the occasion in couple of hours and even if it is multiple countries over 2 weeks trips I can handle it with just cabin size luggage and a small backpack. And that small backpack, it is usually empty to make space for what I’m about to return from my trip.
Gotta admit, lots of my experience comes from not only my causal trips but my business trips as well. Sometimes I can prepare a one week luggage under 10 minutes and then I kind of feel awkward wondering since as awesome as it sounds, it also feels a bit lonesome because it shows leaving home frequently and that’s not always a good thing.
So anyway, don’t say I can never travel with a light luggage and hear me out. Seriously best luggage is the lightest. But there maybe a point where you have to put that third pair of shoes inside and we will get to that, don’t worry 😉
*First of all, start with a small luggage, preferably cabin sized. Start as if you can only take this size with you as it would raise level of your answer to “Do I really need this with me” question higher. You can always go to one bigger size but if you start with the bigger size you are gonna end up filling it without noticing.
*Do not forget to leave space for what you might buy on your travels. If your luggage has no space even for another pair of socks, either go one size up or take a backpack with you. Buying backpack/luggage on your travel is also an option but do you really need/have space for yet another luggage where you can effectively handle it before. And you may not found one you like it or you may found it far more expensive than you would like. I usually go with small luggage and half empty backpack. This way I don’t stress about if I have space for my new city shirts or mugs in my luggage.
*Put these in a small separate part of your luggage or in a small bag; band aid, painkillers, antiseptic cream, sun cream (yes even in winter you should put on), and any other drugs that you need to take daily.
*Before starting packing, you have to look up how weather is going to be during your travel. Choose your clothes according to the forecasts. Packing lightweight things that you can wear layer by layer are always a good idea.
*Your luggage main ingredient will be clothes. So do not just fold them and put inside! There are different ways to use your luggage space and rolling your clothes is a really good one but you don’t need to roll all of your clothes. After deciding what to take with you, you decide to fold or roll them. Internet really has a vast resource on this topic but basically I fold some of them and roll others. You wouldn’t believe how much rolled up things can be put sideways of your luggage. But main event is deciding what to take with you, let’s handle that first.
Here is what I do;
First considering weather and what I generally plan to do with my trip I separate what I could take with me from my wardrobe (When doing it for the first time you may notice that you almost took the wardrobe itself with you too, its ok, in time even your first selection will get more on point)
With these separated clothes, I make combinations on my bed for each day of the travel. For example if I’m going to a 5 days trip the clothes on my bed should be enough to be combined differently every day at least changing upper or lower part. (Notice I still haven’t added special travel conditions, like maybe you scheduled an opera and need a night out dress, these will be handled after you took care of the general trip) For the 5 days trip I would take one or max two jeans, maybe a skirt/short depending on the weather and 4-5 t-shirts. T-shirts are the single thing I put extra because you always use them. They took less space and lets you combine more. It may not be a good option for gentlemen, but dresses are very effective too, saving ladies trying to match an upper-lower combination. And if you happen to choose that dress something bordering casual and classy, you can also use it with accessories as your night out plan. Then have a look at your chosen clothes with “what if I don’t take this with me will I die” mentality. Seriously, look at your favorite seen better days t-shirt. It is nice but frankly it doesn’t go well as a combination with other clothes. Drop it or change it with a one that is more combination friendly. I usually decide 2-3 “never without these key pieces” and build up min combinations accordingly.
After I choose my daily combinations, if I have special attraction for that trip (special evening, night out..) I put what is necessary for that. My special evening formula is a dress and I would suggest a “you can wear me to work” shirt for gentleman combined with a good belt and shoes.
For private wear, take one for each day of you trip. And if you have space, take 1 or 2 extra. Ladies this is for panties, you can take fewer bras with you and fill up your bra with socks or rolled up shirts to protect its shape and save space.
*Here comes the shoes part. Dear god, this is where I struggle a lot 🙂 Obviously I have one most comfortable shoe I have piece for the travel. But if it is not a good combination for the rest of the trip clothes of for the special occasions, I had to add new pairs to it. I try to limit myself with one comfortable and one comfortable but “you can use me more than casual shoes if you combine wisely” shoes with me. Choosing second shoes is especially tricky for ladies, because if you don’t have a pair which won’t make you question your decisions in life after a good long exploring of the city you will likely end up carrying flip flops and flats with you additionally.
By the way flip-flops are a good idea most of the time because you can wear them if weather is nice and if your hotel doesn’t provide you with slippers. But somehow I always end of buying new flip flops from where I go!
*Towels; is probably one of the things that take too much space on your luggage. But likely place you are going will provide them for you so if you are not sure ask. And unless you are too fixated on using your own towel if it’s provided do not take one with you.
*And if you don’t want to end up buying a new one like I am in almost every country I visited, take a plastic raincoat with you. They take almost no space. But if you forget it is ok because if you caught up in rain, it is likely that somebody is selling these stupid raincoats nearby and they are usually cheap. I have like more than 10 now 🙂
*I know you are likely to have some smart phone or pad with you, but take your travel’s details with you in cold hard paper because your smart friend might be broken as it did to me in China and if you rely only to that you are gonna have a bad time. A small notepad to note reservation and ticket details, hotel address and phone is always a good idea.