Packing Tips?

Quincy
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Packing Tips?

Packing tips.png

 

Hello everyone!

 

I hope you're all having an excellent day.

 

I was wondering if any of you are planning to go on holiday soon? Or maybe you are already relaxing somewhere on the beach with a cold drink (if so lucky you!)! As this is a popular time to go travelling I thought we could share packing tips!

 

Here's a video with some good tips and tricks for packing!

 

 

Do you pack your bags differently to save space? What tips do you have?

 

I would love to hear your thoughts 🙂

 

Quincy

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14 Replies 14
Dimitri0
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

@Quincy sometimes it's really good to have a luggage scale with you. I use a digital one when travelling and it's really handy if you want to avoid unecessary fees at the airport when checking-in 🙂

                             
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Oomesh-Kumarsingh0
Level 10
Pamplemousses, Mauritius

@Quincy My everyday life in Mauritius island is a holiday i can work while relaxing on the sandy beach : ) but i have a good advice for people who need to travel in order to enjoy their holidays buy yourself a good guide book that may be helpful especially if you dont speak the same language as in the country of your destination. Happy holidays!!!

Hi @Quincy-and-Yanmei0,

 

I work in the travel industry, packing my suitcase at least once a week, and the one tip I constantly give people when packing is this -

 

Whatever you want to put in your check-in bag, make sure that in your carry-on you also have everything you might need for 1-2 days, in case your check-in bag doesn't make the trip quite as quickly as you...! So put a couple of days worth of essentials (underwear, change of clothes, small toiletries etc) in your carry-on, this will avoid the panic and hassle if your main bag gets lost. Trust me, I've seen a lot of people who'd have been much less stressed if they'd just followed that simple rule. And don't forget to do it for each member of your party; boy will it make travelling with small children a LOT easier.

We took a 90 day trip. Home is Miami, we prepped our place for AIRBNB, booked our flights to Barcelona, this would be our hub for the first 40 days. It was complicated, but we managed to see 9 countries, including Morroco, and 4 regions of Spain. We tried different things depending on region. The best tip I can give you is carry your meds in your hand held, on a jump drive your medical information, copies of everyones passport, drivers license, download contact list and everything on your cell to it, download maps and trails of areas you are going to, and nearby interests, download your music library, a couple of movies you haven't got around to seeing. Incrypt it. If you have an expencive phone, leave it at home. Buy a cheap pay as you go when you get to your destination. Dont take much clothing, go to thrift store in area you will be staying buy it there, leave it there. Take your accesories in zip lock bags, take lots of zip lock bags. 

@Quincy

Henry swears by packing cubes 🙂 We both have our own set (in red and blue).

 

Also, if possible, we prefer to "pool' our luggage - instead of each having 2 suitcases which are each under 20~25kgs (different depending on the airline). Some airlines allow pooling if we have the same booking #, some just don't at all, but when allowed (we always check with the airline in advance) we can have a single suitcase up to 32kgs, plus we each have our carry-ons so this has always been enough for the 2 of us on trips up to 3 wks long. We also have a digital scale like @Dimitri0 mentions to make sure there are no unnecessary fees for overweight baggage. And like @Aogán0 mentions, we always have one full change of clothes (including underwear) and a couple of cosmetics samples in our carry-on just in case our luggage is late (or even worse, lost). 

 

When we expect to do some shopping during our trip, we also like to pack a bit of extra bubble wrap. 

Hello, I am Rose from the US. I am a college student and I am going on vacation on this Christmas with my friends to Hawaii. I am so excited about my trip. I am searching for packing tips online and found a lot of ideas over here. Thanks to you all for sharing your ideas. I am so stressed and really want to go on vacation. I had a lot of assignments to do but after finding a writer with the help of the https://essay-reviewer.com/papersowl-com-review/ site, I have submitted it and now I am all ready to go on vacation freely mind. Has anyone over here visited Hawaii? If yes, please share your experience and pro and cons too. Thank you.

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Quincy 

 

As a frequent business traveller (pre Covid), though sadly not often travelling in business class, I have a few tips:

 

- I have a separate toiletries bag for travelling. It is one of those roll up ones with transparent pockets and a hanger at the top so you can keep everything organised, see exactly where things are and hang it in the bathroom door or whatever when you reach your destination.

- In said toiletries bag, I keep travel sized toiletries (don't weigh down your luggage with full sized shampoo etc. for a small trip. The only full sized thing you need is sunscreen). No need to waste plastic. Just refill them.

- Make sure to include practical stuff like plasters, blister plasters (if you like wearing heels or other uncomfortable shoes), any medication you need, that sort of thing. Anti histamines are also usually a good idea!

- Stuff socks into shoes to save space. Always use shoe bags so your shoes don't leave dirt on anything else. Underwear can be stuffed into any little in the case. Keep belts unravelled, just lay them flat around the inside edge of the case.

- I always pack a little laundry bag to separate dirty clothes from clean.

- Even if you are staying in a 5 star hotel, don't assume there will be slippers. Pack your own, lightweight, compact ones. You'd be amazed at the disgusting things lurking on hotel carpets!

 

There are probably a lot of other things I could think of, but that's a start!

I packed a bag every other weekend from ages 6 to 18. This is my time to shine.

Check lists. Keep that list in your suitcase so you can check your things when you come back Roll clothes, don't fold them 

https://digital-planner.com/life/planner/dark 

 

Be realistic about the amount of clothing you bring. You're not going to **bleep** yourself every day of your trip. If it's a short trip bring two spare underwear. If it's a long trip you're probably going to be washing your things so only bring 3 spare.

Bring a (plastic) bag for your dirty or wet clothes.

Emilie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

@Anna8631 I'm only seeing your comment now, really useful tips thanks! I'm all about those check lists and the bag for dirty or wet clothes is a great idea. As an expert, what's your favourite kind of luggage to use? 🙂 

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Clara116
Level 10
Pensacola, FL

@Quincy @Emilie Having travelled the world over - often as a young hippie tourist and later in life as a missionary...a few tips we used to make life and travel easy and better for all. All luggage will have bright colored ribbons tied outside on the handles so we see the luggage quickly and know its our team/group and grab it off the conveyor belt.  How many black suitcases are there??? We used 2 1/2 gallon zip lock bags for clothes....we know that our luggage will be looked at/ opening during the trip or upon arrival through customs,  so packing in zip locks where you can take the air out (almost vacuum packing for space) and also keep your things clean and somewhat private works great. Then packing dirty clothes in those on the return without them smelling, etc. We usually left most of our clothes with the local people and came back with very empty suitcases. All the suggestions on the video and from others are right on! I miss all the travel......soon, I pray soon again.

Emilie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

@Clara116 I'm going to steal that coloured ribbon trick next time I travel; I can't count the times my suitcase did the rounds on the belt just because I couldn't spot it amongst the many other dark grey/black suitcases!

 

Where will you go next, when you can travel again? Do you already have your eyes on the next destination you'll be packing for? 🙂

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In Egypt with my bff Nada!In Egypt with my bff Nada!

 

@Emilie Oh yes I have my eyes on travel....to see my people, my bff in Germany and my 2nd family in Ghana. And I so wish to see Thailand and Croatia with my bff.

But we are all waiting and watching to see when we can travel. I'll post pics when I hit the road/Air again. 🙂

thanks for asking, I love dreaming and it keeps me going.

Blessings, Clara

Deirdre122
Host Advisory Board Member
Stellenbosch, South Africa

I do a lot more roadtrips than flying, and travel with my son who uses a wheelchair, so this tip also applies to those with young children in prams... pack the wheelchair/pram last when packing the car so it's the first thing you can take out when arriving at your destination, or making stops along the route. You don't want to have to unpack all your bags to get to the chair/pram for a quick lunch stop, or when you arrive and all want to get out of the car together.

Emilie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

@Clara116 Ooooh, Egypt, how exciting! Our colleague @Sergi was there a few weeks ago and came back raving about it, I can't wait for you to go and bring back pictures and anecdotes for us 😃

 

@Deirdre122 That's a great tip, thanks! I can see the same logic applied to packing other things as well actually, putting everything you'll need first at the top of any suitcase can be very handy. 

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