Travel and taking flights is great fun. What isn’t fun is waiting an eternity at the baggage carousel for your suitcases, the hidden costs airlines sneak in for checking in a hold bag and generally lugging around a huge amount of weight from overpacking. After five years of being a flight attendant I seem to have got packing a suitcase down to a fine art. What I’ve learned is you don’t need to take checked baggage with you on a trip. So today, I’m sharing with you tips I have for packing an efficient carry on case where you can pack everything you’ll need to see you through your trip.
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1. CHARGE ALL DEVICES
Make sure you have charged all your gadgets. Phone, laptop, battery pack etc.. if you’re planning on doing work in the sky there’s nothing worse than being on a flight and your laptop dies. Equally you want full charge on your phone when you get to a destination – or you’d have to resort to old school methods for navigating the subway (using a map) or booking an Uber (hailing a cab). These methods are fine, but when we live in a world with such advanced technology to make our lives easier it’s definitely a good idea to use it to our advantage as much as possible.
2. DECANT BEAUTY PRODUCTS INTO SMALLER POTS
By decanting skincare and beauty products into 100ml approved liquid containers you save on space and weight. This also allows you to carry all your liquids as carry-on and avoids having to check a bag in the hold. Which can be time consuming and also costly.
3. PACK LESS BY USING VERSATILE PRODUCTS
Minimise the amount of products you use by taking versatile products. A day to night serum for example frees up taking two very similar products. A moisturiser that already has SPF in it means you can eliminate face sunscreen from your liquids bag. The possibilities are endless!
4. PACK AS MANY NON-LIQUID ALTERNATIVES AS POSSIBLE
Try and pack as many non liquid alternatives as you can. For example bring a powder stick deodorant instead of an aerosol or roll on which would have to go in the liquid bag. You can also now buy nail varnish remover discs that are already saturated with product. These types of items aren’t exempt from being put in a liquids bag but they are at much less risk of being flagged in the security scanner.
5. BE STRICT WITH THE ITEMS YOU PACK
Don’t pack anything you won’t use. If you’ve got a busy trip and you won’t have time to read then don’t bring a book, alternatively if you’re going on a relaxing holiday and you know you won’t be doing any work then don’t bring your laptop. Be ruthless with what you actually need for a trip. Items like perfume and lots of different types of jewellery aren’t essentials (i’m sure this could be argued by some) and products like shampoo and body wash are 99% of the time supplied by a hotel.
6. PLAN YOUR OUTFITS
By planning outfits you minimise the risk of bringing shoes and clothing you won’t wear. It doesn’t take long to check the weather in your destination and then decide what clothing is appropriate. Also packing clothes that are versatile and can be mixed and matched with other items you bring is a savvy way to pack less but not feel like a complete outfit repeater every day.
7. ROLLING PACKING TECHNIQUE
This technique minimises the amount of room taken up in you case and also minimises the amount of creases in your clothing when you unpack. Does what is says on the tin – take your items, gently fold on a natural crease and then roll the items up and slot in the suitcase. Easy!
8. PACK NON-IRON CLOTHES
Try and pack as many non-iron outfits as possible. Straight out the washer and straight in the suitcase. You don’t want to spend lots of time on your trip ironing clothes in your hotel room. Some hotels don’t even supply irons, which in turn means you’ll have a hefty hotel dry cleaning bill. Even if you are provided with an iron do you really want to spend you vacation in your hotel room doing chores? If you do have to iron clothes, iron them before you travel and follow tip number 6 for minimal amounts of creases!
9. LEAVE SPACE IN YOUR CASE FOR UNPLANNED PURCHASES
Leave a small amount of room in your suitcase because you never know what purchases you’ll make on your trip. Also it seems like a scientific fact that no matter how you pack your case on the way home your stuff doesn’t fit the same way in the case as it did on the way out.
10. SHARE ITEMS IN YOUR GROUP TO SAVE PACKING THE SAME STUFF
If you’re travelling in a group then a great way to minimise space is to share items with other people. A girls trip abroad does not require five hairdryers. If you are solo travelling and got this far in the post then it’s time to re-address tips 1-9!
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