Hi All,
Well I am officially off on holiday in a few weeks and have spent a lot of time considering my travel, style and ultimately luggage needs. You see the problem is, I don’t pack light! I went to New York a few years ago, it was a ten day trip and I took enough outfits for 20 days – yes I am not joking. Out of those outfits I wore 9 of them and of course, I ended up buying ore clothing while I was there. This spurred my on to discovering the secret art of packing for holidays, looking at everything from destination, lifestyle, weather and the obligatory comfort factor.
I am not neat! There I said it, I am messy and the majority of my cloths will come out of my suitcase with millions of creases, but this doesn’t mean that I don’t make the best use of the space available to me when I am packing for my holidays. So, too help you out as well, here are some of my top tips for packing up your wardrobe to be displayed in foreign climates.
Pack for all weather outcomes
OK, so if you re jetting of to mexico this year then you wont needs to add in your favorite jumper, but if like me, you are going somewhere that doesn’t always boast good weather then you need to consider how functional you wardrobe is. The way I over come this issue is to always pack the staples, leggings both long and short, cardigans with various sleeve lengths and a waterproof jacket. The great thing about having a versatile holiday weather is that you can change your style as much as the weather will change and leggings are easily carried in a handbag for when the cooler nights arrive.
Start with the larger, bulky items
I always start by trying to decide what shoes to pack – never an easy decision to make. I make this decision first as these will be the initial items to go on the bottom layer of my suitcase; firstly this will distribute the weight evenly and secondly they create a nice are to pack clothes on top of.
The same idea also works for handbags, books, makeup and any other oddly shaped item you have. When it comes to makeup, I tend to pack my essentials, like foundation and mascara in my hand luggage to perk e up when I arrive at the destination. I then add the rest of my beauty products to my suitcase later on.
Do the roll
Many people will fold their clothes when packing for their holidays, I never do this mainly because I am not disciplined enough too fold all my clothes (sorry mum). The other reason I don’t fold is because it is not the best use of the space available, the way to get the most packed into your case is to roll each item up. This creates less creases, which is great for me and it also saves me room to pack in more items later on such as the odd pair of sandals I may want. The only items I don’t roll up are smart shirts, formal dresses and swimwear – because they are simply too fiddly.
Finally, I make sure that I duplicate some items in my suitcase into my hand luggage. I have heard to many stories of people luggage being lost at the airport, that I am now over cautious. I tend to put a change of underwear and a clean T shirt in a separate bag, along with basic makeup, hand wipes and copies of my passport if I were too lose the original.
Do you have any suitcase packing tips? If so I would love to add them to my list!
