There are people who seem gifted at packing; their packing process is organised, clothes come out of the suitcase or bag wrinkle-free and they seem to have the right outfit for each event. It’s admirable. For most of us though, packing is a nightmare and packing for short trips, say 4 or 5 days is even more difficult as dumping most of your wardrobe into a small suitcase wouldn’t work. If packing has never been your forte, you’ve come to the right place. This post will give tips on how to pack for short trips and in the future, I’ll do a post with tips on how to pack for long trips.
- When packing for short trips, you need to know how many days exactly you’ll be gone for so you can plan properly. You also need to be sure what sort of trip you’re going on. The clothes you would pack for a business trip with a possibility of a few formal dinners would be different from the clothes you would need for a beach holiday.
- Choose one style of packing. This means, if you want to roll your clothes into your travel bag, roll all of them. Don’t roll some of the clothes and fold the others. It’s a sure way to make sure all your clothes come out wrinkled.
- Think creatively when it comes to your clothes and learn to combine what you’ve got. If you’re going away for 3 days, there’s no point in taking 3 pairs of jeans. All you need is one pair and 3 different tops. Then maybe pack a dress and heels or a pair of proper trousers and a dress shirt for going out.
- To save myself the stress of ironing (one of my least favourite activities), I generally pack clothes that stretch or that contain Lycra as these ones are less likely to need ironing.
- I love shoes as much as the next girl but there’s no need to pack 5 different pairs even if you’re going to be away 5 days. At most, you need a pair of comfortable walking shoes (which you can wear when travelling), a pair of proper shoes for dinners or formal events and an extra pair just in case 😉
- Put soap, shower gel and body lotion and anything that can spill or stain clothes in a Ziploc bag. Decant your favourite gels and lotions into small containers to save space in your travel bag.
- Packing underwear is easy. Simply toss your smalls on top of your packed clothes and smile at immigration officials’ discomfort if they search your bag. Naturally, this only works for women J
- Mentally wear the clothes you’ve packed for each day and each event you plan to attend to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything and that’s it. You’re packed and ready to go.
What are your top packing tips? Go ahead and share them in the comments box.
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