Useful Information

10 Best Packing Tips From Travel Experts

Believe it or not, packing tips might be one of the most underrated pieces of advice you get. After all, most of us experienced travelers consider ourselves to be great at packing. And, everyone has a tip on how they pack.

The best travel is when you travel light. Imagine not having heavy bags to check-in, avoiding baggage fees, and not waiting on bags to arrive at your destination.

Taking a vacation after a months-long boring routine and the tiring vibe is essential. It definitely helps us with our stress and tense environment. But the main problem while traveling is what to pack, what to not and how to pack. Certainly, nobody wants to carry a heavy suitcase or a lot of bags all the time, and messed up luggage is another misery. Who knows traveling and packing better than us, of course, the experts? I love traveling, and by my experience from traveling here and there, I am now fully aware of how I should pack? I made many mistakes and have gone through many problems, and then here I found the answer to your question. The different experts took different approaches using various techniques; the same goes for me. After many hurdles in packing, I finally found out some hacks to make the packing easier.

Here I will share the 10 best packing tips that will help you pack sharply, lightly, and without any hassle. All worked really well for me. And it will help you too. Let’s jump to the tips now without wasting more time.

1. Roll Your Clothes

When packing clothes, the ultimate packing tip is not to fold the clothes; instead, roll them. This will help you save space in your suitcase to put other stuff, and the clothes will not get any wrinkle. But first, only pack the clothes that you really need. Do not stuff your bag with unnecessary clothing that you take back unworn – be deliberate!  You can also use plastic compression bags; this is another way to save space. Rolling clothes vs. folding them is a travel pro tip! Try it; you will get at least 25% more in your case.

2. Put Small Items Inside Shoes & Wrap Them

The shoe hack is a tried and tested method!  You can put your small items like jewelry, cosmetics, or electronics in your shoes. Doing this enables you to use the space for a variety of random small items. I often use shoes to pack items I’ve collected while traveling—random items like handmade soap, hot sauces, etc. Shoes also come in handy for anything glass, assuming the item will fit.

Shoes’ soles are dirty, and they will make the other things in your luggage dirty as well. To avoid this, wrap your shoes with a piece of cloth or pack them in a plastic wrapper.  Or,  you can also use a shower cap which is often provided free at hotels!  If you do this, the shoes will not contact your clean items. A zip lock bag is also the best way to carry your shoes. Carry shoes according to your need heading to hiking. One sneaker or sport shoes is enough or visiting a beech site, then do not forget to pack the slippers.

3. Pick The Right Suitcase Or Bag

Pick your suitcase depending on where you are going. Sometimes a suitcase is not the right choice, considering you have to travel throughout the city and get your suitcase, it is hard to carry your suitcase on busses and other public transport. Get the duffel or backpack instead. The suitcase is the perfect fit when you do not have to take it everywhere, have an extended vacation, and pack many things. 

4. Pack Diverse Multi-Purpose Clothing

Your suitcase size will always limit you. Much as we all try, you cannot pack everything you want to.  Spend more time planning what you will wear and be diverse. Pick clothes that can be dressed up or down. For example, a good beach cover-up can double as a night dress.  Think about combinations in advance. How can you make the same dress or pair of jeans look like a whole new outfit? You can wear the same dress three or four times with a different set of jewelry.

Bring items that you can mix and match for different occasions. Another great example is jeans. You can pair jeans with almost anything.  Maybe you choose one orange and one light blue shirt to match. Or, try two shirts, one long and one short.  Jeans,  dresses, wraps, and scarves can create. Beach wraps and sarongs can also be used as a scarf or a headcover – and a towel if needed!

5. Use A Waist Belt

The dreaded “fanny pack.” This one’s not for me, but they are practical and do serve a purpose. Rather than keeping your valuable thing in a suitcase, please keep them in a waist bag. Essential items like passports, credit cards, and other documents you do not want to lose on your vacation.

6. Jewelry Hacks

I’ve mentioned this one time and time again in many articles. Do not take expensive jewelry in the first place – period. Leave valuables at home. Should you insist, read on.

If you do take something valuable like a watch or a bracelet, wrap them in a sock so they don’t tangle each other up. Suppose you take chains which I don’t recommend unless they are not valuable.  Run the chains through a straw, so they never get twisted.  You can also use your shirt buttons as earring hooks and hang each earring on each button.  This will save space, and again the pieces will not be tangled with each other. Do not carry heavy jewelry.  Try to be minimalist with jewelry, select pieces that are lightweight and versatile. There is no need to take your whole jewelry box with you.

7. Always Carry Travel Medicines

It does not matter where you are traveling to or from or what you are doing.  It would help if you proactively planned for sickness.  Keep the basics on hand like:

• Prescription drugs, with a separate list in case you lose your luggage.

• Aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol), or ibuprofen.

• Antihistamine.

• Decongestant.

• Pepto-Bismol or a generic equivalent.

• Motion sickness medicine such as Dramamine or Transderm patches.

• Imodium for diarrhea.

It’s possible that you may not be near a pharmacy, that the pharmacy will not have what you need. Worse, it can cost you a whole lot more to buy these medications out of the country.

Pro Packing Tip: You don’t have to take a box of each medicine. You are not going to have all of the above for your entire trip. Take enough of each for an event. Put each med in a small plastic bag, label it and then wrap them all and store in a plastic zip lock bag.

8. Limit Makeup

Women typically do not go out without makeup. One option is to leave it all at home and go natural.

For those that don’t want to go natural. It’s time to pack it more cleverly. Let’s start with what really are the essentials? What’s do or die? Empty your existing makeup bag – yes, empty it. You all know you have items in there that you do not use daily. Then, select a few items that are musts and limit yourself to a small plastic zip-lock.

9. Chose Small Lightweight Gadgets

Much like makeup and jewelry, we all want to pack every gadget we own. I used to travel with every possible cord imaginable – yes, to the tune of about 4 pounds of cords! The reality is it’s just not needed. Take one charging cord that has multiple adapters and will charge all of your gadgets.

Pack a laptop if you need it, I do – I can’t work on the road without one. However, if you do not work on the road, carry a tablet or commit to using your phone.

10. Pack A Portable Charger 

These days, a portable charger is not just necessary it’s critical.  Imagine your battery dies when you are in the middle of an unknown city or the middle of nowhere. A dead battery is not just frustrating; it’s will take away your navigation, language apps (if you use them), and most importantly, your lifeline, should something go wrong.

Always pack a portable charger so you don’t run out of battery!​