The Best Travel Packing Tips For Your Next Trip

The Best Travel Packing Tips For Your Next Trip

I used to pack last minute, run­ning around in a pan­ic look­ing for a clean pair of socks or my pass­port, but reg­u­lar busi­ness and vaca­tion trips have def­i­nite­ly refined my pack­ing skills. I now pack like a pro, trav­el­ing light with­out sac­ri­fic­ing style. Fol­low my sim­ple tricks and you will be on your way to mas­ter the art of pack­ing.

Make a packing list with all your travel essentials.

I always found myself arriv­ing minus some­thing vital, so pack­ing lists are now an essen­tial part of my rou­tine. Before writ­ing one, I cast a men­tal eye over what my trip diary holds then select clothes that do dou­ble duty.

Pack the essentials needed for your trip.

Regard­less of whether it’s a trip to see fam­i­ly for Thanks­giv­ing, a Memo­r­i­al Day break or yet anoth­er busi­ness trip — my first pack­ing pri­or­i­ty has always been the essen­tials. In the past, I skipped on tees and extra dress shirts but learned my les­son the hard way when a glass of red wine encoun­tered my shirt. Mak­ing sure you have enough basics saves track­ing down shops if an unex­pect­ed mis­for­tune over­takes you.

Over the years I’ve added some oth­er essen­tials to the list. Plas­tic shoe trees are more light­weight than wood­en ones while a mul­ti-charg­er cuts down on tan­gled up lengths of wire. When wires are unavoid­able I keep them under con­trol in a small, soft draw­string bag.

Pack each day’s outfit.

Very often we need to look smart dur­ing the day but more dressed down in the evenings. A fine-knit sweater that is for­mal enough to lay­er over shirts and ties for the office, but laid-back enough with chi­nos for casu­al evenings, it is one of my pack­ing favorites.

If my trip dic­tates wear­ing a suit, I always trav­el in it to save space for oth­er essen­tials such as tees, sweaters and chi­nos — which let me work my suit jack­et and pants sep­a­rate­ly. A col­or theme helps car­ry this trick off. A navy or char­coal gray suit jack­et over a striped blue and white shirt plus jeans gives a look sharp enough for after-work drinks in the city or a fam­i­ly din­ner in town. If you want a splash of col­or, an eye-catch­ing tie can eas­i­ly do the trick but keep it mut­ed enough to allow for use at meet­ings or oth­er for­mal events you have planned.

Use your packing space efficiently.

Trav­el­ing with just car­ry-on lug­gage saves time and has­sle at air­ports, makes using pub­lic trans­port and cabs that much eas­i­er and def­i­nite­ly focus­es the mind on how to pack like a pro. What­ev­er size of case you’ve picked, uti­liz­ing the space effec­tive­ly is key.

Socks and small elec­tron­ics can slip into shoes (if not plac­ing shoe-trees in them) while T-shirts, vests, and light­weight jumpers can be rolled. Once they’re in, slip books, and oth­er para­pher­na­lia into gaps between them. I always pack dress shirts, pants, and knits last — fold­ing them so they fit the width of the case. They’re less like­ly to wrin­kle and unpack quick­ly when I arrive.

Choose a good suitcase and carry-on.

After sev­er­al bag­gage mis­takes, I’ve learned that invest­ing in good car­ry-on suit­cas­es is essen­tial. They make all the dif­fer­ence to pack­ing and trav­el­ing and def­i­nite­ly deliv­er trav­el style bonus points. My rigid body Tumi should last my work­ing life, it’s easy to wheel and pro­vides a base for my holdall as I nav­i­gate the air­port. Anoth­er lux­u­ri­ous treat was a high-qual­i­ty leather suit­case from Glo­be­trot­ter. It’s a pur­chase I’ve nev­er regret­ted and like any leather bag, the more I use it the bet­ter it looks.

Review what you’ve packed.

Despite my pen­chant for lists, I always end­ed up over-pack­ing so now I find doing a lay down as an easy dou­ble-check­ing method. That’s when I ask myself if I real­ly need three striped shirts, or if one can be swapped for a smart casu­al polo shirt.

Head to the airport and fly out stress-free.

Ever-increas­ing air­port secu­ri­ty focused all our minds on trav­el­ing light where toi­letries and liq­uids are con­cerned. No prob­lem if you’re check­ing in bags but if you pre­fer to stick to hand bag­gage then you’ll need to plan ahead. Trav­el­ing in the US means I’m more vig­i­lant with my dopp kit, keep­ing to reg­u­la­tions strict­ly.

Keep­ing to a clear plas­tic bag is the bet­ter choice, rather than hav­ing to open up your lug­gage and show secu­ri­ty your nice leather dopp kit. In Europe or else­where, it’s def­i­nite­ly more lax so I enjoy using my small­er trav­el acces­sories that much more.

Hope­ful­ly, with these few tips you’re now ready to tack­le how to pack like a pro, ready to go out and clinch that busi­ness deal or have a great vaca­tion.