How to pack successfully when going away on a trip

The world is coming out of lock-down and many people are thinking about venturing further afield again. Perhaps, you’re off to visit family on the other side of the world. Maybe you have a 2-day business trip to Europe on your agenda… or just a well-deserved holiday and change of scenery! Below, we’ve shared a few tips & suggestions about how you can pack successfully when going away on a trip.

Work or play?

Unless your occupation is something like ‘professional surfer’, you’ll need to fill your suitcase with smart shirts, jackets, ties and trousers/skirts. If you’re a business traveller with this kind of work attire, a garment carrier is a wise investment; it ensures that your suit (and therefore, you) arrives at your destination looking fresh and uncrumpled. This is especially useful if you’ll be travelling straight to a meeting direct from the train station, airport or ferry terminal.

Think about the weather

If you’re lucky enough to be heading to a Greek or Caribbean island for a fortnight of almost guaranteed sunshine, stock up on beach t-shirts to take on your trip… and don’t forget your sun protection! Shorts, slippers and swimsuits will be the order of the day, however, pack a few fashionable dresses, tops and trousers if you plan on eating out in the evenings. Many restaurants have a semi-formal dress code that means you’ll need some smart attire.

Skiing or snowboarding holidays mean you’ll need to pack a completely different wardrobe. Clothes such as padded jackets, jumpers, bobble hats and thermal under-layers will keep you warm on the slopes.

Maybe you’re more of a culture vulture than a beach bum. Make sure you pack a pair of shoes or sandals that a comfortable for walking the long distances between museums, galleries and music venues. Again, some venues such as places of worship require you to wear modest attire.

Carry on, or luxury luggage?

If you’re going on a weekend-long trip it should be easy enough to get away with just carry-on bags. This will save you so much time not having to hang around in the baggage reclaim area.

We have a great piece of advice if you plan on travelling ‘carry-on only’. Wear your bulkiest clothes and shoes to travel in if you can. This plan works better if you’re going from a colder place to warmer climes. Put on your chunky jumper, big boots and overcoat to board the plane to your destination and back again. When travelling from a the tropics to temperate conditions, you can always wait until you get to the airport before donning your heat-retaining layers, rather than feeling like you’re melting whilst getting there.

Stand out from the crowd

If you do have to put your baggage into the hold, there’s a simple trick you can use to help you quickly spot your bags on the luggage carousel. Tie eye-catching ribbons or bandanas around the handles – it will help to distinguish your items from all the other boring grey, monochrome suitcases on the conveyor belt. The less time you have to spend in the waiting for your bags, the sooner that you’re out of there and getting on with your trip.

Be security minded

You should always have a small, secure bag that remains on your person at all times. In it should be anything valuable or essential that, if lost, misplaced or stolen, would prove to be a catastrophe. Items such as your travel money, credit cards, passports, ID cards, expensive jewellery, keys, medications and mobile phones & laptops should be kept safe and close at hand.

If you have any additional ideas about how to pack successfully when going travelling, share them below in the comments section.

[disclosure*]

Summer holiday carry-on essentials

We all love foreign holidays – long weekend city breaks, festive trips to visit the Christmas markets, skiing & snow-boarding, culinary or cultural experiences. My all time favourite holidays, though, will always be ones that consist of hot sun, clear blue sea and white sandy beaches. To (almost) guarantee I get all three of these pre-requisites, I need to travel somewhere pretty far away… via an aeroplane.

I don’t like spending ages at airports – queuing to check in… waiting for bags to appear on the carousel. Travelling light, i.e. hand luggage only, cuts out lots of the stress and waiting around. These are my summer holiday carry-on essentials that ensure I get to my destination in a good mood, with minimum of fuss, looking forward to some R&R.

Documents

Everyone knows the age old situation of getting to the airport and realising you’ve forgotten your passport. As well as your passport (and those of the rest of your family) don’t forget all the other important paperwork you’re going to need. Before you set off, make sure you’ve scanned your important documents and put e-copies into a Dropbox folder. – just in case they get lost, stolen or destroyed while you’re abroad. Include your passport, driver’s license, travel insurance certificate, flight tickets and car and hotel booking confirmations.

If you have a smart phone you can also save copies of certain booking confirmations to your Apple Wallet or Wallet Passes (Android). Companies that are already signed up to these services include Booking.com, British Airways, Easy Jet and Airbnb.

Having some local currency prior to your arrival at a destination is always a necessity; you’ll always need cash for things like paying for a taxi or tipping a porter. It’s advisable, however, to not have all your spending money in bank notes. Taking plastic is a safe and convenient way of paying for things in hotels, shops and restaurants. The Halifax Clarity credit card is the most recommended card for using abroad. Unlike debit cards and most other credit cards, you don’t get charged fees for cash withdrawals or for using it to pay bills in a foreign currency. Just make sure you pay the balance in full when you return home or you’ll begin to accrue interest on the balance.

For the journey

We’ve spoken about carry-on cabin bags and their weight & dimension restrictions in a previous post. In addition to this hand luggage ‘case’ that goes in the overhead locker, you’re also allowed one other small carry-on bag that can fit under the aircraft seat.

We recommend the Pacsafe Venturesafe X Sling Pack. It’s the perfect bag for when you’re going out & about exploring or hitting the beach. It’s compact but roomy with lots of different compartments; it can hold a 10-inch tablet, phone, compact camera, passports, money, credit cards, keys etc. Most important of all is that it keeps all these items safe & secure. It has an anti-slash strap and extra secure PopNLock fasteners to prevent pick-pocketers and bag snatchers. It also has a locking system that allows you to tether it to an immovable object and it’s made of RFID blocking material which stops your credit/debit cards from being ‘skimmed‘ (although the jury’s out on the prevalence of this type of theft).

I find any flight over about an hour’s duration really uncomfortable. After a while, the seat seems to shrink and my legs grow! As for thinking I’m going to get any kip on a trans-Atlantic trip – forget it! That is, unless I’ve brought some support like this Cabeau Evolution memory foam travel pillow. It has a little pocket for slipping your smart phone into (helpful if you’re listening to soothing music or an audio book to pass the time in-flight), it can be used if you like lying face down on your sun lounger and it come in kids’ size too! It rolls up into a little pouch so doesn’t take up too much room. Combine this with one of the sleep masks that we featured last week – and I’m in dreamland!

If you’re travelling long-haul – 4 hours or longer – compression socks are recommended to avoid swelling in the feet, ankles and lower legs (oedema) as well as deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Clothes

I won’t go into detail about the need to pack hot weather clothes such as swimming cossies, shorts, t-shirts etc. But what I will say is, as space in your hand luggage is tight, pick out what you’re taking carefully; then edit it down, and then edit it some more. Choose tops & bottoms that can mix & match with several other pieces of clothing; ditto any footwear and accessories that you pack.

The thing that will take up the most space in your carry-on luggage will be towels. Check prior to flying if they’re provided by your hotel, cottage or villa accommodation; if they are – bonus – more space for clothes! If they’re not, microfibre towel Microfibre towels take up a lot less space and are a lot lighter in weight than traditional cotton terry towels. They’re also anti-bacterial, dirt repellent and amazingly absorbent. The Fit-Flip microfibre towel comes in its own bag, is available in 12 colours and a variety of sizes from 50x30cm to 200x100cm.

Toiletries & cosmetics

With the strict hand luggage liquid restrictions, try to take as many of your toiletries & cosmetics as possible in solid form. It gives you more flexibility when you have vital items such as contact lens solution or medicines (or that bottle of HP sauce!) that cannot be substituted.

This citrus verbena deodorant stick contains no alcohol, parabens or aluminium salts. With its fresh lemony scent, it may even help repel the mozzies!

In addition to deodorant, I’ve invested in a few mini perfume atomisers into which I’ve decanted some of my favourite eaux-de-cologne.

If you’re going somewhere hot & sunny your going to need sun protection products. Depending on your skin tone and how well or badly you tan, you’re going to need sun tan oil/lotion, sun block, after-sun. Justin and I need completely different products as he burns much more easily than me. I love the Hawaiian Tropic range as it smells so… tropical! Justin is less fussy than me so this Malibu 3-in-one set is perfect for him.

Toothpaste and mouthwash will eat into your liquid allowance; take a bottle of Toothy Tabs instead, they’re available in various flavours and contain 100% vegetarian ingredients such as essential oils, baking soda, green tea powder, charcoal and menthol crystals.

Shampoo is another product that can come in solid form. Friendly Soap natural shampoo bar – lavender & tea tree is hand-made, cruelty-free and contains no parabens, SLS or palm oil.

For things you just need to take in liquid, gel or lotion form. So many sun tan oils and lotions (I’m looking at you Hawaiian Tropic!) come in bottles larger than the 100ml limit. Decant them into these containers, safe in the knowledge that your expensive moisturisers and other precious unguents won’t be confiscated at the gate.

Not only do your liquids need to be in 100ml containers, the containers need to be stored in a transparent, resealable bag no larger than 20cm x 20cm nor hold no more than 1 litre. To be on the safe side, I’ve bought a pack of these special flight bags.

Tech

Tropical holidays are a time for reading the latest bestseller on a sun lounger on the beach or beside the pool. Swap your heavy, bulky paperbacks for a tablet. With the Amazon Fire you can read books, listen to music, watch TV & films take photos and give orders to Alexa.

When you’re self-employed like us, you still have to check in from time to time and do a few hours work. That means that the ‘office’ needs to fit in our carry-on bags. Thankfully that simply entails packing our trusty old MacBook Pro. Have a look at some of our other tech travel essentials.

What are some of the summer holiday essentials that you just need to carry with you?

Price Points: Carry-on cabin bags

We’re preparing for our first foreign foray in over a decade. So many new airport security stipulations have come into existence since then, least of all, all the rules about carrying liquids and gels.

We’re planning on only carrying hand luggage so we can board and disembark swiftly. We only really need swimwear, a few pairs of shorts, tops, sandals and slippers. We do need to make sure, however, that our carry-on cabin bags meet the correct size & weight requirements. It would be helpful if there were standard rules – no, that would be too easy! Carry-on cabin bags can be anything from 56 x 35 x 23cm to 56 x 45 x 25cm depending on airline and destination. Some only allow bags to weigh 5 kilos, others have no weight restrictions at all!

We’ve heard all kinds of horror stories of exorbitant excess-weight charges and people having to unpack bags at the check-in desk to don layers & layers of clothes to get within the allowance.

As well as allowable dimensions, our bags must have wheels. Getting the train to & from the airport departure lounge with bags that need lifting and carrying isn’t pleasant.

Go Explore hard small 2 wheel case, silver – 50x40x23cm: £21.99, Argos
Tripp – Raspberry ‘Holiday 6’ cabin 4 wheel suitcase – 55x40x20cm: £44, Debenhams
Global DLX cabin suitcase – 56x35x25cm: £155, Antler

shop carry-on cabin bags

Some of the links on our blog are affiliate links. We may receive a small commission - at no cost to you - if you click through and make a purchase.
Prices & links correct at time of publication.