I will be the first to admit that I am not the easiest person to travel with. I hate germs (thinking about a hotel room remote control gives me hives) and I love routine, so traveling tends to give me a lot of anxiety. Though sometimes I am tempted to just stay in my house and never leave, the world is calling and I want to see it! I have come up with some helpful tips and tricks that make traveling more pleasant for me, and I hope for you as well. Being as organized as possible before and during the trip, really helps me relax and enjoy it more.
Packing Cubes
These are a game changer for those that freak out about living out of a suitcase for any period of time. The cubes keep your outfits/shoes/accessories nicely consolidated. The way I use the cubes is as follows: 1) lay out all of my outfits for each day of the trip in advance 2) pack 2-3 outfits per cube, usually grouping by categories like dinners out, athleisure, and day time 3) use one cube for underwear, bras socks, and pajamas. Some cube sets come with shoe bags as well, but more on shoe packing below. I have these packing cubes and they are great (I even put them through the washing machine when I get back from a trip).
Shoe Bags
Please do yourself a favor and do not put your dirty shoes on top of all of your nicely folded clean clothes in your suitcase. You do NOT need to go buy special shoe cases, but please make sure you are protecting them and your clothes, while in your suitcase. A few ideas for storing shoes: 1) the dust bag the shoes came in, plastic bags from the grocery store, pillow cases. As I mentioned above, some packing cube sets also come with shoe bags for this very purpose. Also remember to store socks/tights inside your shoes to save space!
Misc. Travel Gadgets
A few other items I swear by for my trips:
1. Travel Steamer (never travel without it!)
2. Handheld Bag Scale (so you can know your bag is overweight BEFORE you get to the airport)
3. Vitamin C powder and/or electrolyte powder (For airplane Germs! And Hangovers!)
4. Eye Mask (for hotel rooms that aren’t dark enough for sleeping)
5. Pillow Cover (good for your hair but also good for covering the pillowcase from the hotel. Just don’t forget to take it off before you leave)
6. Travel scarf (for cold planes, trains, or conference rooms)
7. RelaxMelodies App- white noise for you or your kids. Search for ‘Relax Melodies’ in the iTunes store. It’s free and there are a ton of different sounds to choose from, but I usually go with ‘white noise’.
What are your best packing tips and tricks? I would love to add some more to my list!
