How do you pack for a trip?

ElizabethB

ElizabethB

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The extended conversation between TastyReuben and JASOH1 inspired me to start this thread. .For years I over packed. Overnight trip - pack for a week. Go for a week - pack for a month.
I can pack for an extended trip in a carry on bag and my C-Pap.
I have discovered the joy of packing cubes, I can pack two or three days of outfits in each cube including underwear. TR as obsessive as you are you should investigate packing cubes. So easy. Open a cube, pull out everything you need for that day - underwear, socks/hose, top, bottom. Get dressed and go.
We stay in hotels so a blow dryer is not necessary. I have lots of 3 oz. travel bottles so there is no need for large containers of lotion, shampoo or conditioner.
We both use an electric tooth brush. When traveling we only need one base. The brush heads can be switched out as needed. If you do not want to spend the money on hotel laundry service most hotels in the U.S. have a guest laundry. Bring a book and a glass (bottle) of wine and wash a load of clothes. Much better than over packing.
In recent years most of our travel has been in conjuration with G's business - a conference or trade show where the company will pay for a companion traveler. G attends the conference and I sight see. Easy to pack. In addition to casual clothes I need a couple of dressy casual outfits for business dinners or functions. 1 skirt or a pair of slacks, two tops and a light jacket or pashmina. A pair of pumps. I like jewelry and I am tempted to pack lots but limit myself to two sets that can be tucked into a jewelry roll. If I need to I can carry that in my purse. About purses - at home I use a small cross body purse. When I travel i carry a larger purse with a tooth brush and an extra pair of underwear. We usually drive and rarely fly. I have had luggage lost once on a flight.
OK - I have rambled long enough.
How do you pack?
 
It depends what time of year: in the summer we can easily get away with a carry-on sized case each for a weekend away visiting family. But in the winter when you need more jeans and jumpers its more difficult so we'll generally share one larger suitcase between us. Shoes generally go in a separate holdall. But we always travel by car so its easy enough to take extras and just leave them in the boot.

For longer holidays when we travel by motorhome again we take more clothes than we probably need, but we both like choice and we have the space so why worry about it?
Some of it is to due the weather though.....2 or 3 weeks is a long time weather-wise and it can change dramatically (especially if you're travelling in Spring) so we need to take both summer and winter clothes with us. One memorable April trip we went from snow on the Tuesday and Wednesday in Munich, Thursday in Graz was dry but with a freezing cold wind, and on the Friday we were at a spa in Slovenia in shorts and t-shirts! But although we take a range of clothing types with us we try not to pack a lot of each type so we're usually on a campsite with a laundry at least once a week where we can do a load of washing.
 
Ok, where to start...

First, we rarely drive anywhere, except her sister's, six hours away, and where they live is like a carbon copy of where we live (same stores, same restaurants, even a lot of the same town names), so I just pack an outfit for every day and I'm done with it. Those trips are usually less than a week.

Our main vacations, we're likely flying over to the UK, Ireland, or continental Europe, so (with the way our vacations work), that's usually 11 days in-country and a couple of travel days.

For those, I pack for one week, and I assume I'm doing laundry, either at the hotel, in the room, or at a laundromat. I'll admit that I find washing things in the hotel sink at the end of the day rather therapeutic, and a nice way to wind down after a day of running around.

I'm careful to pack items that mix-and-match, so I can pack two sweaters/jumpers that go with all my shirts and trousers, and that way, if a day is unseasonably cool, I have the option of popping on a pullover, and it'll match, and I won't look like one of those goofballs who didn't plan and you can tell, "That guy's on holiday, I can tell because he didn't think ahead, and his pullover doesn't match."

My main goal, once I get somewhere, is not to look like I'm on holiday. A few months ahead of time, I'll go online and find some webcams in the area where we're going, and I look at see what locals are wearing, and I make sure I match. I don't want shorts or Hawaiian shirts or a waist bag, or "comfy shoes," I don't have a camera and a map and a guidebook out. I do my best to blend in.

Packing - my wife is a fan of packing cubes, I don't care for them. She likes to be able to just take the cube directly from her bag and put it in a drawer. Since I have a spreadsheet of what I'm wearing, and I always set the next day's outfit out the night before, I don't really need to have them organized in cubes. When I hang up my trousers and shirts, I pair them on the same hanger, so they're already more or less arranged anyway. The night before, I'll grab an undershirt, underpants, and socks, and set those out with whatever shoes I'm wearing, and I'm good.

I do like the compression bags, though. I use those, though space isn't much of an issue any longer. Also, I've tried every way imaginable to pack to avoid wrinkles, and that way doesn't exist. Forget rolling, you get wrinkles anyway.

The only thing a little different that I do is instead of packing a rolling carry-on by putting it on its back and loading it, I stand it upright on its wheels and stack my clothes, bottom-to-top, like a layer cake.

My normal outfit for a day is a pair of leather shoes, jeans, long-sleeved button shirt, and a waistcoat/vest, sweater vest, or pullover, scarf as well. I usually don't need a coat or jacket, but I do bring a sport coat and a pullover raincoat, just in case. I also carry a leather shoulder bag, but I do here as well

Shoes, I usually wear a pair and pack a pair. One is for earth-toned outfits (brown/green/yellow) and one is for whatever the opposite of that is...space-toned? outfits (black/grey). I will admit that even at home, I'm always checking out whether a gentleman has remembered to match is belt, shoes, and socks to the rest of his outfit, and I'm frequently disappointed. It's worse on vacation, because I know many fellows who pack one pair of shoes, and that's it.

One thing that really helped me to trim down my packing was the realization that, apart from prescription meds or medical equipment, just about anything you have can be bought at your destination, if you absolutely have to have something that you forgot. Also, at this stage in my life, and souvenirs I bring back are likely to be in the way of a new shirt (not a touristy one) or a new pair of shoes, so I like to leave room for that.

I think that's all I have... for now.
 
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TastyReuben said:
I won't look like one of those goofballs who didn't plan and you can tell, "That guy's on holiday, I can tell because he didn't think ahead, and his pullover doesn't match."

My main goal, once I get somewhere, is not to look like I'm on holiday. A few months ahead of time, I'll go online and find some webcams in the area where we're going, and I look at see what locals are wearing, and I make sure I match. I don't want shorts or Hawaiian shirts or a waist bag, or "comfy shoes," I don't have a camera and a map and a guidebook out. I do my best to blend in.
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I don't care so much for blending in as such but I think I know what you mean, for me its all about dressing to suit my environment. I'll happily wear beach wear at a beach resort, or shorts when out and about shopping or sightseeing - the same as I would at home. But I'd not wear shorts to visit a town or city...I'd wear jeans (cropped if its hot) or a skirt or dress instead......just as I would if I was going into London for the day. My rule of thumb is if I wouldn't be happy wearing it out and about at home then I'm not wearing it on holiday.

TastyReuben said:
One thing that really helped me to trim down my packing was the realization that, apart from prescription meds or medical equipment, just about anything you have can be bought at your destination, if you absolutely have to have something that you forgot. Also, at this stage in my life, and souvenirs I bring back are likely to be in the way of a new shirt (not a touristy one) or a new pair of shoes, so I like to leave room for that.
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Yes that's exactly what we do too.
 
I don't really care if I overpack. If I'm going anywhere it's for several weeks to a month, often to multiple destinations with varying climates, and it's on a plane. We fly on an airline that allows 2 checked bags per person for free, so no issues. We generally go to Texas first for Thanksgiving in late November. It's hot. Then we go to Arizona in early December. I will need capris and short sleeves during the day and jeans, long sleeves and jackets at night. From there we ususlly go to Mexico so I need swimwear and sundresses. And I change clothes from day wear to evening wear so I need lots of clothes. Doing laundry on vacation is wasting precious time that I could be doing something else more fun, and most Mexican resorts don't have laundry facilities for guests to use anyway, though you can pay for them to do it. Not necessary if you brought enough clothes!

I have long hair, nearly to my waist, so I use a lot of conditioner and other hair products. Travel suze anything doesn't cut it. I'll use a whole full size bottle while being away for 3-4 weeks.
 
I have forgotten what a vacation is. My travel is all business (or family issues).

First, I wait until the last minutes, or until after I drop the dog at the sitter's house. Otherwise, he won't leave me alone.

I also like to pack light. I pack a lot of microfiber and other synthetics. The don't scratch very expensive classic cars. And, they don't wrinkle in my bag -- a large Adidas gym bag. I can squeeze that bag into any overhead bin, no matter how full.

CD
 
I used to be away from home Monday to Friday a week a month, for years, like 20 years. Overnight bag, gruds ( undies) business shirts ( wife used to roll them up,it worked) socks couple of ties and pair of sneakers and maybe jeans. My bag had disposable razor soap shampoo at one end. I usually ate in my business clothes at a pub somewhere on my way back to my motel. I've mentioned before my wife has two suitcases for all her stuff plus a carry on. I can pack in like 2 mins.

Russ
 
I roll all my items to go in case, then put all my cloths straight into draws at hotel, hang my dresses etc.
I take 8 dresses, 1 for each night & a spare, I just mix & match cloths for each day.
Dont take many as only like beach holidays. So live in swimwear.
1 pair of heels, lots of flats.

Like Jasoh said hair products is the problem, they take up so much room, I'm same with conditioner🙈, then styling products, own hair dryer.

Now were all going to have to make room for masks, disinfectant wipes etc🙈.
I'm thinking for 7 days I will need at least 14 masks if I don't want to be washing any, so i have 2 a day.
 
I have a spray bottle of alcohol I keep in my car and after I went to my doctor's appointment the other day, I took my mask off, sprayed it thoroughly, and hung it from my rearview mirror to dry. I have to go pick up some prescriptions from a store that does not have a drive thru on Friday, so by then it should be fine. I have other masks as well but the one I wore to doctor's was my N95 mask (the others are cotton masks).

Alcohol is flammable, however, so you probably wouldn't be able to take it on the plane unless it was a small bottle (3.1 ounce) that you could declare with carry-on luggage. But that would last about a week, I imagine. I have always taken disinfectant wipes with me, been doing that for decades. My family always thought I was nuts because the first thing I would do after checking in was to wipe all light switches, remote controls, door knobs, toilet handle and seat, etc. Now they think I am not quite so silly after all.
 
JASOH1 said:
I have a spray bottle of alcohol I keep in my car and after I went to my doctor's appointment the other day, I took my mask off, sprayed it thoroughly, and hung it from my rearview mirror to dry. I have to go pick up some prescriptions from a store that does not have a drive thru on Friday, so by then it should be fine. I have other masks as well but the one I wore to doctor's was my N95 mask (the others are cotton masks).

Alcohol is flammable, however, so you probably wouldn't be able to take it on the plane unless it was a small bottle (3.1 ounce) that you could declare with carry-on luggage. But that would last about a week, I imagine. I have always taken disinfectant wipes with me, been doing that for decades. My family always thought I was nuts because the first thing I would do after checking in was to wipe all light switches, remote controls, door knobs, toilet handle and seat, etc. Now they think I am not quite so silly after all.
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We sound alike lol, I use to do that in any hotel, it's the string pull cords that are worse for germs, & tv remotes.
I also wouldn't ever drink out of bathroom glasses, Iv seen things to put you off for life🙈 lol,

I have gone same hotel in spain every year for years & trust them to clean it.
I will take wipes this time as I need them for luggage plane, rental car & out & about etc, and will do room just to be sure, I never let maids in either x
 
XstarX said:
Like Jasoh said hair products is the problem, they take up so much room, I'm same with conditioner🙈, then styling products, own hair dryer.
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I use the hot shampoos and soaps. There is always too much soap, so I bring those home. I don't think I've purchased a singe bar of soap in 20 years. I stay in good hotels, so the soaps are good quality.

CD
 
Another thing about cloths for me, is that I only need one pair of decent cloths to go out for dinner, if needed, while traveling for business.

Since my work puts me around classic (AKA: old) cars, I'm going to smell like old car within fifteen minutes after driving at a job side. I typically get up, toss on yesterday's clothes, and shower when I get back to the hotel. My dirty clothes have to go in plastic bags to get packed for the trip home.

To put this into perspective, I once got randomly stopped by TSA (airport security), and they swabbed me down, and I tested positive for explosives. Really got the attention of a lot of people around me. About 45 minutes later, an explosives expert cleared me to go. Unburned hydrocarbons can test as explosives. Go figure. I had time before my flight to down a few Jack and Cokes.

I do have to give props to all the TSA agents involved. They were very professional, and very polite.

CD
 
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