Most people over pack when going on business trips or holiday. We will quickly go over a few tips we have learned over the years and then provide a sample packing list. Our first tip to fast and stressful travel is to avoid checking your bag whenever possible. If you will be going on a trip for less than a week, there should be no good reason that you would need to bring that big suitcase. Travel with a duffle or carry on size rolling bag. Without the need to check your bags, you will immediately save yourself at least a good 2 hours. You can check in for your flight from the comfort of your home, arrive at the airport, go through security and then walk onto your plane. Traveling like this removes a lot of the stress out of traveling (i.e. the waiting around, being herded into lines, or the airline losing your bags).
So what should you pack?
Our examples below are for a traveling male, but you should be able to use the template below and slightly modify it for a traveling female. We recommend to stick with clothes with solid colors as much as possible. This will ensure that you can mix and match them with pretty much anything else in your bag. If you are traveling in the winter, you will want to wear your heaviest/thickest clothes on travel days to save room in your suitcase/bag.
Below is a sample packing list for a 3night/4 day trip in winter with temperatures that ranged from 10C – 18C. The items below include both what you will put in your travel bags and what you will be wearing when you leave for the trip.
Toiletry Bag – Deodorant, Hair Product, Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Vitamins, Medicine.
*** No liquid bottles should exceed 100ml. Keep all liquids in a separate clear ziplock bag to remove when going through security
Essentials (Passport, Wallet, Phone, Visa in passport (if country requires), Credit Cards, Drivers License, Glasses))
Jeans – 2 – Dark jeans are better than light as you will get more days out of them without looking like they are dirty
Underwear – 4 – Socks
4 Pairs of Shoes – 1-2 One casual and one semi formal pair of shoes, or one casual and one gym pair of shoes.
Undershirts – 2 – grey and white undershirts to layer and wear under woovens
Jacket- 1 – All purpose jacket (rain resistant or heavy coat for winter months)
Sweater – 1 – Thin sweater to layer if it gets really cold or to wear if the weather doesn’t require the heavy jacket
Wooven Shirt – 3 – Solid color tshirts / 2 – Blue, dark greys, etc. Avoid light colors as they will show easier when they get dirty. You can usually wear a dark colored shirt more than once without it showing.
Gym Shorts – 1 – So you can get that gym workout in while on the road
Swimtrunks – 1 – In case your hotel has a indoor pool
Hat – 1 – Comes in handy to change up the appearance
Belt – 1 – Small foldable umbrella. You never know when it’s going to rain.
Local plug adapter & any chargers for your phone, ipad, laptop
Packing can be an emotional thing. We are leaving the comfort of our home and we tend to bring a lot more than we actually need. Remember, if your jeans get dirty unexpectedly, you can always go buy a new pair while traveling. Always travel with less and buy your way out of trouble. Odds are, you probably won’t need to!