Travel enthusiasts are always looking for ways to pack smartly and accommodate more essentials in their luggage. You might have heard that less is more and it cannot be truer for when you’re packing for a trip since you are always short on space. Regardless of whether you are planning on going away for a weekend or a month-long stay at one of your favourite destinations, certain travel-packing hacks can help you save space, carry more, and make packing a lot easier.
Read on to know some of the most ingenious tips to pack your luggage efficiently. We’re also sharing the best travel-packing hacks for a variety of your personal belongings. Let’s get packing!
Tips for Packing Your Luggage
Some of the top tips for packing efficiently include:
Create a Customised Travel-Packing List
If you are a frequent traveller, you probably already have a list of travel essentials that you cannot travel without. If you only travel occasionally, you can use the travel-packing list below as a guide for your next trip. You can add more items to the checklist based on your individual needs and travel requirements:
- Clothes
- Money
- Basic medication
- Gadgets and their chargers
- Passport and other documents
- Socks
- Shoes
- A cover-up for the ride (sweater or shawl)
- Jewellery
- Makeup
- Toiletries
Be Realistic While Packing
The only way to avoid overpacking is to be realistic about what you will actually need on your trip. If you’re going away for a week, for instance, then a combination of four tops and two bottoms is more than enough. Additionally, pack as per your itinerary. If you’re going for a hike in the wilderness, avoid packing stilettos or heels, because you probably won’t use them and they will just become a burden to carry.
Opt for Sturdy but Lightweight Luggage
Sturdy hard bags protect your belongings better, but it is important that they are also lightweight. Otherwise, some percentage of your weight limit will be taken up by the bag itself. Bags having four wheels are recommended as they offer better mobility and balance. Backpacks should be your go-to for hiking and trekking trips, though.
Always Mark Your Luggage as Fragile
Most airlines will allow you to mark your suitcase as fragile and you should always opt for this, even if you do not have fragile goods inside. The sticker alerts the ground crew that they should be gentle with your bag while loading and unloading it. However, this trick only works for international travel. You’ll rarely find anybody entertaining such requests while travelling within Pakistan.
Use Ziplock Bags for All Small Items
Ziplock bags are saviours for frequent travellers. They’re easy to adjust within the suitcase amidst your clothes, transparent, so you’ll always know what you’ve packed inside, and quite convenient when you want to pack several small items while avoiding a tangled mess.
Always Place the Heaviest Items near the Wheels
There’s scientific logic behind this travel-packing tip. You may not consider what goes where when you pack a bag lying down, but the moment you stand it upright, all the heavy items will find their way to the bottom, due to the gravitational pull of the earth. Thus, if you pack your shoes on top and your clothes at the bottom, be prepared for some wrinkled apparel. It is generally recommended to pack your shoes, cosmetic bag, and heavy belongings at the bottom.
Keeping this in mind, fragile items should always be placed at the top of the bag to avoid putting additional weight on them. A bottom-heavy bag will also have better balance and lesser chances of toppling over every time you take your hand off it.
Maximise Space Where You Can
If you’re packing bulky boots into your suitcase, maximise the space they are taking up by filling the inside of the shoes with smaller belongings. For instance, you can roll up pairs of socks and place them inside your shoes. Smaller breakable items and jewellery pouches can also be stored this way. The same goes for any hard or stiff purses that you are packing into your luggage. If the purse is taking up a set amount of space in any case, fill the inside with your cosmetic bag, jewellery pouch, underwear, and other odds and ends to optimise the use of the space.
Dirty Laundry Should Always Be Kept Separate
Many hotels offer a charged laundry service and if that is what you prefer, go for it. If you’d rather wash your clothes once you’re back home, keep your dirty laundry separated from your clean clothes. One simple means of doing this is to pack a spare pillowcase into your luggage. It can be used as a laundry bag for the entirety of your trip.
Dress in Layers
Another tip for travellers is to wear as many items of clothing as they can during the journey itself. The layers will help you stay warm on those chilly aeroplane flights, while also saving space inside your luggage for other belongings. Ideally, you should wear the heaviest shirt and trousers, the bulkiest boots, and the thickest sweater or jacket. Carrying a shawl or scarf is also recommended as it can double as a blanket during the ride. Remember, you can always take off a few layers after your luggage has been weighed and add the extra layers to your hand-carry if you feel warm.
Plan Your Outfits Carefully
Plan your outfits and take along only what you’ll actually wear. Versatile pieces of clothing in neutral shades that can be mixed and matched are the best choices. For instance, choosing black trousers because they go well with three shirts is wiser than carrying a white alternative that you’ll only wear with one. As a rule of thumb, go with tried and tested outfits. If you haven’t worn something at home, there is very little chance that you might wear it during your vacation.
Weight Your Luggage in Advance
Finding out that you are over the allowed weight limit at the check-in counter is a hassle, as you have to open your luggage again and throw out or shift some belongings before checking-in. This is why most frequent travellers invest in a luggage scale at home to know if they are overweight before they reach the airport and can make changes to their luggage accordingly.
While hand-held luggage scales are available, hanging a 23-kilo bag from a scale can get tricky. Instead, place an empty bucket upright on top of a normal weight scale and put your suitcase on it horizontally. The case must stay balanced atop the bucket when you let go. You can then simply check the scale for the weight of the bag.
Always Tag Your Luggage
Airports, train stations, and even bus stations can be pretty crowded, and you need to be able to tell your bag apart from the rest. While buying colour-coded luggage in a unique shade is always an option, if you have bags in standard black, blue or brown colours, make use of luggage tags. You can find them at any store selling travel-related goods. The more cost-effective method is to tie a ribbon, or a piece of cloth to your bag handles as a marker. Consistency is key here. Use the same ribbon or if you are using a cloth tag, tear strips off the same piece of cloth for all your bags.
Space-Saving Travel-Packing Hacks
Here’s how you should pack your belongings while keeping the above tips in mind:
Clothes
- Roll your clothes instead of folding them. It saves space and also creates fewer wrinkles.
- If you choose to fold the clothes, do not simply stack them on top of one another. Use smaller folds to fill the empty spaces, and alternate your stacking pattern for every clothing so you can make the most of the space.
Shoes
- Shoes with dirty soles need to be packed with care. Ideally, put the shoes into a plastic bag before packing them into your luggage.
- Alternately, invest in a few shower caps and put them on the bottom of your shoes before you pack them.
- You can pack footwear in pairs or individually, depending on where you have space to adjust it.
- Shoes, slippers, and sandals can also offer good padding to delicate items if you place them sole-first, against the walls of your suitcase.
Jewellery
- One of the top travel-packing hacks for jewellery is to use small and empty pill bottles that have been thoroughly washed as a storing case for your earrings and rings.
- You can also use small ziplock bags for packing your bracelets and necklaces individually, so they don’t end up a tangled mess.
- Want to keep both earrings together? Fasten a pair to a spare button before packing it with the rest of your jewellery. You’ll never have to search through your jewellery pouch for the other pair again.
- Want to avoid tangled necklaces and bracelets? Consider threading them through thick straws to keep them untangled and ready-to-wear during your travels.
Toiletries
- If you are staying at a hotel, most establishments will provide you with travel packs of soap, shampoo, and conditioner. Check your hotel’s list of amenities while packing, so you don’t carry extra weight unnecessarily.
- Do you still want to take your liquid toiletries along? Use small pill bottles to store them. Make sure you place a piece of plastic wrap at the mouth of the bottle before screwing it closed. This will prevent any possible leaks.
- Travel-size bottles are also available in the market if you don’t have spare pills bottle at hand.
Gadgets
- Laptops and tablets should always be packed into a hard shell before you add them to your hand-carry.
- If you do not have a hard case available, wrap your devices in layers of clothing to give them a buffer, and protect them from getting damaged.
- You can also find hand-carry luggage that has a special padded pouch for laptops and other such devices.
- Always pack your devices along with their chargers, so you’ll have access to both together in case part of your luggage gets lost or stolen.
Cables
- Want to store wires in an orderly fashion? Our lives are connected to our devices in today’s time and the best hack to store charging cables is to use a spare sunglasses/glasses case for the purpose. You can store your headphones here too.
- Even if you do not have a sunglasses case at hand, do not just throw your chargers and cables into the luggage without a second thought. They will not only become jumbled but might also become frayed. Spend some time in properly folding each cable before you pack it.
- Use hair-ties, rubber bands or fine bendable wires to keep each folded cable separate and in place.
- If more than one of your devices uses the same cable, avoid packing three USB cables for a weeklong trip. As long as you take care of your charging cable, even one will suffice.
Breakables
- If you have a glass bottle of perfume or a piece of pottery that has to reach your destination intact, wrap it up in a thick scarf or sweater to give it some padding.
- Additionally, place all such items in the middle of your suitcase, surrounding them with more clothes for additional padding.
- You can also consider putting smaller breakable items into your shoes if you are packing any.
Use these travel-packing hacks to save space and pack efficiently for your next trip. Don’t forget to keep our tips in mind to ensure that you pack only what is needed for your trip. We wish you a safe journey to your destination!
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