In Part Two of this short series, I will be looking at some optional items to take as well as offering up some thoughts on clothing to include and some strategies on how to pack everything.
The more I travel the more I realize how important it is to hit the road with exactly what you need, no more or no less. As the saying goes, less is more. You want all aspects of travel to be a pleasant experience and you definitely do not want to be totally annoyed every time you pack up your things and move on because your suitcase or backpack is overly crammed with stuff you don’t really need.
I have often read that it is a good idea to pack up everything you are planning on taking with you and wander around downtown shopping with your suitcase in tow or your backpack strapped on your back to see how it will all feel once you’re out there on the road. I have never done I will have to admit, so not an official tip, but it does seem like a good idea.
First up is a look at some optional items you may want to take with you. Some of these work for me, and some I have used intermittently over the years.
Optional Items to Take
Travel Umbrella – You can always buy an umbrella wherever you travel if the need arises. However, taking a tiny, sturdy umbrella is never a bad choice. Anything that will take up very little space in your purse or day pack will probably come in handy.
Travel Clothesline – If you think that you may end up washing underclothes and socks in your hotel room from time to time it never hurts to take a long travel clothesline like the one in the picture. I copied the photo from the Amazon site, but we have an identical one that has travelled with us on many occasions.
Folder For Documents – I have been using the red folder in the photo for years. When we start out on our trips, it holds my travel notes, flight information, hotel reservations and maps that I have printed out. During our travels I use it to store Ziploc bags with receipts or other printed items that I want to hold onto. The folder gives me all my “paper stuff” in one easy to find location.
Baggage Scale – A baggage scale is not something I ever would have thought to buy, but friends with whom we travelled to Africa bought us one as a gift. It came in handy as we headed home with overstuffed suitcases and needed to juggle what we had in our two bags to avoid going over the weight limit. Not a necessity, but not a bad thing to have with you if you are not a light packer. 🙂
Travel Purse – Ladies, it is always a good idea to have an over the shoulder small bag instead of a large unwieldy purse or purse backpack. A good “travel” purse has clips and locks on it that make it difficult for pickpockets to access. Pickpockets love it when folks carry an easily accessible backpack or sling bag. Keep your purse in front of you and in front of mind at all times.
I now sport a “man bag”, so I may well be using the bag pictured here myself on our next trip… the Love-goddess has a new, lovely, somewhat larger bag she now uses instead of this one.
Travel Slippers – As you will read below, I suggest you take no more than two pairs of shoes with you. However, as you can see in the photo a proper pair of travel slippers takes up almost no space and are incredibly light, so a viable option. The ones in the picture are mine… look like they could use a wash though. 🙂
On long flights I typically take my shoes off and slip these puppies on. They are comfortable and loose-fitting, and I think they help prevent my feet from swelling on long flights. They are great to slip on in hotel rooms or in your Airbnb rental as well.
Liquid Soap – A small multipurpose plastic squeeze bottle filled with liquid soap will often come in handy. You can use it when washing small batches of laundry in your hotel room sink, or even as hair shampoo in a pinch.
Clothes
Every travel guru will tell you to travel light. What they are essentially saying is don’t stuff your suitcase full of unnecessary clothing items. Often that is clothing that you will only wear once if at all. We tend to do longer, “close to the ground” trips, and end up walking everywhere carrying or pulling our suitcases. This means we travel with as small and as light a bag as possible. This also means travelling with only our regularly worn clothing essentials.
Clothes to Take – I am not about to provide you with lists of things I think you should pack because the clothes you wear is a very personal thing and everyone has their own must haves or essentials regardless of where they are. And there are often differences between men and women in what they consider to be necessities, so it is pointless for me to try and explain to anyone, especially women, what they should take.
However, I have a couple of general suggestions concerning what you should take that apply to both men and women. First, you really should try and limit what you carry to what you will wear over eight days. That provides you with enough clothes to wear for one week and one set of clothes to wear on the day you do your laundry. You should also include in that mix some items that you can wear two or three times during that period.
In your clothing assortment, you should have a couple of things that you can pass off as dress clothes. This will allow you to look a little bit more presentable when you go to someplace fancier. And, in your mix you should have clothing that will have you prepared for any weather or variable temperature situation. Your outer layer/jacket should definitely be rain and wind proof.
Layer Up on the Plane – Variable weather makes it important to travel with clothing layers, but, it is always a good idea to try and avoid bulking up your suitcase with them. You don’t want to discover at flight check-in that they have made your checked bag overweight, or that you are forced to check your bulked up carry-on bag.
Anytime I get on a flight, especially in the fall, winter, or spring, I tend to look like the Michelin man when I board. I typically will have on a short-sleeved T-shirt covered with a long sleeve T-shirt or hoodie. Over that I have my outer layers. Those being, one fleece and one outer waterproof shell. This gives me all the layers I will need as I travel.
The outer layers go in the overhead bin as soon as I get on the plane. After I get to my destinations, they are stuffed into my suitcase to patiently wait until I need them. I don’t have to worry about how bulgy my bag is like I do at check in. In this photo I am all “Layered up” on the Hill of Tara in Ireland.
Take Extra Clothes on the Plane – For several years I just worried about taking my electronic gear and paperwork with me on a flight, never any extra clothing. It was all in my checked bag. After having to wear a friend’s clothes for three days in Tokyo when my suitcase didn’t arrive in Japan until three days after I did, I figured out it would probably be a good idea to have some extra clothes with me on future flights.
Ever since, I have always travelled with a laptop backpack that would hold my electronic gear but also had lots of room to stuff in three days’ worth of extra socks, underwear, shirts, and toiletries. If my checked bag does not arrive with me, I am covered for a few days until it gets there… or I do some shopping. It isn’t an issue, of course, if you are travelling really light and are taking a carry-on rather than checking a bag.
Try and Dress Like a Local – It is always a good idea not to stand out as a North American tourist. There are some simple things you can do related to how you dress that will help in that regard. Most emphatically, don’t wear clothes that have logos… no Nike, no Dolce and Gabbana, no sports teams, no clothing company logos, Nada!
Other things to avoid are athletic clothing or shoes, baseball caps, sweatpants, flip-flops, and in most instances, even shorts. Do not sew a Canadian flag onto your bag. The 1960s are over folks. The other thing to avoid is “travel” clothing, or what is often referred to as safari clothing. You are not going to be camping on the Serengeti so forget it. It labels you as an inexperienced easy target for pickpockets.
As you might suspect, there are many websites that will identify specifically what you should or should not wear in places like Europe. Here are a couple of articles from the Savvy Backpacker, one for men and one for women. The women’s article is more about how women should dress in Europe to fit in and be stylish.
Even after all that attention to what you are wearing, you will still probably be identified as a potential tourist target by pickpockets. BUT, It is probably a good idea to try to look like the least dorky target amongst a sea of incredibly dorky targets.
Packing All Those Clothes
One of the essentials in travelling light is knowing how to properly pack your bag, i.e. how do you get all of your necessary stuff into one bag that is easily carried. For the last several years, regardless whether we are going away for two weeks or two months, the Love-goddess and I both packed in exactly the same way. We each had a 26-inch soft shell rolling suitcase that we checked, and a laptop bag filled with all of our necessary electronics, and as you have just read, about three days’ worth of clothing and toiletries.
Now that I have had all my toes surgically removed, I know I am not going to feel like wrestling even a modest sized suitcase up and down stairwells in European train stations. I have switched to a single bag that is carry-on size which I can strap on my back as a backpack. That frees up both hands and my strength to make sure I easily get up and down steps unencumbered.
The key for me will be getting everything I require into one easy-to-carry bag. When I say easy-to-carry this also means that I must be aware of the weight that I am packing. If I perfect my packing technique to the point where I can get 100 pounds of clothing stuffed in my bag that doesn’t really do me any good. The goal becomes, minimize the weight but ensure that I have everything I need with me.
So, let’s dig in to how we actually pack all the stuff we are taking.
Packing Techniques
I’m not sure this is factually correct, but it feels authentic to me. The thing that you want to avoid doing when packing, is packing a whole lot of air. When we fold things neatly and stack things up in an orderly fashion in our suitcases, we fail to realize that a lot of the space is taken up by unfilled gaps and spaces in and around our clothing… we are packing air. The optimal way to pack is to squeeze as much air out of our clothing as we can.
I became a believer in this concept when I followed a suggestion I found online to roll up my clothes when packing rather than folding them and stacking them. As I began to pack that way it quickly became clear that I was going to be able to get more clothes in my bag than I normally did. The tight compact rolls reduced the amount of empty space that was traditionally being left trapped in the layers of my clothing.
Recently I have discovered that there is in fact a widely used methodology for rolling up clothes ultra-tight called the Ranger or Army roll. This involves rolling things up small and tightly into what becomes a self-sealing roll. I have done it. and it is easy enough to do and it definitely compacts clothing into a much more suitcase-friendly size and configuration. There are other suggested packing techniques as well. Let’s have a look at the most popular ones.
The Ranger Roll – This YouTube video from “MILE30 Adventures” shows you how to perform the Ranger roll on all sorts of different types of clothing. As you watch it, you may think it pertains mostly to packing men’s clothes… a perfectly valid assumption.
That said, the Ranger Roll system can be used on MOST clothing items that women will pack. But, not to worry ladies, if this doesn’t appeal, there are other systems that appear to have been developed primarily for women. Foremost amongst them, the KonMari Folding System developed by the tidiness guru Marie Kondo.
KonMari Folding – Marie Kondo is a tidying expert, a best-selling author, and the star of her own Netflix series “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo”. She has some definite ideas on how you should fold and pack your clothing. This first YouTube video shows you the basic principles of her folding technique. This second video shows you how to use it when packing your suitcase.
Others – There are many other systems if you go exploring on YouTube. The most interesting one I found was this one from “Cocina con la Abuela”. It is in Spanish with English subtitles. The method appears to be a nice blend of the Ranger Roll and the KonMari systems. And finally, here is yet another link to a YouTube video from “Travel Tips by Laurie” who compares many of these packing techniques.
Packing Cubes – I am not sure how I feel about using packing cubes yet, but I am about to use them in a big way and will likely report back to you on their use. I did use a few when we went up to stay at friends’ cottage recently and generally found them to be quite useful.
Because I was living out of a suitcase for four days, it was easy to whip out one cube with my underwear and socks and another with T-shirts and not have to make a big disruptive mess by rummaging through stuff in the suitcase. Everything came out Easy-Peasy and went back in the same way. So that is all good.
My concern with using packing cubes is that you are putting more fabric and weight into your suitcase. I get it that it’s a tradeoff. I recently purchased four packing cubes, that fit perfectly into my new travel bag, which hopefully, will hold the bulk of what I need. What I discovered when packing for the cottage, was the packing cubes we had kicking around the house were odd sizes and I ended up cramming other clothing in between and around the cubes. The four I have now should completely fill the space when full.
There is an alternative form of packing cube available called “Compression Cubes”. They have a secondary zipper that you close up after the cube is full. This squeezes out even more air and squishes everything in the cube down flatter.
Shoes – you should try to avoid taking any more than two pairs of shoes with you. The pair you will primarily use should be very comfortable and suitable for walking long distances. The second pair might be a little dressier in appearance for those types of occasions, but they too should be very comfortable. No heels ladies. Both pairs should be light in weight because at least one pair will be in your suitcase at most times. You should also avoid taking bulky shoes for that same reason… no hiking boots… unless you are going hiking of course.
Laundry – When you are packing light and travelling with only a week’s worth of clothing, you also have to ramp up your laundry game. Yes, you can hand wash some underwear and socks in your hotel sink as I have suggested, but it doesn’t really work for your bulkier clothing items. Handing over your clothes to the hotel for cleaning is definitely not recommended unless you absolutely have to. They will charge you an absolute fortune.
For several years now, we have never had a problem locating either a laundromat or a same-day drop-off and pick-up laundry service within reasonable walking distance of the hotels we have stayed at. If you can’t find one in your guidebook… Rick Steves’ books are really good at listing laundry facilities… then ask at the hotel front desk. Or do a simple Google search.
We have discovered that spending a little time in a laundromat often turns into an interesting local social experience. People will talk to you and will often be very helpful if you can’t figure out how do use the machines that are available. That is half the fun of going to a local laundromat in different countries, trying to figure out how to operate the machines. 🙂
Well, there you go, a few more pointers for your future travels. In the final part of the “Tip” series I will be looking at electronic gear, resources available to you on the ground, and what not to take.
I would love to read some of your own travel tips in the comments section below.
