Harvey DavidsThe 5 Worst Trip Packing Mistakes Rookies Make—and How to Avoid Them
Are you fed up with packing and unpacking for trips but aren't sure what you could do better?
Holidays are supposed to be enjoyable, but this element certainly is not. Raise a hand if when you say "...then I'll pack", you follow it with a sigh.
Today we're going to teach you 5 concrete ways to making packing and unpacking a whole lot easier.
Before we get started, though, lets quickly discuss the best way to organise a group trip. Use a trip planning tool. Not just WhatsApp and a spreadsheet!
For this, theres no better tool than AmigoGo.
AmigoGo is hands down the best tool to organise group trips, as that is exactly what it was created for!
Want to check it out? Click below to take a look at the free mobile app.
The 5 Worst Trip Packing Mistakes Rookies Make—and How to Avoid Them
Folding Clothes |
Randomly Packing Outfits |
Putting Heavy Stuff at the Top |
Unorganised Liquids |
Buying Water Bottles |
Folding Clothes
Stop folding, start rolling!
This is counter-intuitive, but there are two critical benefits to these strategy.
Reduce wrinkles
Because there are no hard creases when you roll, it really does reduce or eliminate wrinkles. The military use the same technique, and I'm not gonna argue with them!
To do this properly, do as follows:
Fold your clothes along the seams only
Smooth out any wrinkles then
Roll your clothes
Save space
Rolling your clothes will compress them more than if you folder them, so you can squeeze that always necessary little bit extra into your luggage.
This works because the compressed clothes fill more tiny air pockets that often get left in luggage.
So now you can pack those extra socks that are always needed!
Randomly Packing Outfits
We love this one, its a real 'aha!' moment.
Think about future you, you've just reached the hotel after a 10 hour end to end journey and the last thing you want to do is unpack, search through clothes, and iron.
So decide what you'll be wearing once you land, and pack that outfit last...
Now you can open your luggage and see your unwrinkled outfit ready to go, on top. Your holiday just got that little bit better :)
Putting Heavy Stuff at the Top
Heavy stuff goes on the bottom!
This might seem obvious, but most people don't do it. It will make your journey perhaps 5% more chill, and its pretty simple.
Put your heavy things, like shoes, toiletries, bricks at the base of your luggage. This will stop your bag from falling over. Especially handy when your leaning on it.
Pro tip, if you've got somewhat solid luggage, and you pack heavy items at the base, you can (carefully) sit on the luggage, with your back against the wall, whilst waiting for your flight. (We don't recommend this if you're elderly, pregnant, or particularly clumsy).
Unorganised Liquids
If you're a pro, try this one - have a separate set of travel liquids that you keep in your liquid bag even when at home... Yes that means having 2 of some items, but economically speaking, they'll all get used eventually.
In said liquid bag, either go for travel specific items, i.e. mini shampoo, or get some appropriately sized liquid tubes and pots, and label them with a waterproof label.
This way you will:
Fit in all of your liquids
Save a bunch of time and stress when packing
Be well organised and chilled when your away
Let's add another 5% chill to your packing and holidaying!
Buying Water
As a general observation, we need to drink more water, but when we're flying, we need to drink even more water!
And whilst water bottles are often well stocked at airports, they both cost you money, and increase our demand for plastics, which is a no-no for the environment.
So why not take a reusable water bottle? Seems obvious, but only the most savvy travellers are doing this. Be savvy, be happy!
These are just some of the top packing mistakes I see travellers make over and over again. Changing these habits will make your holiday better, and that's reason enough to follow through! Have you made any of these mistakes? Got a mistake that you see others making that I didn’t list? Share them in the comments below.