When heading out on fantastic trip you’ve been planning for months, it can be easy to go overboard on packing your bags. Whether it’s a sunny beach city or reclusive mountain retreat, you’ve spent so much time planning that you want to prepare for any eventuality. But packing too much can be detrimental as well. Have even one extra checked bag can cause airports to charge enormous fees, or make you uncomfortable cramped in your car, not to mention that you’ll have to carry that baggage to wherever you’ll be staying. Here I list the rules I follow when packing for a trip, and how to best determine what to bring and not bring with you. So, without and further ado, here are the five rules for packing light during your trip.
Check the Weather
This seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people simple assume what the weather will be like in the locales they’re traveling to. If you end up taking shorts to a place that just had snowfall, you could be in for a bad time. If you’re only staying a week or two, then check the weather forecast. If you’re planning a longer stay, check the climate and what the seasons are like in your destination. Packing the correct gear and clothes will save you a lot of space and save you money since you won’t have to buy clothes to suit the weather down there.
Be Realistic
Do you really need to pack formalwear on a trip to Alaska? Unless you’re planning something that requires that specific clothing, don’t bring it. The hotel may have a pool, and your room a hot tub, but unless you plan to use them, you don’t really need to bring a swimsuit, especially if you won’t spend much time at the hotel except to sleep. Think about what you want to do on the vacation, and pack accordingly. Only take clothes for the activities your planning, light to heavy clothes for walking around the city, a swimsuit for the ocean, or hiking shoes for mountain climbing. When packing for longer trips, pack four or five everyday outfits, one fancy, and one swimsuit, with clothes for cold or warm weather as necessary.
Do Laundry
This can be a lifesaver, even a necessity for longer trips. A lot of hotels and rentals have laundry on-site, or you can go online to see where the nearest laundromat is. Now laundry might not be how you pictured spending your vacation, but it can be relaxing to sit down and read or play games while you wait for your laundry to get done. It can be the most rest you get if you have a packed itinerary, and it can help you avoid lugging heavy luggage around or paying more in airline fees for extra bags. When you’re planning to stay a month or two in your destination, laundry is a must, so double check that the place you’re staying has laundry facilities or you have plenty of currency for the local laundromat.
Share
If you’re traveling with more people, you can share clothes and equipment between yourselves. While this may not work everyday clothes or bathing suits, you can share goggles, shoes, equipment, snorkeling gear, and whatever else you are planning on taking for different activities.
Take What You Need
Think about what you’ve taken on previous vacations. Now think about what you didn’t use. Now don’t bring that stuff. While we want to bring stuff to help us enjoy our vacations, if you don’t use everything you bring then you’re just hauling around dead weight. And that is not enjoyable. Bring stuff you’ll use and enjoy having, cut out everything else. My brother and I used to haul our old PS3 with us to play at the hotel on vacation. Most of the time, we were either to tired to set it up, or the TV in the place we were staying literally could not be hooked up to it. We were just hauling around dead weight, and we got tired of it, fast. So do yourself a favor and only bring the essentials and things you’ll use.
These are the five rules you should follow if you want to pack light for your vacation. These rules are meant to cut down on unnecessary baggage, clothing, and gear, so you can have a great vacation, without ruining your back. They aren’t meant to make you feel like you can only bring three shirts and two pairs of pants. Traveling is supposed to be enjoyable, so pack everything you’ll need for a comfortable stay, and fun activities. Just remember to be honest with yourself about what you need to have a fun vacation and not pack unnecessary baggage for your trip. A fancy outfit for that ritzy dinner you booked months in advance is perfectly fine but packing a swimsuit for the hotel swimming pool when everyday is packed with activities is overkill. Think about how you want to spend your time, and pack exclusively for that. If you follow these rules, you can cut out stuff you don’t need to carry around to better enjoy your trip.
Written For U 