Whether you are heading off on a short city break or you are just looking to avoid baggage queues and fees, learning how to pack light and take hand luggage only is a useful life skill! Here are some handy hacks for packing light.
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- Wear your bulkiest items. Particularly useful if you want to take hiking boots or shoes, and big warm jumpers.
- Ditch your usual towels for hammam towels or a sarong.These are thin and quick to dry – a sarong also doubles up as so many other items!
- Opt for an e-book – much more space saving even if you were only planning to pack one book.
- Get your toiletries at your destination. Pharmacies and supermarkets are abundant and you may well find your hotel or apartment has complementary products including a toothbrush.
- Consider compression packing cubes to be able to fit more into your hand luggage. Top tip: save compressing for on the way back so you can fit any purchases you made while you were away into your bag!
- Going for more than three days? Still only take 3 of each thing with the idea of wear one, wash one, dry one to keep your packing stack down.
- Check airline restrictions as you may be allowed a second handbag or laptop bag as well as your carry on – if so, use this opportunity wisely and get a bag with lots of useful compartments for chargers, kindle, passport, wallet etc.
- Decant creams and makeup into travel pots to save space in your cosmetic bag.
- Plan your wardrobe! Either set your outfit choices out before you go, or plan a capsule wardrobe to cut down on the amount of clothes to pack – this includes accessories and jewellery too.
- Roll and fold to work with the space and the bag you have. It doesn’t have to be one or the other, just maximise the packing potential of your carry-on.
Don’t forget your travel insurance! You may have cut the risk of loss buy cutting out hold luggage, but flight delays, cancellations, theft, accidental damage, accident and injury are all very real risks when travelling. You can buy peace of mind, and have help there should you need it with single trip or annual travel insurance.