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Hi everyone. Welcome back. Today I wanted to share my best tips for packing for travel, specifically packing for a carry on and your backpack, whatever you’re going to bring on the plane with you. I normally only like to pack a carry on for my trips. This is going to be a 10-day trip throughout London and Amsterdam, and last time I went on a two-week trip in Europe, I also packed a carry on as well.
If you haven’t seen my previous packing videos, you can check it out here and here, or you can click the card in the upper-right corner to watch those videos. But today I’m just gonna go into specifics on my method of packing. My first tip is definitely: fold things vertically, the Konmari way.
I have a lot of videos on how to fold the Konmari way. If you want to check those out, they’re also linked below. But basically, fold them to the height of your suitcase so that when you put your clothes in, everything will fit right here to the rim and you can see all of your clothes at a glance.
This is a game-changer for when you’re traveling and living out of a suitcase. You don’t want to take things out. I always keep everything in my suitcase. I only unpack what I need to for that day. So this is my closet. This is what the closet looks like, and I just like being able to choose my outfits this way because I could see mostly everything.
I did make an exception this time. Some things I packed horizontally because they’re just so flimsy, it just didn’t work as well vertically. But yeah, for the flimsy leggings and random stuff, I will pack normally. But for my main outfits, I will pack vertically. Tip #2: Have pouches for everything! I am a pouch girl…that sounds weird.
Is that weird? I literally love to have pouches to hold everything. I like to stay organized and categorize everything. So this is my pouch for socks and underwear. I also fold them vertically like this. I just put my mirror because I didn’t want it to break. But yeah, I have underwear here and socks here.
And I always pack extra because you never know. I have a pouch for makeup. A pouch for random tech accessories. There’s chargers, adaptors, and stuff in here. And then I have my toiletry pouch. Also, in my backpack, I have this pouch that I love where I keep my iPad, my hard drive. And check this out: I have a face mask that I’m going to wear in the airplane.
So pouches for everything, helps you stay super organized and I just can’t do it any other way. My next tip is to transfer all of your large products into smaller containers. I always like to save my little bottles from skincare or beauty products because I know I’m going to use them again. These are from previous skincare things that I’ve used up.
I’ve transferred my May Coop essence, which is this big one, into this small one here. And then here, because I think my foundation’s a little too big, I transferred my foundation into this smaller container. So I think it’s such a game-changer. Plus, I got to mix another foundation in here so that it would better match my color.
My next tip is to save up all your sample-sized products or travel-sized products for when you travel. So I don’t usually use these little samples on the regular. I just bring them because they’re tiny and I get to try new products, and why not? I have a couple primers here and these are some oils for my face that are sample-sized of my favorite products.
My next tip is to use these toothbrush covers to bring your favorite toothbrush with you. I don’t like to use travel toothbrushes because they’re not good quality. These covers, I got from Daiso. They come in a pack of six or eight. I love them. It’s just really hygienic, I think. And I really like it.
My next tip is kind of obvious but I know not everyone does this. Honestly, guys, put your shoes in a plastic bag when you travel so that the germs and the dirt don’t get everywhere else in your luggage. I also like to bring a couple extra plastic bags to put all my dirty clothes in after I wear them.
The way I do it is: I fold them up into little triangles. But when I’m in the hotel or AirBNB, when I have dirty clothes, I will put them on top of the plastic bag, kind of let them air out or a little bit. And then, when I’m ready to pack everything, I’ll put everything in the plastic bag, seal it up, and then go, because I feel like, if you immediately put it in the plastic while you’re still staying in a room, it just gets musty…musky? What’s that word? It will just smell more if you seal it up and leave it there without letting it air out a little bit.
That’s just how I’m thinking in my head. Another tip I have when traveling is to scatter your cash throughout your bags because you don’t want to keep all your money in one place, because what if you get pick-pocketed? Or something gets stolen? You just want to have some backup. So the way I do it is I always hide some cash in different pouches and different areas just in case.
You never know. Okay, moving onto my backpack. My next tip is to make sure, if you want to get something while you’re on the plane, to put it in your purse or in the backpack that you will have right next to you. Don’t put things in your carry on luggage that will go in the overhead bin because if you want to get something, it’s really annoying to ask people to help you open it and whatever.
So if I need to do something–for example: I’m planning to work and edit on the plane, so I brought my laptop in my backpack with me so that I could just have that easy access. My next tip is: make sure you have a name tag on all your bags just because you don’t know what’s going to happen.
What if your bag gets lost? Even if it’s a carry on, you never know. So I think it’s always safe to have your name, your number, your email address, whatever on your bags. Something I’m going to try this time because I’ve seen other people do it is to bring a face mask with me on the airplane so I can do some inflight skincare because it gets really dry up there.
I think this will be really fun. I’m actually looking forward to doing this. Another thing I’d recommend is to bring some cough drops with you. Or in my case, I have this Chinese throat syrup. It’s basically called loquat syrup and it’s like a honey texture where I will just eat it straight from the package.
It soothes your throat so I’m saying, in case you have a cough on the plane because it’s really dry up there. I hate to be that person who’s coughing nonstop on the plane. So just in case. Another tip is to keep your phone charger with you at all times in your bag, and also get an external charger because it will save your life.
Most airports and some airplanes will have outlets so that you can charge your phones so it’s always nice if you can have your charger with you. I’ve been that person where I’ve seen an outlet and I’m like, “Dang it, my phone’s out of battery but my charger’s up there,” or somewhere that’s not on hand.
My next tip is to always wear the biggest and the heaviest items of clothing with you on the plane, that way you don’t have to pack your big and bulky items. For example: this time, I’m taking this giant blanket scarf which is huge and takes up a lot of space, but it’s going to be my blanket on the airplane.
And I’m also going to take my big coat with me as well. If you’re a frequent traveler and you always end up with extra coins and extra money from all the different places you’ve traveled to, make sure you save them and organize them into pouches. I’ve saved these euros and pounds from my last trip to Europe, and I just keep them organized separately.
I have all my different currencies in different little pouches so that whenever I go back to that place, then I can just bring that currency back. My last tip is: it’s always good to bring an empty water bottle with you in your carry on so you can refill it at the airport or on the airplane because it’s really dehydrating to fly.
Sometimes I’ll forget to bring an empty water bottle so I’ll just buy a water in the airport after security and everything because I need to have a bottle of water while I’m on the plane because the water that they give is just never enough. So I like to have my own stash, my own thing of water.
Alright, I hope you liked today’s tips on how to pack for travel.