I've been lucky enough to receive advice from a range of well travelled people as to what packing practices are the most efficient. Of course, every type of trip will be different; your suitcase for a skiing minibreak will look a lot different to your suitcase for a month in Thailand. However, there are basic principles which work well for 99% of trips.
First, it's important to keep in mind what you're aiming for when packing your suitcase efficiently, namely:
- Space: you want to take with you as little as possible, to keep room for new purchases
- Weight: all commercial carriers have a weight per bag limit which you will be notified of when you book
- Efficiency: you want to take shoes, clothes and other items which will be able to be used in a number of situations, and have a high usefulness to space-they-take-up ratio
- Laundry requirements: you don't want to spend your whole holiday doing laundry
- Security: 'nuff said
Keeping in mind those principles, this is my typical list of stuff to pack for a trip abroad:
- Copy of insurance policy
- Passport and copy of passport/details itinerary (stored separately for security reasons)
- Cash passport: modern version of traveller's cheques, saves on international ATM transaction fees
- Regular phone switched to international roaming; I have an iPhone, which with all its applications, saves time on packing things like phrasebooks
- International power adapter
- One good pair of walking shoes (can be worn on the plane to save space)
- One pair of flip-flops, especially if you will be using communal showers at a hostel or pool facility
- One pair of going-out shoes
- Towel if staying in a hostel or going to the beach
- One going-out dress (formal/cocktail), or lounge suit as the case may be
- The whole trips worth of knickers, to avoid doing laundry
- Approximately three days' worth of clothes, to be reworn
*I should note here: pick sensible clothes that can easily be spot cleaned or Febrezed. Don't worry about fashion. Nobody cares what you wear, you're travelling and you're never going to see them again. Just worry about weather and practicality.
- Pair of bathers
- Prescription medication
*Just for safety and legal security, always carry your prescriptions with you, especially when transporting large quantities of your prescription medication. Some countries get very fussy about this.
- Hairbrush and ties/bobby pins
- Toothbrush, medication, more expensive toiletries decanted into travel sized bottles
*Especially when it comes to toiletries, it's difficult to know what to take with you and what to buy on location, especially with most countries now having regulations regarding the total volume of liquids you can pack in your carry-on baggage. My advice: only take with you the things you will want to use on the plane and immediately after landing, buy the rest when you get to your destination. For example, I'd take a pack of all-in-one face wipes, my toothbrush, deodorant, and a mini toothpaste on the plane. The only exception is makeup, and if you use expensive products; decant expensive shampoos and conditioners into travel size bottles, and as long as your makeup and perfume doesn't take up too much room, pack that in your checked luggage, as you wouldn't want to spend money buying a whole new set of stuff just for your trip. First aid supplies, body wash, big bottles of sunscreen, shaving cream etc. will be readily available at supermarkets and convenience stores in most destinations.
What NOT to pack:
- Hair dryers: hotel hair dryers have had a bad reputation as being tiny and weak and taking forever to dry your hair, but things have improved a lot, even in budget accommodation. My hairdryer is massive and would take up too much room in my suitcase, and most 'travel-sized' dryers I've checked out just don't have the same power as a regular one. Depending on your destination (and level of vanity), you might even get a cheap wash and blow-dry on your first night in town and just try to make it last- I did this while travelling in Nha Trang, Vietnam, and it worked great.
- Planned outfits for every single day: If you're going away for more than a weekend, this just isn't feasible. As I mentioned before, your holiday is not a fashion show.
- More than one guidebook for your destination: It can be hard to choose between reference materials, but you only need one book, if one at all; unless you're travelling rurally, you can probably just plan ahead and look up information on the internet as you go. If you're travelling on an organised group tour, you don't need a book at all.
How to pack:
- If not wearing your walking shoes on the plane, place them together in a plastic bag to avoid getting dirt on your other stuff
- Clothes made of thick, less flexible fabric (jeans, thick jumpers etc) should be folded as usual and laid flat
- Underwear and thinner shirts etc can be folded in half and rolled tightly to save on space
- Toiletries should be packed in secure containers and placed in bags within your toiletries bag, to avoid any nasty breakage surprises on landing
- Socks and stockings can be rolled and stuffed inside shoes to save on space as well
- Take your passport and cash passport with you in your passport wallet or carry-on bag; pack copies inside checked luggage
- Once everything's securely packed, make sure all expander zips are closed and cross straps secured, and join together zippers with tamper-proof security tags. These little inventions are available wherever luggage and travel supplies are sold, and there are a number of brands. Basically, they are little plastic strips that you attach after you're finished packing, and they can only be removed by cutting or breaking them; it helps to make sure that your luggage isn't surreptitiously tampered with (very useful in this post-Schapelle Corby age).
Just another quick note on carry-on baggage vs. checked baggage; remember the restrictions about liquids in carry-on baggage. You really can't get away with anything over the limit, or anything packed improperly; I've seen grown men and women throw tantrums at the airport because they can't keep their special bottled water or their $200 bottle of bulk SK2 Miracle Cream or their huge bottle of scotch.
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