Travel Preparation

The Best Travel Luggage & Packing Tips

When it’s time to pack your bags and suitcases for your holidays, many people feel like they can’t fit everything they want to take in their luggage. With some smart travel packing tips, you can make the most out of the small space you have and at the same time reduce the things to bring. Our experienced travel agents reveal some of the most useful luggage packing tips.

Suitcase or backpack?

When you start packing your bags, your first question is: Do I take a suitcase or backpack? There’s a rule of thumb. If you go to easily accessible places or you want to bring larger quantities of clothes, a suitcase is usually the best choice. If you plan to change location often or to remote areas, chances are, a backpack is the most comfortable choice. It will allow to bring less, therefore you can carry it easily, especially if you’re planning to hike the mountains or go island hopping on the Philippine islands. In case you plan both, try bringing your heavy stuff in a suitcase while carrying the light-weight or more used items in a backpack on your back. When you do day trips, you can comfortably use the backpack.

What’s the best way to pack?

A great packing tip to bring your clothes wrinkle-free to your destination is by rolling them up. For this, just lay them flat down, fold them once in the middle and then start to roll them up as tight as you can. Now stack your rolled clothes in your suitcase or backpack. This keeps your luggage more organised and non-creased, and it’ll also make it easier to separate your clothing.

Use Compartments

Another packing tip is using compartments. Some suitcases already have great built-in compartments, i.e. for separating both halves and underwear from the rest of the clothing. For additional separating, buy a set of compartments to pack your socks in one, your shirts in the next and your swimwear in another one. This way, it’ll be easy and quick to just take out the compartment you need at that moment instead of sorting through all your clothing.

Hand Luggage Tips

Make sure liquids and sharp objects (such as your nail clipper or shaver) are in your checked luggage. In your hand luggage, you can only bring liquids to up to 100 ml of bottle / container size, so either buy a small bottle below 100 ml or tuck the big bottles in your checked luggage. If you bring any liquids in your hand luggage, put them in a transparent zip lock bag for the security check (plus this also prevents spilling on the rest of your hand luggage).

Smart Packing

Make it easier for yourself by guessing what you’ll do first when you arrive at your destination. Arriving early morning and want to jump into the pool right away? Pack your towel and swimming trunks on top. Had a long journey and probably just want to sleep the jet lag off when arriving? Then your pyjama should be the last item to pack, so it’ll be the first thing you find when opening your luggage. In case you have i.e. a night stop over in another city along the way, prepare the clothes / items you’ll need there in your hand luggage, so you don’t have to open your big suitcase.

Protect Your Luggage

This really depends on where you go and how you arrive there. For a city trip, you probably won’t need to worry. However, many paradisaical little islands are only reachable by boat and often don’t have a pier, so you will need to jump into the knee-deep water to reach the shore. Make sure you have some protection for your luggage so it won’t get wet during an adventurous boat ride or keep electrical items in an additional zipper bag. If you’re hiking the mountains with a backpack, a rain protection for it might come in handy.

Wear Heavy Clothes

If you do have to bring heavy or big clothes, such as a winter parka or hiking boots, it’ll always be useful to wear them when you’re flying. They’ll leave an additional kilo and lots of space in your luggage that you can fill up with other things you might want to pack. Even though hand luggage is limited, too, the clothing you’re wearing is not.

Necessities Bag

Prepare a little necessities bag for your flight with a toothbrush, earplugs and any other small items you might need during your flight or when arriving at the airport. In case your luggage arrives late or you have a stop over, your most important items will be always at hand and with you in your hand luggage.

Only What You Need

Yes, you can bring an entire first-aid kit and a new t-shirt for every day of your holiday, but let’s be honest: Will you really need all of this or will you spend most of your days in your bikini sunbathing at the beach? If you stay longer than 2 weeks, rather opt for less clothing to keep your luggage light and wash once en-route. Many hotels offer laundry services.

Any more questions regarding your trip?

If you booked your travel with The Travel Agency, we’re glad to help with your travel-related questions. Just get in touch!