There should really be a name for people who are packing challenged. We always say that we are the Queen of over packing. Recently, when packing for an 8 night conference on a cruise ship, I think I took 3 outfits for every day. Granted, we did have business meetings daily (so somewhat business casual) and then dressing for dinner every evening but the last time I took a math class– that only came to 2 outfits a day. Of course, I like choices and since we were sailing from NYC to the Caribbean in April, we needed to have cooler weather clothing in addition to warmer weather clothing.
In the end, before the trip, I ended up not packing 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of capris, about a dozen shirts but still came home with a ton of clean, unworn clothing.
So again, My Vacation Lady will provide you with some great packing tips and, one day, we hope to actually take our own advice!
- Make a packing list and stick to it- This will help you to remember what to take and hopefully, what not to take.
- Plan your outfits-Figure out what you think you’ll be doing each day and plan what you take based on your itinerary. If you are going to Hawaii, for instance, you don’t need dressy outfits since dress shorts and flip flops are pretty much considered “formal wear”. If you are doing some adventures, take the appropriate clothes and shoes.
- Limit the # of pairs of shoes you are bringing– Again, wish I could listen to my own advice— black dress sandals, 2 pair of black flats and black casual sandals, in addition to beige sandals, beige shoes, white sandals and sneakers. Did I need all of them? Nope. We were just driving to the cruise pier so we didn’t need to weigh our luggage but shoes are HEAVY. Try to color coordinate your outfits so that you can limit the number and type of shoes you’ll need. And a word of advise, don’t break in new shoes on your vacation unless you own stock in the bandaid company.
- Bring clothing that can be layered– This was especially important for us since we were leaving in 50 degree weather and heading down to the Bahamas where it was about 80, and then coming back to chillier weather. I packed a couple of sweaters, wore a fleece jacket and took a couple of shawls with me.
- Bring only the toiletries that you need for your vacation— If you are going away for a week, did you know that a contact lens case will hold all of the moisturizer that you’ll need? Trust me, I’ve tried it. Also, does your hotel provide shampoo, conditioner and lotions? What about using their hair dryer? Rather than buying sample sizes of toiletries for every vacation, hold on to those small containers and refill them as needed.
When it doubt, leave it out!
My Vacation Lady is much better at planning your vacations and dream honeymoons than packing 🙂
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