Packing is an art form. Packing for a family of four in one suitcase is a miraculous feat, but alas, we do it.
Packing is an art form. Packing for a family of four in one suitcase is a miraculous feat, but alas, we do it.
You do not need any special luggage, but having a nice suitcase definitely doesn’t hurt. We are a firm believer in soft sided suitcases. We absolutely love Travelpro suitcases in general, we have both the Maxlite 5 Medium Check-In Spinner and the Maxlite 5 Large Check-In Spinner.
Even after traveling multiple times a year for over a decade, I still will stare at my closets thought clothes are going to jump out and pack themself. One thing that I have started doing is adding the city/cities to my Apple weather app after we book a trip and start checking it every so often to get an idea of what it could potentially be like during the day,for example if we are going to be out and about before the sun is up. Once we are a week out, I’ll start looking at the weather more seriously and start laying things out.
Since having children, I have started packing by color scheme, neutral colors that can be mixed and matched to appear like there’s more outfits than there are. I’ve found that two of each is a good starting point for a 7 day trip, for example for cooler weather I’ll pack 2 pants, 2 t-shirts, 2 long sleeves, 2 top layers(a sweatshirt, a button) and then I can mix and match with options for layering. This base has worked very well so far and I plan to continue doing this!
My biggest travel hack is two fold. One, laundry sheets. They are light, flat and easy to pack. We stay in a lot of air bnbs, so they typically have their own washer and dryer but I am also not a stranger to washing clothes in the sink. I will rip off a small piece of the laundry detergent sheet and let it dissolve in warm water, then I’ll put the clothes, hopefully similar colors, into the sink, using my hands as the agitator, moving everything around, swishing and spinning. Then I will let the water drain and squeeze each item to get water out, never wring them dry. Wringing them will cause them to stretch in odd ways. Next, I will add cold water to the sink and repeat the same process. This time, when I fill the sink back up for the third time, it is to make sure there is no soap left on the clothes. Then one by one I squeeze the water out and roll it into a towel and step on it to get as much water out as I can. Then I hang the clothes up in the bathroom or closet to dry fully.
We will be sharing packing lists per destination and what we pack for our little guys too!