If there is one thing we have “mastered” over the years it is how to pack light! – ie. hand luggage only – and that includes a 2 week trip to New England & Nova Scotia during the “Fall” & a 3 week trip we did to Ecuador & then cruising the Galapagos, 5* (Silversea), for our silver wedding anniversary! Interested? Read more…
Tips on packing lightly
- Be prepared to do quite a bit of laundry (paid or by yourself) during your trip
- Buy from Rohan (no, they don’t give us commissions on sales!) – Rohan are great to pick up just a few basics that wash & dry well, and often have little “extras” like insect repellent built-in or SPF sun protection! Expensive, but wait for the sales where you can get up to 50% (sometimes more) off! Check out “the Souk” https://www.rohan.co.uk/bargain-travel-and-outdoor-clothes-in-the-souk
We both have bought some basics from Rohan and they have saved us so much luggage space! - Don’t take loads of toiletries! I have medium length hair and I can get away with ONE x 100 mls bottle of shampoo & conditioner for a 2 week trip! Also, if you are staying in any hotels that supply toiletries them please factor this in too! And save any 100ml bottles you have (or buy from somewhere like Asda & re-use them time & again!)
For 2 weeks, our basic “toiletries” are: 1 x mini soap (if we are staying in just one place), 1 x 100mls shampoo, 1 x 100mls conditioner, 1 x 100 mls shower gel (or you can double up your shampoo as a shower gel), mini toothpaste (a lot of dentist give these away for free as samples!), mini (or folding) hairbrush, toothbrush (if you like electric ones you can now buy some normal sized toothbrushes that are battery operated! – example – battery operated toothbrush), mini facial moisturiser (again save mini samples from magazines, or buy a mini pot and top it up when you go travelling), razor (some hotels supply – if you’re lucky with a mini shaving foam too!), suncream (if applicable) – now the “Pound shops” often sell 15 & 20 factor suncreams in 100 mls bottles. deodorant (this one from Holland & Barrett has lasted me for years! It just keeps on going…) As for make-up, well you don’t really need it, do you??? - We did a 2 week trip to New England & Nova Scotia (Canada) in the autumn and I travelled with one of the smaller hand luggage cases – they quizzed me about what I was up to! Why I could travel so light for such a long trip! They have a lot to learn!
- Save your previous “packing lists” and use them again for similar holidays, tweaking where necessary. It’s a bit anal, but after a holiday I keep my packing list and go back to mark out anything that I could have done without or just didn’t use. Over time this really gets the packing down a fair bit for future similar holidays! It’s amazing, even when travelling light, how much stuff you take that you don’t end up wearing or using!
- Footwear – this is probably the single biggest problem when trying to pack light. I tend to take “hiking” (or “Teva”) type sandals on most trips – this does me (mostly) for hiking during the day and casual wear later that can be worn with a dress if need be. On some trips proper hiking closed toe shoes are necessary, in that case some sparkly flip flops work well for evening wear to dress up a little, and double up for the pool / beach. I also have some low heeled black (always the best colour for matching up) suede strappy sandals for more dressy affairs should they be needed, great for our Galapagos cruise, and they don’t take up much room in a small trolley case.
- Going back briefly to the Rohan clothing, many of their clothes have “hidden” pockets, which are great if you are travelling somewhere where you are worried about security.
- Finally, this one is probably a bit obvious, but make sure that you travel wearing your most bulky clothes & shoes (weather permitting)
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