Photo by: Heliotrop3

Written by Maak

A study by Jet2.com reveals that the British are obsessive when it comes to packing suitcases. 27% pack their bags at least a week before their holiday, with 31% repacking at least twice! On average, they take one hour and 16 minutes packing for their holiday, the study reveals. When it comes to how you pack, 75% of holidaymakers are neat and tidy when packing - and are either "Folders" or "Rollers". "Squashers" account for 13% and "Chuckers" account for 9%. The remaining 4% classified themselves as "Minimalists", packing very few items, leaving plenty of room to purchase clothes at their destination.

How do you pack?

What kind of packer are you:

• A Folder – neatly folds most clothes. Take two or more garments, for example trousers, place one pair on top of the other. Fold the one on the bottom over the pair on the top. Then take the other and fold it on the top. This reduces the likelihood that garments will wrinkle or crease as each pair has some cushion.
• A Chucker – throws items in last minute, and then probably sits on top of the case for a few minutes to fit everything in!
• A Roller – tries to prevent creases by rolling up clothes. This is a method backpackers swear by, and works well with pants and shirts especially. Lay the item face down, fold back the sleeves and then roll from the bottom up.
• A Squasher – crams as much as you can in (even sitting on case to seal it)
• A Minimalist – takes just a few items, leaving plenty of room to shop at the destination.

Photo by trinity

The picture above shows an alternative approach, the Bundle Approach – not widely known, but catching on quickly. Judith Guilford, author of The Packing Book (yes, books exist on this subject), first described this approach, where you bundle your clothes into a rectangle shape that fits into your suitcase or carry-on bag.

The method is almost impossible to explain in words alone, but if you take a look at the Practical Hacks website, you can see a step-by-step description with pictures that shows how you create your bundle.

The space saving you can get from bundle packing is due to a decreased total number of folds, as each fold in a garment makes it thicker. Therefore, if you can decrease the total number of folds you can decrease the volume of the bundle and increase your chances of arriving at your destination with wrinkle-free clothes.

What if I want to take more than can fit in my case?

We’ve probably all been there at one time or another. After a couple of week’s holiday you’ve ended up buying so much that you can’t fit it all into your case when it’s time to return home.

The obvious thing to do is to buy a new case. Almost all the cases and bags we have, have been purchased as an extra whilst on holiday. It’s not really how you want to be spending that last day of your vacation – shopping around after suitcases - but it’s amazing how many actually do it. Whenever we travel, we take a large empty bag with us that can be folded flat, and fits into one our suitcases. We don’t always use it, and sometimes we still need to buy yet another bag (especially when our son was a teenager and bought sneakers as though there was no tomorrow), but it's there if we need it.

The second alternative is to leave something behind. If you are like me, it’s difficult to leave anything behind. The reason I brought the clothes with me in the first place was probably because they are my favourite clothes anyway – so why would I want to leave them behind. There are however a couple of families driving around with booster seats we left behind after road trips in the United States – we took them with us but didn’t have enough room (or hands to carry them) on the return journey.

Then there is the sitting on your case option. This option usually works if it is only a few items you need to pack, but not advisable if you have packed something fragile!

Friends in the US swear by so called “Packing Cubes” - take a look at them here - different coloured and sized cubes that help you organise your packing and are easy to pack compactly. Yes others swear by "Compression Bags" - the bags you extract all the air out of to make clothes more compact - but suitecases heavy – your clothes aren’t any lighter just because they fill less.

What should I pack?

Photo by getdown

Before even consider packing you should think carefully about what you will take with you. Of course, it all depends on where you are going, how long you will be away, the weather and what you will be doing.

Before you put anything into your suitcase, place everything on the bed or the floor. This gives you a better overview, so you can see whether you’ve forgotten anything, and gives you a last chance to ensure that the colours fit together and you have the right combination of clothes with you. When selecting your clothes think about which clothes keep looking clean no matter how often you wear them, rather than light colours that may already look grubby, the first time you’ve worn them.

My mother always told me, that once you’ve placed all the clothes on the bed, remove 30% of them, and you’ll be probably have the right amount of clothing with you. You should rather take too little than too much – if you need more you can usually buy it, but its frustrating lugging unused clothes around with you!

Another idea is to keep a list of clothes that you took with you (a good idea anyway if you luggage gets lost) and when you get back cross off what you didn’t use. Keep the lists and use them as reference on your next (similar) trip.

How much does it weigh?

Photo by pansonaut

Remember you’ll be carrying or pulling your case around with you, so make sure you spread the weight evenly, with the heavy things at the bottom. Take it on a “test drive” to make sure it won’t be wobbling along and you can pick it up – you may not be able to pull it everywhere.

Nowadays understanding how much baggage you can have with you on a flight is not straightforward. Therefore, remember to check with the airline to see whether:

• there any restrictions to the number of pieces of luggage you can have with you,
• the maximum weight you can take, both per person, but also per piece of luggage  – more and more airlines have a maximum restriction of 23kg on a single piece of luggage –
• whether you have to pay additional charges to check baggage in – something not least the low cost carriers charge for and something that may influence whether you take only hand baggage or one piece of luggage to check-in instead of two.

Pack your toiletries in plastic bags

In the “old days” we always packed our toilet bags in our hand luggage (together with a few extra clothes) so we always had it with us, in case our luggage disappeared. Nowadays with liquid restrictions, many toiletries are packed away in checked in luggage.  

Make sure your toiletries are safely packed in (sealed) plastic bags. There’s nothing worse than opening a case to realise that you’d forgotten to screw the top on you perfume and its now all over your clothes, or the shaving cream exploded, and it’s all over your suitcase!

Plan on your luggage being lost

Phot by zarrsadus

Luggage gets lost, most of it’s found again, but it can be a massive inconvenience and may take several days before it finds you again. Therefore, plan on your luggage being lost.

We always do two things. Firstly, we always take an extra toothbrush, toothpaste and underwear with you in your hand baggage. At least you will be able to get through the first day (especially if you arrive late in the evening). Secondly, if you are more than one person travelling, make sure you spread each persons’ clothes across suitcases, so that if one piece of luggage gets lost, not all that persons’ clothes are lost.

Read more about how you increase your chances that luggage will arrive with you here.

The five buzz words when packing  

To wrap up, there are 5 things you should always have in the back of your mind when packing to go on vacation:

• Weight – how heavy is it, what does the airline allow
• Volume – will there be enough room for whatever you’ll be buying when you get there
• Wrinkles – what will your clothes look like when you get there
• Access – can you find what you want when you need it, without having to empty the whole suitcase
• Plan on loss – plan on your baggage being lost 

Oh, and don’t forget your passport!