Top Packing Hacks for Travel After Lockdown

The traveller of 2020 has more to worry about than ever before; and that’s before even starting to pack. Very few people enjoy packing their suitcase with concerns about staying within baggage allowances making some spiral into endless back and forth arguments with themselves about what is really necessary to bring on their journey. The holidaymaker of today may also want to bring less on board in their hand luggage. In that case, packing your hold luggage as efficiently as possible just got even more important. Here at Send My Bag, we’ve decided to help you out by releasing this list of our top packing hacks for after lockdown. You’ll find tips to save space, protect your items, as well as some general ground rules when it comes to travelling with luggage. 

To Save Space

We’ve all experienced the dilemma of trying to make room in our suitcases, trying our best to limit what we bring with us and yet somehow our suitcase is still overpacked. The trick here can be the way that you pack, rather than what you pack. Rolling clothes instead of folding them is one way to be more packing-efficient, as it will allow for more space. Put socks on both ends of the rolled clothes, and you’ve got yourself perfect little rolls that won’t budge when your luggage is checked in and put into the cargo hold! As much as we can be savvy about the way that we pack, unfortunately you may have to part ways with some of the items in your suitcase. It’s easy to say bring what you need, but how do you actually decide what you need and what you don’t need? You could start by getting rid any items that won’t necessarily need. Another way is to categorize by the activities that you plan to do on holiday. The best way to fit everything into one bag is to fill every inch of space. However, you don’t want to be jamming each space to a point that it turns into a jumbled mess. Divide up each space in your suitcase for different items and make use of accessories to hold any loose items. You could use a belt to keep a folded pile of clothes together, and as random as it may sound, a shower cap is a great place to store shoes. 

To Avoid Wrinkles, Tangles and Spillages 

The last thing that you want when you open up your suitcase is a jumbled mess of wrinkled clothing, tangled cables, and spillages from liquid bottles that have burst. There are some simple tricks that you can use to stop this from happening, as nobody wants to waste time on their holiday cleaning and tidying! You could put charging cables inside an old sunglasses case or any other sealed case to stop them from tangling. Take the top off any liquid bottles in your toiletries bag and cover the top of the bottles in cling film before putting the lid back to prevent the bottle from leaking. If you have bought clear travel-size containers to put your liquids into, remember to only fill them three-quarters full so that they are less likely to overflow. Another trick is to put clothing items that wrinkle easily into a plastic file folder or you could try the bundle wrapping technique to lessen the amount of creases that you might end up with from folding clothes. This works by using a fixed-sized object, like an organizer pouch that you can fill with soft items. The pouch can act as a “pillow” that you will wrap your clothes around. The key is to wrap the clothes in order, starting with items that don’t wrinkle as easily, so that the wrinkle-prone items end up on the outside of the bundle. 

To Be Prepared for Unpacking

Organising your suitcase means that the task of picking clothes out for each day on your holiday will be a lot easier, saving yourself some time. A general rule is to have the clothes that you think you’ll wear the most at the top of the bag. If you want to be extra organised, you could buy packing cubes for your suitcase. This means that you could have a cube for each category of clothing and if you want to go even more organised, you can get a different coloured cube for each, so that you know exactly where to go for tops, jeans, dresses, skirts and so on.

Other General Tips

Our packing hacks so far link back to the essence of efficient packing, which is to pack in a way that saves the most amount of space, mess and time! There are some other things to bear in mind when you are packing. It’s a good idea to ensure that you are able to easily identify your suitcase at the airport. For example, you could decorate it with keyrings, ribbons or stickers. As a safety precaution, you might want to pack a few clothing items in your hand luggage in case of your suitcase being delayed or worst-case scenario, it is lost. Also, remember to check that your suitcase is within the baggage allowance set by your airline.

A holiday is something that to look forward to, and you don’t want the task of packing to get in the way of this! Don’t forget that sending your luggage ahead with Send My Bag allows you to pack everything you need for your trip and avoid the tight luggage restrictions imposed by budget airlines.