Packing Tips

Blue264

lilmrsmullen wrote: »

How to pack, do i fold or roll clothes, which do you find the best method?

I got these tips from a Conde Naste travel writer who I met in Fiji.

Take two full sets of photocopies of your documents...passport, visas, air tickets, hotel reservations, etc. Keep the originals in your handbag, one set of copies in your hand luggage and another in your suitcase.

Iron all the clothes you are taking at home and keep them together in your wardrobe on their hangers. Gather a clump of the hangers together on the rail, open a bin bag under the clothes, pull it up over them, gather it together around the neck of the hangers and tie with a plastic coated wire twist (like garden wire or the kind you would use for freezer bags.)
Fold the clothes over once in your suitcase.
The air trapped in the bin bags stops your clothes from creasing so much.

When you get to the hotel, take off the bin bags, close the shower curtain and hang your clothes on the outside shower rail and the back of the bathroom door. Run the shower on hot for as long as it takes to fill the bathroom with steam. Shut the door and go and chill out with a glass of wine :beer:
After about an hour or so, the vast majority of creases have fallen out of your clothes and you can hang them up in the wardrobe. Job done!
I've done this for 17yrs now and I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to use an iron on holiday.

arnie&caseysma!

One that I would swear by it:

If going on a sun holiday and arriving in the daytime, always pack a bikini and sarong, or swim shorts in your hand luggage. That way when it is still too early to check in you can nip to the loo and have a quick change to jump into the pool without having to dig around for stuff in your suitcase.

No matter where you are flying to, and especially if you have to change planes, pack a change of undies and top in your handluggage. That way if your suitcase goes missing and doesn't arrive until later you will at least have one change of clothing and not stucki having to borrow/buy until your arrives.

moneypooh

Families -
power leads - with all the games consoles/cameras/camcorders and mobile phones being taken away it's a great idea for a family to share. Most power adapters are basically the same with the last part being compatible with a product. eg my camera and camcorder can use the psp charger if I just take the last part that connects direct (I hope I've explained that right?) Same for DS lites etc, just take one charger.

Share toiletries too, always put in plastic bags, freezer bags best as they are usually thicker and prevent spills.

We always take old towels so we can leave them and pack them in these vacuum bags to reduce size, they can become as thin as a shirt!

We always put address labels inside our suitcases BUT we put destination and return airport as opposed to addresses, better security.
Never put your home address on the outside, although your suitcase will come direct, it does allow naughty people to know you are away too. I always put my mobile number and home airport.

If going for a 14 days, just take enough underwear for 7. It's easy to rinse them out and use again.

I always pack shoes/sandals around the edge of the case, they take the knocks better - but not shoes with thin high heels!

Bubble wrap is a great idea and does work well. We had to pack everything in the hold a couple of years ago and ALL survived (cameras/phones/mp3s etc..) So valuable souvenirs should be safer. Saying that I'd never pack bottles of duty free in there. We saw many disasters last year.

We use flourescent bright coloured stickers on our suitcases, it's brilliant you can see them so quickly. We all have different colours so the children can look out for their cases too. Stick them on all sides.

pinkcandyflossprincess

i buy the kids cheap inflatables from poundland , home bargains etc as they are expensive in resort plus i leave them behind on the last day and give them to new arrivals so saving room for my souveniers.
you could also lightly inflate some of these for a bit of padding if you have something to protect.
i also take buckets and spades as well to save the cost away.

2 armbands are usefull packing for booze brought back:rotfl:

moneypooh

I find travel size toiletries can be expensive and they never have what I use regularly so a few years ago I bought some small empty bottles (plastic) from Boots (any similar store sells them) and then refill every time I go away.

If worried about weights of suitcases you can always buy some hand held scales. There are some fancy digital ones and also some cheap ones. I found some on ebay recently, really simple metal ones that weigh upto 44Kg. Don't forget to take them with you!! They take some of the stress of checking in away especially when you've bought home some goodies.

flyp

Any tips on packing? Going holiday tomorrow. Half way packed. Going Florida.

thanks

Pollycat

Don't go over your hold & cabin baggage allowance.

Don't take loads of stuff that you'll not wear or use.

Decant any potions & lotions into small containers, no point taking a 100ml bottle of moisturiser if you're not going to use it all.

Don't pack valuables in hold luggage.

Check your specific airline's rules on whether you can take one or 2 pieces of hand luggage.

Incapuppy

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=87&highlight=packing

[Deleted User]

Roll your clothes to fit them in your case tighter...

davetrousers

Remember that there will be shops there that you can buy stuff in.