“As long as I’m not living out of a suitcase, I’m happy.” - Jacquelyn Jablonski
My life is a big trip. Since 2009, I’ve been out of my homestate over twenty times, culminating in what is easily the biggest road trip of my life - my five-month stint as a touring intern with the Institute for Cultural Communicators! This trip was five months in an unpredictable van with three pieces of luggage - a duffel bag, a garment bag and a purse. If that doesn’t teach you how to be a great packer, nothing else will! Before my tour, I used to stress for days about how to bring all the stuff I was positive I would need (read: I like to prepare for the worst by bringing absolutely everything I would possibly need, which comes in handy when it isn’t being a giant pain as it comes to packing). Now, I’ve discovered the perfect system for how to be an excellent packer and I come to share my extensive (cough, or something, cough) experience and knowledge of packing with the adventurous travelers of Gotta Mosey!
Here are a few probable packing problems you may encounter.
Scenario: Your trip is taking you from the land of Sun and Spring to the desolate wilderness of winter. Umm, how is all your cold weather gear supposed to fit in that suitcase?
Solution: First of all, why in the world are you leaving your springtime paradise?! If you don’t like the warmth, you could always send it here! (One of the many reasons I am SO excited to be headed to California in a couple weeks! SUNSHINE. NO BLIZZARDS.) If you decide that you still want, for some unavoidable reason, to travel to the land of frostbite, here are a few packing tips.
- Wear your thickest items on the plane. Poofy sweaters, clunky boots, and your winter coat are all good items to NOT pack. If you layer right, you won’t even have to wear it all for the whole flight - a coat or sweater can come off and be stowed under your seat.
- Roll clothes tightly (you can even use a strip of blue painters’ tape to keep things tightly rolled) and fit those into the bottom of the suitcase. The heavier things can weight them down and make it possible to get your suitcase shut all the way.
Scenario: Your shoes are all made out of brick, you had to bring four gold bars and a small elephant in your suitcase. Fifty pounds? Not gonna touch that.
Solution: As unlikely as it is that you’ll be packing gold bars and elephants, suitcase weight is a trouble for all of us uber-prepared (read: frightfully overprepared) packers. So before you despair of needing a forklift for your suitcase, try these tips:
- Start with a smaller suitcase. You’ll be surprised how much you can fit in, and a compact space means less likelihood of running over your weight limit.
- Consider how much heavy material you’ll need to pack. If you need three pairs of shoes, a full bottle of shampoo instead of a travel size, and a canister of lemonade powder (don’t laugh - this is a true story and the lemonade almost put me over my weight limit), you’ll want to consider how to pack your other heavy things. Can you put some of them in a carry-on? Bring lighter weight clothes? Pick some of it up when you arrive?
- Fifty pounds is a LOT. I traveled for five months and my suitcase was only forty-five pounds. You can do it. It’s very possible.
Scenario: Uh-oh. Split zipper. Clothes everywhere. Not. Good.
Solution: True story. The first time I traveled out of state my zipper split early in the trip and I carried around a messy suitcase for two weeks. Bad news and so embarrassing. While it is a trick to deal with a split zipper, here are a few ways to work with a broken suitcase:
- Carry safety pins and pin shut the opening to your suitcase. Use many pins!
- Repack your suitcase so that it’s less full and it doesn’t push the zipper out too much.
Scenario: You need to pack a jar of vinegar/live marmoset/dozen bottles of pills/bee hive and now your bag is sloshy/squealing/rattling/buzzing. You’re starting to get worried that you’re going to get kicked out of the airplane. Forcibly. While in the air. Unkindly.
Solution: Hey, we don’t judge here. If you need to pack something totally bizarre, that’s okay. We understand that. I’ve possibly packed weirder. Try these things to pack your strange luggage:
- If it makes noise, package it in socks, or if it is too large, a piece of clothing. This will lessen suspicion in your odd luggage.
- If it’s drippy or breakable, wrap it in a plastic bag, and try to lay it in an additional layer that you don’t mind getting a little messy (a towel, pillowcase, or inner pocket work well.)
- If it’s alive... um... Sorry. I really have no help for you there. If it’s alive, make sure I’m not sitting next to you on this plane!
And there you have it, adventurers! Butterfly’s foolproof plan to excellent packing. Keep practicing, and someday, you too may be able to pack like a boss! What are your best packing tips, tricks or terrors? Share them in the comments, because I’m always up to learn more about packing. In the meantime, it’s time to get packing because I
Gotta Mosey!
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