Traveling light can be a real challenge, yet it makes a lot of sense. If your airline charges for hold baggage, you can save quite a bit of cash by carrying only a cabin bag. Plus a lighter bag means a lighter load for you to carry or pull! If you´re checking in bags, traveling light on the outward journey also means that you have spare room to bring back holiday purchases! So follow these tips for traveling light …
The key to traveling light is to pack versatile garments that can be used for different outfits. You might have a dress that you love, but if it has a very distinctive pattern then you won´t be able to give it different looks. Pack items that can be used for different occasions, and easily changed with a scarf or a belt. Also choose clothes that can be worn with other items in your case.
You´re on holiday, not in the middle of a photoshoot. So why would you need to take your entire makeup bag? Keep it simple and just take a few key items, such as tinted moisturiser, waterproof mascara and lipgloss. Better still, have your eyelashes tinted before you go – then you won´t even need to pack mascara!
This is one of the sneakiest tips for traveling light, and one that quite a few people try when they travel with hand luggage. Put on as many layers as you can bear while you´re actually travelling, and you won´t need to pack as much in your bag. However, this tip is probably best avoided during hot weather, unless you want to feel like you´re in a mobile sauna!
There is one big advantage to traveling light: you will almost certainly find that you don´t need or use half of what you thought you would. So don´t pack all sorts of things ´just in case´. Your arms and back will thank you for not forcing them to work too hard!
When it comes to saving space, miniature versions of toiletries are your friend. The only full-size product you are likely to need is sun cream, if you are visiting a warm or hot country. Otherwise, many manufacturers offer travel-sized versions of shampoo, shower gel and soap; there are also some lovely kits designed to save you space in your case.
If, once you arrive, you decide that you really need a particular item, then there´s no need to fret and wish that you´d packed it after all. Unless you´re traveling to the back of beyond, you can easily pick up just about anything you need at your destination. I´m not normally an advocate of buying cheap, disposable items, but this is one occasion where it can make sense.
Traveling light is easier when you remember that few things are actually genuinely necessary. Medication, passport, cash, credit cards, a camera and a change of clothes are what is most needed. Anything else is just window-dressing. So first pack what you most need; after that, don´t just fill up the space because it´s there, but think hard about what you are really going to use.
Most of us pack far more than we need or use, and end up wishing that we´d left most of it at home. So even if you´re not one of those people who can pack everything you need for a two-week trip into a bag the size of a cellphone, it´s worth following these tips for traveling light; you may need to be a bit ruthless but will it really spoil your trip if you leave a certain outfit at home? Of course it won´t! Have you any wonderful tips for traveling light?
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