Posted on May 13 2014
If you follow my twitter and Facebook feeds you will know that I am a notorious over packer!! I scour the internet for packing tips that I can share but so far have not followed myself!
On our recent family holiday to Portugal I decided I had to practice what I preach and travel with hand luggage alone- scary!!
First thing was to choose the bag, we have a big selection of cabin bags on the website but I finally went with a Hot Pink CabinZero bag.
This was mainly due to the soft sides as I felt I could more easily stuff things in- purely psychological I know! Also it has lots of pockets for things like passports etc. We were travelling with Easyjet so I could not take a handbag as well. (But did pack a small one inside)
The next was to decide what I really needed to take rather than what I wanted to take i.e. the entire contents of my summer wardrobe to give me lots of choice! This necessitated working out what I thought we would be doing.
Realistically we eat in the apartment at least half the time on a holiday- I like the shopping for ingredients and the lazy vibe to the evening. This does not need dressing up for and if I wear the same thing 2 nights in a row well the fashion police will never know.
Eating out is casual so keep to a couple of pairs of casual trousers with tops that can be worn with both (This was excessive- I could have got away with one pair plus the pair I travelled in) – but shoes, how many to take?? Solved that one by buying a nice pair of slipper shoes to go with anything, practical but feminine.
During the day we would be playing golf and tennis plus some walking. This was the challenge!! Sports clothes are ok as they are quite lightweight and I checked that we could wash if necessary. Golf tops and tennis tops are interchangeable so no problem there. The issue was footwear. Solved by wearing trainers on the plane and checked that you could hire golf shoes at the course, far cheaper than the cost of a hold bag. Similarly with equipment, all was available to hire/borrow at the hotel.
Finally I weaned myself off taking my own hairdryer- why do I always to this when there is usually a perfectly good one provided! Also conceded that my hair could survive on week of being washed with hotel shampoo and that Countries with sun have a huge supply of suntan lotions often at better prices, so why pack a heavy toilet bag.
The last thing to go in was the Kindle! No holiday with hand luggage can be achieved without an e-reader especially for a voracious reader like myself.
So how did I manage? Absolutely fine and I came back with things I had not worn!! So for all you over packers out there it can be done!!
0 comments