PACKED AND BETTER THAN EVER!

For starters, this is what I call a “duh post”. I do recognize I’m probably writing a post about stuff we all should already know… things that should be common “cents”, but sometimes we, or maybe just I, need a reminder or two. As I was preparing for my week and a half long trip to Germany and the Czech Republic to celebrate the Mr.’s 30^th birthday, my father warned the Mr. of my normal packing habits. Yes, I’m that girl who tends to over pack, although I like to think of it as being prepared. With airlines now charging extra fees, I knew I had to get break this habit…and fast. So, I tapped into my old Container Store Days (my first job) and combined my organization skills to get a week and a half worth of stuff into ONE checked bag + a carry on.

MAKING IT ALL FIT

Pack Basics, Pack In a Color Theme, and Bring Accessories: For this trip, I over packed significantly. At the end of the day, I used jeans as my main basic and stayed in the color theme of burgundy. That way, my accessories complimented the outfits that I created.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Photo Credit: Tiger Mist

Roll Don’t Fold: I don’t know why I ever folded clothes to begin with. Not only does rolling clothes create more space, but it also reduces wrinkles in your clothing; thus, you spend your time exploring a new city/country rather than ironing.

If You Can’t Get More than One Wear Out of It, Leave it At Home: I used to think that I had to wear something different every day. Let me be the first to admit I was stupid. I mean seriously, it’s vacation. No one will say, “hey, did you see {insert your name here} in the same pair of jeans”?  

Wear your Heaviest Shoes: I got this tip from my Dad. It makes your bag lighter and creates more space.

Pack the Heaviest Stuff in Your Carry On

• Pack-It Systems and Travel Space Bags: I didn’t use a Pack-It system on this trip, but I did use the travel space bags for our dirty clothes and travel blanket. I found it to be very helpful in unpacking, because the clean clothes never mixed with the dirty clothes AND…. the dirty clothes went directly from the space bag to the hamperJ.
  
• Pack At Least 3 days in Advanced. Pack at least 3 days in advanced and reexamine your choices the day before you leave. At this point, you should be removing unnecessary items instead of adding last minute oversights. Looking back, I could have removed an extra ten pounds worth of stuff that I never used or wore. Plus, you want to leave additional room for cool stuff you pick up during your travels.
  

On the day of our departure, my bag weighed 43lbs, right under the 50lb limit so no extra fees for me!!! In fact, my Mr.’s bag weighed more than mine did. Coming back was a different story, but doing good things for others allows good things to come your way. Right as my bag was being placed on the luggage scale at the airport, I noticed a woman having trouble lifting her bags. The Mr. did not notice her difficulty lifting, but he helped her because he is a gentleman. We stopped what we were doing to help her. Come to find out, it wasn’t that the bag was heavy, but the woman did not have full use of her arm. No one else in the airport helped her until the Mr. and I saw her. The woman at the check in counter thought what we did was so nice and told us about how people don’t help others too often. Needless to say, she did not charge me for my slightly heavier bag. Being nice to others is free and sometimes it can get you free things!!