Travel and packing tips no matter your destination

11 min readJun 12, 2022

Today I’m sharing things I’ve learned traveling to diverse destinations, ranging from Caribbean scuba resorts to China to countries all over Europe.

I usually write a lot about Spain because, well… I live here. I was originally inspired to write this article because I recently saw a Facebook post by a young woman. She was planning on bringing two suitcases on her first trip to Europe because she “needed” a different outfit and matching shoes for every day of the trip. Then this morning, I was chatting with a friend who’s planning a trip to Costa Rica. I shared my pre-trip checklist with her but mentioned it was pretty specific to us. She responded that 90% of it worked for her and it was a great start for an article. So here we go…

There are two big areas of focus for every trip:

All the chores and tasks that must be done before you leave, especially if you have pets and plants.
Deciding what to take/not take with you.

If you are a seasoned traveler, these two things might be a piece of cake. They pretty much are for us these days. When we first started traveling, however, we were inexperienced and definitely made some blunders, both in pre-trip prep and in what we packed.

1) All those chores

Everyone has different things they must take care of before leaving home for any length of time. I can’t begin to address those, but I’ll share our list. We keep a Google Docs spreadsheet with the following on it, as well as a few entries that come and go, depending on the nature and length of the trip. There’s one column for me, and one for Eric where we can check rows off as we complete them. Some rows apply to both of us and some only to one or the other.

Here’s a compressed version of the row contents (sans columns). We add and delete items all the time, as needs change or we think of new things, based on previous trips (and mistakes). So although the checklist was once in alphabetical order, it’s now in “hey what about…” order.

I’m certainly not going over all of these, and most are self-explanatory. Here are a couple of key points that might not be as clear:

Airport parking reservation — at least in our case, if we reserve and prepay for airport parking we get a 40% discount. Well worth having signed up as a member. Check the parking garage at your preferred airport to see if you can do the same.
Check tipping culture at destination — you want to know before you’re sitting in a foreign restaurant if the expected tip is 10%, “round up to the nearest dollar”, nothing at all, etc. Same for taxis, hotel workers, bartenders, and so on. Learn the cultural norm ahead of time.

Email bank/CC about trip dates — this one “bit us” hard the first time we traveled. If your bank or credit card company sees your card suddenly being used in another country, they may suspect fraud and lock your card. Always let them know ahead of time where you’re going and the dates you’ll be traveling. Also be aware that some US cards won’t work here at all, such as those without a security chip.
Exchange purses — I take the minimal amount possible. I bought a tiny purse for €11 from H&M that has a cross-body, chain strap and a sturdy zipper, making it secure. I leave 99% of my everyday purse items at home and only put the truly necessary items in my travel purse (ID, travel credit card, passport, earplugs, comb). Note that an expensive travel purse might be more secure, but it also potentially makes you more of a target.

Required paperwork for airline — especially these days, you might need special paperwork (e.g., vaccine certificate, tourist visa), which must be provided to the airline. Be sure to check well ahead of time what your chosen airline and destination country/countries require.
Note to house sitter — even if you use the same person every time, there are almost always things that are different, such as an animal on medication, behavioral changes to monitor in case an animal is getting sick, or even new plants to be watered. Be sure to keep your house sitter up to date.
Place pipe in closet door — this one is unique to us, but I left it so I could make a point. We have a very shy cat who mostly lives in my closet. I leave the sliding door partway open so she can come and go. When we travel, we use a small piece of PVC pipe as a spacer to ensure the house sitter doesn’t accidentally close the door on our cat. Every home has these types of idiosyncrasies. If they aren’t on your checklist, they’re easy to forget.
Power bricks & cables — if you’re like me, you use your phone as your camera. There’s nothing like being at a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime destination and see your phone battery at 6%. We now carry two different power bricks with us. The smaller one is lighter and easier to tuck in my purse, but the bigger one lasts much longer and can simultaneously charge two phones. They have proven to be worth their weight in gold.

Turn off roaming on phone — unless you have a good international plan (beware that some of those plans end up costing you a fortune) don’t use your phone anywhere that you don’t have access to wifi. To protect yourself, turn off roaming as soon as you board the plane. That way your phone won’t automatically connect via roaming as soon as you land. We once got a bill for a couple hundred bucks thanks to this one.

Making a pre-trip checklist like ours that applies to you can make the days before you leave much less stressful and more organized. Having columns you both can check off completed items helps ensure that everything gets done by someone and nothing gets done twice.

2) What to pack/what not to pack

Suitcase contents can vary wildly, depending on your destination and plans. Our suitcases for diving trips in the Caribbean had very different contents than when the destination was the Czech Republic or Austria, for example.

The suitcase itself

First, you don’t need a designer suitcase, but get a good one that is properly sized for the airline you’ll be flying most of the time. I personally prefer the “spinner” type, where all four wheels swivel. You can walk beside it or pull it behind you. I also prefer one that opens in the middle, so I can divide clothes between sides, and later in the trip use one side for dirty clothes and one for fresh items. I don’t like backpacks because they are hard on my back and neck, and they can cause my clothes to become sweaty and wrinkled.

What to pack

Here are my standard recommendations for what to put inside the suitcase:

Stick to only a couple of colors, so everything can be mixed and matched. Don’t worry, no one is going to remember you wore an outfit more than once. If you’re traveling with others, they’re doing the same thing.

Buy lightweight T-shirts (this applies to men and women) to wear under your outer clothes. T-shirts are easy to wash and fast to dry in a hotel room and they protect your outer clothes and keep them clean, so you can wear them multiple times.
Speaking of laundry, pack a few clothespins and S-hooks to use in the room. There often isn’t a suitable place to dry clothes you’ve washed in the bathroom sink. Clothespins and S-hooks can be used with closet hangers or towel bars.
Shoes: You shouldn’t need more than 3 pair. Wear one good pair of shoes and pack another. Alternate them every day. Switching out shoes every day lets the shoes dry out and gives pressure points on your feet a break. The third pair should be something you can wear for dinner or other times when you won’t be doing the whole “walking all day” thing. Lightweight flats/ballet slippers/Mary Janes work well. And they don’t take up much room. One tip: pack all shoes individually in small plastic bags, like those in the produce section at the grocery store. They keep shoe soles away from clothes.

If you’ll be in multiple climates, layer, layer, layer. Pack a lightweight turtleneck. Under that is your t-shirt. On top you can wear a sweater, then a jacket. These multiple layers can quickly be added/eliminated as you change climates, so you’re comfortable wherever you go.
For women: if you plan to tour any cathedrals or mosques, pack a scarf. Many religious sites still require women to cover their head and you probably don’t want to use one from their “loaner basket”. Be aware that some strongly orthodox places might even make you wear a wrap-around skirt over jeans/trousers, like I had to do in Kyiv Ukraine. I’m not recommending hauling around a skirt just in case, simply offering a heads-up.

What not to pack

Heels, especially in Europe. Sidewalks can be uneven and there’s a lot of cobblestone. Even if you’re going out for the evening, you can get away with wearing the lightweight flats or slippers.

A hairdryer. Hotels have them, and if you’re traveling from the US, yours won’t work in a lot of other countries. If you need a curling or straightening iron, consider getting a travel-sized one. They’re smaller and lighter.
A travel iron. Same as above. Hotels have these.
Anything with a “quirky message” on it. First, it makes you stand out, which can make you more of a target for pickpockets and scammers. Second, it might be offensive or insulting to the residents of your destination. No point in making the natives angry if you’re just trying to have a good time.
Different jewelry for each outfit. I made this mistake once because I love wearing necklaces and earrings that “go” with an outfit, and I have a LOT of both. I bet I added at least 3 pounds to my suitcase because of all the chains, pendants, glass beads, etc. Don’t bother with jewelry at all, or just take a couple of (inexpensive) things that can work with most outfits. It probably goes without saying to leave expensive or heirloom jewelry at home (other than your wedding ring).

Any article of clothing you plan to wear only once, or any clothing that is dry clean only, unless it’s for a specific and special event (i.e., a wedding or fancy dress gala).

Additional tips

Pack light enough to avoid having to check a bag if possible. I’ve gotten good enough to not need to check a bag unless it’s a month long trip that includes multiple climates.
Always keep medicines in your carry on. You can survive without all of your clothes for a day or two while the airline tracks down a wayward suitcase, but trying to replace prescription medicines in a foreign country is a nightmare (ask me how I know this one).
Roll your clothes instead of folding them. You can fit more into the suitcase and they’ll be less wrinkled. Some travel sites recommend compression bags, and I did try them. They’re a hassle, however, if you’re moving locations every few days, as we often do. After two trips using them, they went to Goodwill. Rolling everything is faster and easier.

If you’re traveling with someone else, consider dividing clothes between suitcases — half in each. If one checked suitcase goes missing, you both still have half of your clothes.
Speaking of which, tuck one change of clothes into your carry on, just in case you and your suitcase do decide to go on different adventures.
Keep your toiletries to a minimum but definitely pack a few adhesive bandages (plasters to my British readers). Walking for hours can lead to blisters or sore spots, and a well-placed bandage can save you the next day.
It’s a good idea to pack 2–3 laxative pills and 2–3 pills for stopping diarrhea (i.e., Imodium), in case changes in diet, spices, and even tap water cause your system to either shut down or go “gates wide open”.
Use drawstring or zipper pouches for things like power supplies and cables. This keeps them together and keeps them from getting lost in the bottom of your bag.

Don’t trust all of your paperwork (ID, vaccine certificate, boarding pass, hotel confirmation, etc.) to only your phone. Print out copies of everything. Phones get stolen and dropped. You may run out of battery (unless you have a brick). Also, make sure digital copies are actually on your phone (in Notes or Photos or someplace easy to access). Don’t be dependent on your phone connecting as soon as you land. Eric once put all our documents in Dropbox then spent an hour after we landed trying to connect so he could access our hotel reservation. You don’t want to miss a flight or have to sit around a destination airport because your phone got stubborn.
Put a card or printed sheet of paper with your itinerary and contact information inside each suitcase. Sometimes those dangly luggage tags get torn off during baggage handling. Having your ID inside your bag ensures it can still find its way back to you. A recent post in a Facebook travel group recommended getting an Apple AirTag or similar to put inside checked bags. That way you can trace its location yourself should it disappear.

As I publish today I am in a hotel room in Copenhagen, Denmark, starting another two-week trip, this time around the Scandinavian countries. And yes, I used my checklist to help get ready. I still make mistakes, though. I cleaned out my carry on “bathroom bag” and one of the things I removed was a sleep mask, because I’ve never worn it.

This morning I jolted awake to the bright sun sneaking around the black-out curtains. I was sure I’d overslept for meeting friends for breakfast. I jumped up to check. Nope: 4 am. It’s almost the summer solstice and we are in the land of the midnight sun. At the end of this trip, the mask goes back into the bag.

Image credit our waitress at the Park Inn by Radisson in Copenhagen, Denmark

The above brings up one last tip: make notes during your trip of things you didn’t use or wish you’d brought. Add/delete them from your checklist as soon as you get home. This way, each trip is a bit more organized and your suitcase a bit more functional.

I hope this article helps you feel more confident in preparing for a trip and more relaxed during the trip. Feel free to suggest other tips or ask any additional questions you may have.