Travel bag troubles, packing panic and how you can deal with it!
You know what it’s like when you’ve got to pack your travel bag for a weekend getaway or a short break. It’s stress. For many of us, packing to go away throws up a suitcase load of quandaries…
What to pack?
If you’re only going to be away for a short length of time, most people plump for taking a hand luggage-sized bag or rucksack. So, what should you pack?
Mulling it over, as you pull clothes out of their drawers onto the bed in an ever-increasingly high pile, it might get you thinking of the Queen of packing and travel herself, Judith Chalmers. She was always clocking up the air miles, wasn’t she, so must have been an expert packer, right?
So what would TV’s most famous traveller do?
One quick Google of ‘How does Judith Chalmers pack?’ and bingo. Loads of articles come up. Looks like they are all about how, in the 30 years of presenting holiday programmes, she learned to travel light. Perfect.
Oh hang on, it seems our perma-tanned presenter’s suitcases were so light that they didn’t even include knickers? Eww! Judith Chalmers confesses to going commando?! It seems TV producers told her that light beach holiday outfits meant there was a high risk of VPL (look it up if you don’t know!) on camera, so she took matters into her own hands and dispensed with them altogether.
Just concentrate on packing the essentials
Now you’ve got to try and block that thought from your mind and get back to the business of packing your very own little travel bag. The essentials: PJs, undies (you’re no Judith!), trousers, tops and toiletries.
Toiletries. If you’re flying, this is where it gets complicated, as you spend the next 10 minutes scrabbling around trying to find a re-sealable clear plastic bag, before deciding the freezer bag complete with ‘2 x Ham with mustard on cereal bread’ written on it will just have to do.
Having polished off the sandwiches, you set about finding minuscule doses of things like shampoo and deodorant. How come you can buy a 250ml BO basher for £1, but an 80ml travel size version costs over £2? Of course, the canny amongst us all will have saved teeny tiny bottles and just re-fill them each time they travel. Ho hum, maybe next time.
Take time to take stock of what you’ve packed
With everything now picked out for your trip, it’s time to take stock. You may well have read somewhere once that you should compile everything you think you want to take and then go back and half what you’ve selected. This is because you always think you need more stuff than you actually do when you’re away.
To fold or to roll? That is the question
At this critical moment, it might suddenly occur to you, having been somewhat distracted by that Judith revelation, that you completely forgot whether it should be fold or roll when it comes to packing clothes. You decide to go for the latter and soon the job is done. The bag is packed.
Feeling slightly nervous about how little you’ve now packed (Will it rain? Will it be warm?), this is the time to remind yourself that you’re only going away for a couple of nights and it’ll be OK.
At the end of the day, there’s no need to panic about packing…
Let’s face it, it’s not like there aren’t any shops where you’re going! So, even if you have forgotten to pack something, you can just buy it. And once you’ve got that drummed into your head, packing for your holidays seems a lot more relaxed. Bon voyage!
Get inspiration for your getaways and weekends away with our extensive short break collection!
