My Top Tips for Travelling Light on Your Next Trip

Who doesn’t love the opportunity to travel? You get to take in interesting sights, experience new cultures, and leave the day-to-day routine behind. While travel can certainly create space in your busy life and offer a sense of freedom, baggage might be weighing you down when you head out for an adventure. 

If you’re a traveler who tends to lug a large, heavy suitcase on a week-long trip, restructuring your packing habits can make a big difference in your suitcase size. We often pack way more than we need (and still don’t have everything we want). In this blog post, I offer some helpful packing tips so you can go on your next trip with nothing more than a carry-on bag, but still feel like you have everything you need. 

What Are the Benefits of Packing Light?

Apart from the fact that it’s just no fun handling a heavy suitcase, there are so many more reasons to travel light. First, you won’t experience the pain of losing your checked bag as you’ll always have your carry-on luggage with you. Second, having fewer clothing choices means you don’t have to waste time wondering what you should wear while you could be out relaxing or having fun. Finally, when you pack light, you have to pack with intention and only bring what you need.

How to Choose the Right Clothes for Your Trip

It’s easy to get carried away and bring half the clothes in your closet. However, there are a few easy ways to ensure you can travel light, look great, and always have just what you need.

1. Start Planning in Advance

One of the best things you can do before packing is to plan your outfits in advance. Start by choosing the right clothes for the situation—are you planning a week of adventure that includes hiking and swimming in a lake? Will you be lounging on a beach by day and exploring the city by night? Or perhaps you’re planning a cultural trip that involves theatres and museums? Bring only the clothes that are appropriate for your trip and leave the rest in your closet. 

2. Identify the Clothes You Feel Good In

Try on your clothes and identify the options that look good and make you feel great. You’ll always feel good pulling clothes out of your suitcase that complement your figure and accentuate your best features. Consider the colours that look striking on you as opposed to the ones that look washed out. Put everything that doesn’t work back in your closet, and work only with the clothes you love.

3. Create a Base Wardrobe

Sort through your choices and create a base wardrobe for your trip. Your base wardrobe will vary depending on what you’re doing, but one example is to have a pair of dark jeans that you can wear with a sweater, a casual shirt, and a formal blouse. It’s helpful to consider colour so the garments can be mixed and matched. Then switch the jeans for a skirt with a cool pair of boots—now you have six different outfits for completely different looks! To get a sense of all the outfits you’ll have, lay them out on your bed before putting them into your suitcase.

Pro tip: Take a photo of your base outfits with different layering pieces and accessories so you can reference the images once you arrive at your destination and see all your options.

What About Doing Laundry?

Is there access to laundry during your trip? Also, how long are you planning to stay? For extended trips, instead of bringing a lot of clothing, consider packing laundry packs so you can clean your clothes in the tub. Light-coloured clothing can easily stain, so it's better to choose dark-coloured clothing if you plan to rewear items. Also, bringing several t-shirts or undershirts to wear under clothing will allow you to wear shirts or sweaters multiple times.

Create a Wardrobe You Love with an Image Consultant in Edmonton

If you’d like to learn more about how to pack light and create the perfect base wardrobe, sign up for my Packing Essentials Course. This course comes with detailed instructions and worksheets to arm you with the information to make confident clothing decisions for your trip. On the other hand, if your clothes no longer align with who you are and they don’t work for your lifestyle, book a discovery call with me today. I can help you identify your style personality, and together, we’ll have you looking good and feeling great for your next trip!