Pack Smart

Smart travelers seem to instinctively know how to travel with less and still look great. Remember that efficient packing will save you time, energy, and hassles while traveling.

Decide What You Need:
Is this a business trip on which you need to impress prospective clients? Or is this a vacation where you will be enjoying a cruise or go to a resort, where nice casual clothing is in order? Will you be seeing the same people during the trip, or meeting new ones every few days? As solidify your itinerary, make a schedule of your days and evenings, and next to each activity note acceptable outfits, including shoes and accessories. When you do this, you can easily determine the clothing you will need for the trip.

Write it Down:
Make a list of what you are going to pack. Pack early - don't wait for the last minute (you can even pack a week ahead.) Lists can be used twice - once to pack and once to repack at the end of your trip. This way you will not forget anything. (And just in case your luggage disappears while you're in transit, you will have a record of what your belongings.)

Find Out About Local Customs:
Find out ahead of time what local dress codes include. In some resort areas, swim suits and coverups are acceptable, while in others dress casual or even formal attire is needed. If you are going abroad check with local tourist offices or find a good guidebook to instruct you. European dress codes often differ from ours. For instance conservative attire is needed to visit many cathedrals in Italy.

Remember that Comfort is As Important or More Important than Sytle:
Probably every one will think about comfortable shoes. Also think about the fact that you will probably want to wear each item you bring several times during your trip, so you're better off with clothing you know and love -- clothes that are comfortable and you know are easy to care for and do not wrinkle easily. If you buy any new garments or shoes, wear it a couple of times to make sure that it is comfortable and easy care.

Minimalism is Not a Bad Thing:
Keep trans plans in mind. You do not want to spend your trip toting heavy luggage over long distances. Consider how you're getting to your destination and how you'll be getting around once you arrive. Packing light is less critical on road trips and staying in one place than when you're flying on an airplane and moving from destination to destination once you land.

Think Wash & Wear:
You can pack far fewer items if you feel comfortable doing some light laundry in a hotel sink or if you will be staying in one place long enough to have laundry and dry cleaning done during your trip.

Wardrobe Looks:
Stick to one basic wardrobe look - city chic, or sporty casual. Choose clothes that you can wear at least twice in a week (three times is better). Make sure that all your tops go with all your bottoms and all your bottoms work with all your shoes, mixing and matching can yield plenty of fresh looks; just add differenct accesories for a new look.

Also try to build your wardrobe around just two or three colors that complement each other, preferably two neutrals and one accent, such as black, white, and heather blue. If everything goes together, you'll get more outfits out of fewer pieces. (But don't pair black with navy on the same trip; each requires its own accessories, and the two colors are not interchangeable.) And remember that prints and dark colors don't show spots and soil as quickly -- think black T-shirts rather than white ones.

Common Sense Rules:
Pack items that are lightweight, wrinkle resistant, compact, and washable. Clothes made of fabric with built-in wrinkles tend to travel wonderfully. Choose an outfit and fold a piece of it's fabric between your fingers for a couple of minutes. If it refuses to crease, it will probably come out of your suitcase looking fresh.

Check the Weather:
Start checking the temperatures for your point of destination one week before your trip. Up to date weather info allows you to revise your packing list appropriately. Be sure to consider the humidity level: Gulf coast scorchers feel completely different than 95 degree days in Phoenix, where the air is dry.

Need more space? What can you leave behind? Hairdryers and clothes irons. Almost every hotel room (and hostel) in the world has these items to lend.

Think Plastic! Here's why: friction causes wrinkling, plastic reduces friction. It's that easy. The best way to utilize this basic plastic physics is with dry-cleaner bags. All hanging items should be packed in individual bags (one outfit per dry-cleaner bag). Clothes will arrive in a perfectly preserved state. Another great plastic tip: zip-top baggies. Use these for dirty shoes, shampoo bottles that might leak, or anything else you want to isolate from your good clothes.

Roll It! Rolling is a a super space saver and reduces wrinkles for jeans and T-shirts. Take a pair of jeans and fold them lengthwise so that the legs are stacked on top of each other. Now, starting from the cuff, roll your way up. For T-shirts, place face down, fold arms back (this forms a long rectangle), fold lengthwise, and roll up.

Fold it! For sweaters and other non T-Shirt tops, the square fold is best. Button all buttons and lay shirts face down on a bed or flat surface. Smooth away wrinkles. Fold material in at the shoulders and lay arms flat along the body so that you create a roughly two-inch overlap of material on both sides. Now fold up a third of the material from the bottom and overlap a third from the top.

Delicate situation. What to do with your underwear and lingerie? Buy inexpensive mesh laundry bags (gals use them all the time for hosiery); they're made of nylon and are lightweight. Stow your underwear in here. If your bag is inspected, no one need touch your underwear since an inspector will be able to see into the bag. Socks, by the way, should be rolled up and placed inside shoes or used to fill gaps in your bag (see below).

Pack it away. Now take all your tidily groups garments and put them outside your bag. Your goal is to use them to create a luggage puzzle where no empty spaces remain and items won't shift. Lay your bag flat and put folded clothes in piles down the center. Put your toiletries kit at what will be the bottom of your bag when it's standing (this should now be the heaviest item in your bag; in this position it won't crush other items). Rolled clothes fit into the spaces around the stacked clothes. Single shoes should be tucked into remaining openings (they do not need to remain paired, you can figure which ones goe together later). Socks fill in remaining holes. Now aren't you one smart traveler!