It has been a little over a year since I started a journey
of non-stop weekly travel for my first big-person job and it has been an
amazing experience. But with amazing experiences come a lot of growing pains
and mistakes along the way. Learning how to live out of suitcase became a
reality that I had to adjust to and adding vacation on top of that does not
make it any easier! In fact, I have an upcoming Eurotrip and 2 weeks of
business sandwiched around that so learning how to pack for nearly 5 weeks will
be an interesting one.
Over a year of frequent travel, I’ve picked up a few lessons here and there to make travel easier and wanted to share them with you all today.
1. Compose your outfits before you pack them.
Composing your outfits will give you time to think about
what you’ll wear every day. This saves a LOT of room in your luggage,
especially when you have to travel for weeks at a time and live out of a
suitcase. It visually lets you see what goes well together so you don’t regret
going to work in that skirt and top combo you thought looked good, or forget to
pack pants (speaking from experience here).
2. All the carry-on!
Having only carry-on is probably the most convenient way to
travel. Your luggage never gets lost and you’re never left clothes less (unless
you just didn’t bother packing them). Nothing breaks in your luggage because
the airplane crew threw it from the top of the ramp down to the ground and you
never have to wait at baggage claim. Less is definitely more when it comes to
frequent travel!
3. Hotel irons SUCK and then some. Consider a travel steamer.
If working in a professional environment, it’s important to
make sure you go to work looking fresh and professional. The last thing you
want is to show up with clothes that looked like you balled up in the back of
your car from a month ago and found right before heading to the office. But
have no fear! There are irons in every hotel room!... But they also really
suck. Suck cannot even describe how much they suck. I’ve had times where I took
over 15 minutes to iron a dress shirt only to find out that I ironed the
ironing board pattern onto the shirt because the ironing board cover was so
thin. Since this mishap happened a couple of times, I finally invested in a
travel steamer and now it takes me less than a minute to de-wrinkle my clothes.
I highly recommend it!
I purchased this steamer off Amazon that I've been using
quite frequently and its been great so far: PurSteam 850 Watt Fabric Steamer
4. You can leave a bag at your hotel if going back and forth every week.
If traveling on a long-term client project and you have
plans to stay at the same hotel week after week, you’ll soon realize that many
people leave a weekly bag of essentials. I find it useful to leave a gym bag
filled with items you really want to bring but don’t want to kill all the space
in your luggage like running shoes, soaps/shampoos, travel steamer, etc. The
only issue is that it starts getting too convenient and you’ll eventually start
to move into your hotel and empty out your apartment, true story.
5. Make a basic list of essentials
If you’re new to the weekly travel gig, you may make some
pretty dire mistakes a few times… like forget to pack pants and arrive onsite
with only leather jeggings (let me tell you about how fun that work week was).
To prevent this and other similar mishaps, make an essential list of things you
need every day but could easily overlook while packing. I’m looking at you,
undies, deodorant, belt, and toothbrush!
6. Get Global Entry/TSA-Pre
If you’re anything like me, you’re probably arriving at the
airport just as the plane is boarding because us consultants are busy people.
Do yourself a favor and get expedited through security, especially if travel is
going to be a frequent thing. Global entry is also amazing when coming back
from a foreign country as you can skip the line at customs. No shoving to get
yourself off the plane first and bolting towards security to skip a 1 hr+ wait
necessary.