When planning a trip, there are many things that will cross your mind such as the price, timing, and weather of where you will be going. While all those things are really important, most savvy travelers will also think about how to manage their time once they arrive. No matter how long you have planned your vacation to be, it will always feel like you don’t have enough time to do everything that you wanted to do. One of the best ways to make sure this doesn’t happen to you is to keep your packing simple and light to avoid spending hours putting everything into drawers at your hotel and waking up early on your last day to put it all back into your suitcase. If you get good at packing smart when traveling, you can even avoid having a checked bag and only using a carry-on so you can speed up your time at the airport as well.
What to Pack, What to Buy
One of the best ways to keep your packing as light as possible is to know what is good to bring with you and what you can buy when you get there. There are several obvious things that are regulated by the airlines such as liquids and hazardous chemicals, so you should stop by a drug store to get deodorant and find a place locally that sells wedding sparklers once you get to your hotel since you can’t bring them with you anyways. If bringing a certain item along will cause a problem at the airport, just leave it at home and buy a travel size version when you get there.
However, there are many things you are going to want to bring with you so you don’t spend way too much money. Things like shirts and pants are obviously worth packing, but you can probably get away with only bring a few outfits and washing them at your hotel. Check the amenities before you pack to make sure they have a Laundromat at or near your hotel and you can limit the amount of clothing that you need to pack for your vacation.
Bring Only What You Need
In the end, the art of packing smart when traveling is about balancing what you will certainly need and what you might need. If you aren’t sure if you will need an item or not, just leave it at home unless it is something you won’t be able to find at your destination. It is much easier to spend a few dollars to buy something you didn’t think you would need rather than paying the $50 or $60 to have an additional checked bag at the airport, and this doesn’t even include the time saving you will earn by packing light.