Pack your bags and leave.
If you have a trip planned and you are ready to pack your bags and leave, remember that whether you driving, sailing, flying or hiking there always a limitation on what you want to take in the baggage with you. The solution ? Common sense. You want to travel with little and light as you possible can.
Things to Remember
Try to remember that anything and everything that you take one way, it has to come back and you are the one caring all the bags and remember that you need space to bring those lovely fridge magnets.
Always check with the company that you are flying about baggage sizes and weight limits.
My wife and I created a list of the items that we have to carry regardless of where we are travelling, like:
Medication (if taking any), First aid kit, Painkillers (Ibuprofen or paracetamol), Portable carriage scales (So our bags don’t go over the weight limits), electronic chargers, travel adaptors,
Hand Luggage
In your hand bag you want to have your Passport, any ID card if travelling inside your country, insurance policies or cards for your travel and or medical and automobile insurance, credit cards, some currency of the country that you are visiting, the boarding pass or the tickets, booking confirmation for hotels, parking and addresses and phone numbers of where you’ll be staying, brochures and maps or sat nav if driving, medication.
It will be smart to carry your medication in their original packaging and your prescription to help through the security, phones, tablets and any other electronics so you can remove them at the security area.
Valuable Items
Valuables items? Short answer, do not take them. All your valuables should be locked up in a safe at home or in a Bank and not flying around with thousands of other baggages in and out of airplanes.
It is a good idea to have a list of your items that you are carrying in your trip and to leave a copy at home, in case you need to file a compensation claim if some or all of your items are lost, damage or stolen.
Keep it tidy and do not over pack your baggages, again common sense to use the appropriate size luggage in your trip. If you chose a large baggage the items will move around and easy to damage and wriknle your clothing.
Unpack as soon as you get to your destination and remember that majority of hotels have an iron in the room and if not you can request. Please, do not pack bottles with liquids as shampoos, hair conditioners and so on. Ask your hotel if they provide them and unless you are doing a safari or climbing the kilimanjaro, any town has a pharmacy, market or a convenience store.
Helping you not to stress
Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, again ever leave your luggage unattended, it is a security risk and an easy target for professional thieves in the Airports, train and petrol stations and so on.
I know that you want to show your new Louis Vuitton bag but please, avoid taking expensive brand baggages, expensive bags means more attractive to thieves.
Write a label with your name, address and email and affix inside and outside your bags.
A quick tip, remove anything hanging your baggage that can get caught on conveyor belts.
Recently we bought a bright yellow strip to wrap our baggage so we can easily identify. You can use anything from a bright colour duct tape, a scarf or a lot of unicorn stickers.
If you do that it will make easier to identify if it is lost in transit and keep those anxious travelers with very similar bags from taking your bag from the conveyor.
Once we were stranded in Frankfurt and the company paid our hotel stay and we only had one small hand bag to take with us. To my luch inside that bag were some of my clothes and none of my wife, result my wife had to dress with the same pieces on the next morning.
Our advice always do some cross packaging, and carry some items of clothing in an emergency. That way if yours or your companion luggage are misplaced, you or they’ll have some clothes to get by.
If by any chance, the airline loses your baggage, do not leave the airport without filing a claim, make sure to give them a copy of your destinations and the copy of the items in the bag or bags. Get a copy of the claim and any contact details so you can follow up.
It is a great idea to buy a travel insurance for you and your companion. You never know when you are going to need.
Facts to remember
1) Travel with the smallest possible amount of luggage;
2) Check if the hotel offers laundry services, towels and toiletries;
3) Take outfits only for the duration of your stay and not your wardrobe;
4) Focus in a central color for your clothes so you can combine all pieces, including footwear;
5) Remember to check the weather of your destination;
6) Look for some info about your destination here at the Foreign Travel Advice in UK: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice
Enjoy your holidays and remember it starts with the preparation, fail to plan is plan to fail.
