Travel Advice That Will Make Your Life Easier
As travel restrictions slowly ease for Canadians, many of us are ready for a long-awaited vacay. Whether you’ve got plans to travel for business or pleasure, the goal is always to have the most painless travel experience possible. One of the most stressful experiences of my life was opening my passport hours before my flight to Paris to discover that it had expired. There was no way I was missing that trip, and luckily with the help of Google, I was able to find the documents I needed to get an emergency passport. It was a race to the clock as the process takes a few hours and Service Canada was about to close for the weekend, but by some miracle I made it onto a flight that same day. Now, I’m writing this so you can learn from my mistakes and not deal with completely avoidable chaos. My #1 advice, of course, is to check your passport expiry date well in advance! Once you’ve got that covered, here’s what else you can do…
Before Your Trip
When you’re planning your trip, use Google Maps to create a custom map for your destination (Menu → Your Places → Maps → Create Map). Pin locations such as your hotel, attractions you want to see, and restaurants you want to try. This is one of the most efficient methods to plan your trip as you can group attractions geographically and plan out your days accordingly. It is also great because you can use your map offline, so no worries if you want to save on data fees. Here is an example of my Paris map:
Once you’ve got your days planned out, make sure to check the COVID requirements for your destination and start packing!
What to Pack
A big pain point with travel is not knowing what clothes to take. Many people end up overpacking and won’t even wear some of the things they take. From someone who notoriously overpacked, I found that the best way to avoid it is to plan out your outfits before packing. Planning ahead will also save you time on your trip as there will be no time wasted choosing what to wear. Think about the activities you will be doing on your trip, and build your outfits around basics that you can style multiple ways.
Here is a sample packing list for a week long trip:
2 tops
1 button up
1 pair of jeans
1 pair of trousers
1 skirt
1 dress
1 sweater
With just those items, you can build a number of outfits.
These outfits are based on my personal style, but the beauty of it is that you can completely customize it to fit yours! The reason it works so well is because I stuck to neutral colours, so every piece matches with everything and allows for endless outfit combos.
How to Pack Efficiently
Instead of folding, try rolling up your clothes to save space and avoid wrinkles. Utilize every inch of your luggage. Pack small items like underwear and socks inside shoes, hats, purses, etc. If you’re still struggling to make room, invest in packing cubes. These allow you to compress your clothes into a small compartment and leave them neatly folded or rolled.
Keep your essentials and at least one outfit in your carry on in case your luggage gets lost.
Lastly, weigh your bag before you get to the airport. There's nothing worse than arriving at the airport only to find that your bag is overweight.
Need help putting together outfits for your next trip? Get in touch and book a complimentary style consultation.