We talk a lot about packing here. Not only does the Adventures with Sarah team plan and organize travel for our fellow travelers all over the world, but we also regularly go on our own adventures. Packing the right items, in the right way, is such a crucial part of any trip, and we all have our own tried and tested methods. We’re sharing our top packing tips with you here to help make your next adventure even more straightforward and ensure nothing important gets forgotten.

Sarah’s Number 1 Top Packing Tip

Let’s start off with Sarah’s all-time most useful tip – weigh everything. 

This is the most important tip we can share, and is something we’ve all adopted over the years. It’s surprising to see the difference in weight between different pieces of clothing, even if they look similar, and will really help you decide which items to bring and how many.

Knowing the individual weight of everything from t-shirts to jackets means you can then choose whatever is lightest and ensure that your bag contains the most useful pieces of clothing. 

Related to this, another weight-related tip from Sarah is to keep your bag to whatever weight you can lift over your head if you’re doing carry-on only. The airline maximum weight for carry-on bags may be 20lbs but you may not be able to lift that comfortably. If you’re planning on checking luggage, it’s still important to check that you can lift this as you’re likely to need to carry it for short periods of time.

Organizing Your Luggage

One thing that the whole Adventures with Sarah team have fully embraced is using packing cubes to organize our luggage. 

There are lots of different styles of packing cube out there, from simple zipped bags to ones that can be compressed or have a waterproof lining, so will definitely be able to find a style that works for you.

Warren, who is part of our Marketing team, always uses his packing cubes to organize his packing into different categories, using one for tops, another for pants, one for underwear and so on. This way, you know exactly where to look for what you need when you’re on the road and don’t have to go through all of them. He also suggests using multiple smaller packing cubes rather than a few large ones, as these are easier to pack.

As well as using packing cubes for your clean clothes, Sara in the Marketing team always adds a couple of empty cubes to keep dirty laundry in as this accumulates through a trip. This ensures that clean and dirty items are kept separate.

Organizing Personal Items and Tolietries

Sara also always keeps her absolute essentials in her smaller, personal bag. This includes things like her Kindle, a charging cable, medication and the items that would be a real pain to replace somewhere unfamiliar. Even when doing carry-on only, your larger bag can sometimes not be immediately at hand, so having these vital items with you is a good idea.

Marketing team member Lola’s main organizing trick is having a second, small version of everything she needs in a wash bag, i.e toothbrush and paste, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, deodorant, so she doesn’t need to pack and unpack these between trips. She can just sling the whole thing in and out of her bag, replacing individual items as needed.

Clothing and Footwear Top Packing Tips

Dawn, our Business Manager, swears by packing so that all your clothing items match each other. This approach means that you’re never stuck with clean clothes that don’t work together to make an outfit.

Similarly, Sarah always recommends picking one or two pairs of versatile shoes that can be dressed up and are also good for walking or being on your feet for a long time. Nice black sneakers are always a great choice, along with a classic walking sandal in neutral colors. Never sacrifice comfort for style – we’ve all learned this lesson the hard way.

One great tip from Andrew, one of our Directors, is to think about what you will wear on travel days specifically. If you have a long flight or bus ride, chances are you may get a little sweaty and not smell too fresh by the end of the journey, so wear an older or less good top rather than one of your nicer options. This way you aren’t wasting an outfit that would be better at a later point, plus if something spills it doesn’t matter as much.

However long or short your trip is, or wherever you are going, Lola’s top tip is to create a digital packing list. You can use this time and time again, adapting it to the specific adventure you’re preparing for while ensuring the essential items are on it. If you travel a lot, Lola suggests duplicating the main list and editing it for specific types of trips, from domestic work trips to long summer vacations.

Useful Items to Bring With You

As well as your clothes, shoes, and toiletries, there are always some additional items that are helpful to include. Sometimes these will be specific to your destination, such as an umbrella, gloves, a beach towel or insect repellent, but others are more universal.

Alyson, who handles all the administrative elements of organizing our experiences, always takes an expandable purse with her. On a recent trip to Paris she used this as her personal item, and while she didn’t need the extra space most of the time, on the flight back, she expanded it and had space to pack four pain au chocolat pastries to bring home. This is a great idea if you’re going anywhere you think you may want to bring back souvenirs.

For Dawn, she always brings an all in one converter block. Having one of these rather than lots of individual adaptors for different plug types means you don’t accidentally bring the wrong plug converter. She also recommends buying a USB cable with multiple ends (USB C, micro USB, lightning etc) to keep specifically with your travel bag, so you always have the charging cable you need.

Andrew makes sure he always has an extra pair of socks in his smaller bag. Not only are they helpful if something happens to his luggage, keeping socks with him when he’s out and about during his trip come in handy if his feet get wet. He also likes to bring chocolate or something else from home that doesn’t break easily or take up a lot of space, so that he has something to share or give out as a gift when he meets people during his trip.

One Final Piece of Packing Advice from Sarah

Nobody ever said they wish they’d have brought more stuff with them.

Almost everything you might need can be bought abroad, so you should only worry about things you won’t find elsewhere. You can buy more clothes, shoes or toiletries at your destination if you need them, so pack less and don’t think about trying to answer all the “what if?” possibilities in advance.

Looking for more top packing tips and our personal suggestions? Check out the Adventures with Sarah blog or watch the many videos on Sarah’s YouTube channel here.