Packing Hacks and (Yes I use Excel)
I’m an excel sheet junkie.
I admit it. I use it for keeping track of membership dues for LadyDrinks. I use it to introduce attendees of each of my events before event day. And I use it for travel.
Tomorrow, I leave for South America to celebrate a LadyDrinks member's birthday. Sharing my packing hacks.
And yes it includes Excel. My friends make fun of me for this habit, but I need to time to react, launder or buy missing items. The only way I can do this is by making this excel sheet. Sunday (Yes, Sunday), I listed each day of the week I will be on vacation on the top box. In the box underneath, I listed the activity we will be doing each day. "Visit to the Mud Volcano. Boat charter. Dinner at Carmen." Then I wrote the corresponding outfit, bag, shoes, earrings that will go with each. There is nothing worse than getting dressed for that "Dinner at Carmen" at 9pm, and realizing at 8:30pm that I forgot to pack the strapless bra to go with that fantastic off-the-shoulder jumper. It keeps me calm.
Packing cubes. I’ve been a fan of these for years. I bunch like items together. Swimsuits, bras, and nighties. Dresses in another. Socks and scarves in another. Eagle Creek makes packing cubes in various shapes and sizes. Amazon now has branded ones too. If I ever have to unpack my items at the airport because the security machine flagged the little scissors I use to cut my fake eyelashes, these cubes keep everything in tact, instead of exploding like a clown car. When I get to the hotel, I simply move the packing cubes into the dresser drawers.
Have a theme. Again, I get a fair amount of blubber from my friends for this, but I have a blue and white theme going for this vacation. All of my clothing can be mixed and matched with each other. The litmus test is CAN I wear an item with more than one skirt or pair of shorts. Ideally, I have one outfit for each activity. Okay, maybe two
Bounce Dryer Sheets and Downy Wrinkle Release Spray. I dredged up some summer clothes from my trunk. Needless to say they are two things: wrinkly and trunk smelling. After laundering them, I roll up everything, but I remember to put these dryer sheets in each packing cube to keep everything fresh smelling. I'm compelled to bring a hand steamer along, but my hair dryer wins space first. So I love the wrinkle release spray from Downy (travel size of course)
Check the weather. It's supposed to be sunny and 90 degrees each day in Cartagena. That means I pack copious amount of sunblock for both face and body, plus two hats. Nothing ages you faster than the sun.
Zip lock bags. These are great for wet clothes, after a day at the beach or on the boat
Pack light. One of my joys when travelling is finding a great coffee table book that will always remind me of where I was standing when I found it, or a dress. I like to pack light to keep room for these treasures. I also don't want to be bogged down with luggage if an unexpected adventure turns up. I want to be agile and free to move quickly.
Put converters, chargers, cords, wet wipes, makeup in my backpack
Get Global Entry. This was an early decision I made when I made the active decision to not only run LadyDrinks full time but to host more international events. It helps to beat the lines. I also got Clear, which identifies you via biometrics, i.e. your eye. I ended up cancelling it because very few airports have it.