What You Need and don't need on a Trip

Because travel often feels boring, we feel the desire to pack too many entertainment items. If you start looking at your belongings as a little more versatile, rather than how you may use them in your everyday life, you can save yourself a lot of room in your suitcase. Here are some examples:

• Pants: In my book, a pair of pants (or skirts and dresses) have a usage life of 2.5 days. Unless an awful spill occurs, your pants should survive more than one use before washing. If you're traveling for a week, you can wear one pair and pack two. This saves a ton of room in your suitcase and offers three different pant styles for good versatility in your outfit choices.
• Shirts: While undershirts and t-shirts tend to get dirty after one day of use, overshirts (especially quality button-downs), sweaters, sweatshirts, and hoodies can last about as long as pants. If you're traveling for a week, wear one and pack three. Save room for more undergarments. If you overpack anything, that's what you'll want to have in case of emergency. You can spot clean an overshirt, but undergarments will leave you feeling dirty unless they're washed after one use.

 

• Technology: If you're bringing your laptop, do you need your tablet? If you just want to relax and don't have work to do, will your tablet do the trick instead of your laptop? Figure out how many devices you actually need. Even if they don't take up a lot of space, chargers do. Choose your entertainment sparingly and choose your options based on battery life. The longer the battery lasts, the more use you'll get out of it.
• Toiletries: Travel-sized options cost more, so people often avoid them in favor or larger items. Instead of paying extra for tiny toiletries, just buy empty bottles and containers. They cost very little and you can reuse them on future trips.
• Travel Documents: If you have a smartphone, you can store most of your travel documents there. Obviously you'll still need to carry your passport in some cases. For boarding passes, many airlines can text a QR code to your phone. If that's an option, use it. You save paper, a tiny bit of space, and you load up your pass on the way to the gate if you forget.

 

• Books: If you're a fan of paperbacks and hardcovers, you probably don't want an ereader. That said, it will save you a lot of space. If you must take a larger, bulkier library, pick your books frugally. If you're traveling with others, share books so everyone can pack fewer options.
• Coats: You can wear your coat on the plane or just lean it against your seat if you don't want to put it in the overhead bin or shove it underneath the seat in front of you. Packing a coat just wastes space, so don't do it.
• Suits and formalwear: Apparel of the fancier variety often requires more care and space when packing, and fitting all your luggage into the seat in front of you doesn't really work if you have a lot of it—especially when it comes to suit coats. That said, sometimes you have an alternative option to packing your formalwear: nicely ask a flight attendant when boarding if they can hang it up front for you. Most planes have a place to hang a few items, but they're reserved for first and business class passengers. If you want, you can always fib a little and tell them you need your formal attire for an important job interview and you want to make sure it doesn't wrinkle. If they have room, and you ask them nicely, they may make an exception and store your clothing for you.
• Shoes: If you can, pick only one pair of shoes that you can wear throughout the trip. A pair of tennis shoes serve as the most versatile option, but if you need something a little classier you in addition you should pack those. Tennis shoes add the most bulk, so wearing them on the airplane saves space in your bag. If you need to change later you can, but don't pack the bigger shoes even if your tennis shoes aren't a perfect match for your outfit. You'll only wear them on the plane, and nobody will ever see them.

This list doesn't encompass every item you'll ever need or want to pack, but covers the basics. In general, consider what you can use more than once and what items work in multiple situations. You'll find that much of what you want to pack can remain at home.