When I was given the opportunity to take a quick weekend trip to visit some family a couple states over, I realized that I had no idea what I should bring or how I should pack it. As an inexperienced weekend traveler, I decided to do some research to find some helpful tips on the internet when it comes to packing and traveling efficiently.
How can you pack light for a quick weekend trip? To pack light for a weekend trip, you will need to choose the right sized bag and prioritize only the things that you really need. Multitask with items where you can and try to get travel sized toiletries.
Traveling is something that everyone enjoys, no matter where you choose to go for your vacation or how long. Whether you are trying to save for a trip or you have a few days off of work to take advantage of, you might have considered a weekend trip at one point.
Going away for the weekend is a great way to gain some new experiences in a short amount of time. These kinds of trips can be taken frequently, and with some helpful tips, you will be able to quickly get together everything that you need for your new travel obsession.
Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about what you should pack and some tips you should follow for a quick weekend trip.
How To Pack Light For The Weekend
To begin our discussion on how to pack light for quick weekend trips, we will start by talking about how you can pack lightly for a flight.
More specifically, this section will go over everything you need to know in order to be able to pack all of your belongings in just one carry-on backpack.
Take a look at the steps below and follow them while you are planning your trip. The rest of this section will give you more details on how you can use these tips and tricks to your advantage.
How To Pack Light For The Weekend:
1. Check the bag restrictions for your flight
2. Choose the right bag (backpack or similar)
3. Prioritize what you need for your trip
4. Rule out heavier/bulkier items
5. Try to multitask with items you choose to pack
6. Roll up your clothes and fit them into the bag tightly
The first thing that you will need to do in order to effectively pack light for a weekend tip is to check the bag restrictions for your flight. When you purchase a plane ticket, you will be notified by the airline what types of bags you are allowed to bring.
For example, you might be allowed to bring one carry on and one personal item, and anything else will be an extra charge. However, your personal item and carry on bags must fit a certain set of dimensions and weight in order to make it through free of charge.
Before you begin to pack up all of your things into your favorite backpack or duffel bag, you will need to make sure that the bag that you are choosing fits the length, width, and height requirements that are outlined in the rules of the airline.
Once this has been established, you will be able to choose the bag that you will be using. It is important that you choose the right bag in order to make sure that your belongings will be safe and you will be able to comfortably carry it.
Backpacks are the most convenient options in these scenarios, because you are able to throw the strap over your shoulder and bring it everywhere you go. Additionally, some backpacks come with more durable materials on the outside, such as waterproof fabric, that will keep all of your personal belongings safe during your travels.
Now that you know exactly what you will be using to take your things with you on your vacation, it will be time to prioritize exactly what you need.
When it comes to packing light for a quick weekend trip, this is probably the most important step. The whole idea of packing this way is to avoid having to lug around multiple bags and suitcases, meaning that you will not be able to bring everything in your house with you while you are away.
Instead, you will need to really sit down and strategize what you won’t be able to live without on your trip. If it is not an absolute bare necessity, you would be better off leaving it at home and coming back to it when you return.
For example, if you are thinking about bringing an extra t-shirt to sleep in, but you find that there is not enough room in your bag with all of your makeup items, you will need to reconsider which one is the most important.
If you are bringing something that takes up a lot of space, such as a plastic water bottle, you might consider not bringing it with you and settling for water fountains and disposable bottles throughout your travels instead.
Even the bare necessities can be cut down on size as well. For instance, you will definitely need to bring the soaps and shampoos that you will need to shower while you are away, as well as your toothbrush and toothpaste.
While it is obvious that these items cannot be left out of your packing list for a trip of any length, you can opt for the travel sized options for all of these things. At your local grocery store, you will be able to pick up some tiny bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, mouthwash, and pretty much anything else you can think of.
You also might be able to find a toothbrush with a short handle that is about half the size of your regular one, as well as a small hairbrush and even some deodorant.
This is a great way to give yourself some extra room in your bag for other items that you might need to bring that take up more space. In general, the best way to go when trying to pack light into a backpack is to leave as much space as possible, even if you feel like you don’t really need it.
To go along with the method of packing travel sized toiletry items, you should generally rule out anything that is too big or bulky and will take up space in your bag.
If there is something large that is taking up a lot of space in your bag, you might consider leaving it out of your packing list while planning on purchasing something similar when you get there.
For example, if you will be going to the beach for an entire weekend and you know that a few travel sized bottles of sunscreen will not be enough for what you need, you might feel inclined to bring a bulky bottle of your favorite product.
So, when the huge bottle of sunscreen is taking up all of the room in your bag and you don’t have any more room for the actual clothes that you want to wear on your trip, what could be the solution?
The simple answer to this question is to simply leave your bottle of sunblock at home and purchase one at the local drug store when you get off the plane at your destination. This way, you will be able to still pack light on your way there, while being able to use everything that you need throughout the duration of your trip.
When the weekend has come to an end, you can simply toss out your bottle of sunscreen and board your returning flight with the same light bag that you came with. This trick can go for pretty much anything else that you could possibly pack.
If you happen to leave out your refillable water bottle, you can account for drinking out of plastic ones at the airport or getting free cups of water on the plane until you are able to make it to the store to purchase a solution to your problem.
In order to make sure that you are packing as lightly as you possibly can without compromising too much, you can try to multitask with the items that you choose to bring with you.
For example, if you are staring at all of your hygiene products laying out on your bed before you are choosing them one by one to place into your carry on bag, you might notice that you have a bottle of body lotion and another separate facial moisturizer.
Since both of these items serve similar purposes, you might be able to go without your facial moisturizer for just a few short days and use your body lotion in replacement. The more items that you are able to use for multiple purposes, the more room you will have in your bag for other things.
To do this most effectively, you should assess all of the items that you have in front of you and try to think about what kinds of purposes they can be used for. You might be surprised at how many things just one regular item can do, giving you the option to rule out packing some extra weight into your backpack.
Lastly, you will want to make sure that you are packing efficiently, in addition to just deciding on what you will need to bring with you in order to make more space in your backpack or duffel bag.
One of the best ways to make sure that everything that you are bringing will fit into your carry on is to try to make all items as small as possible. For instance, if you are bringing a couple of t-shirts with you, instead of folding them into larger squares that will take up lots of space, you can roll them up into tiny cylinders instead.
In order to do this, you will begin by folding the clothing item into a skinny rectangle on your bed and then begin to roll it tightly from the bottom. In doing this, you will be able to slip the t-shirt almost anywhere in the bag, instead of laying it out across the whole inside surface of the backpack.
To take it even one step further, you can roll some smaller items up into the t-shirt. To do this, you would just need to fold the t-shirt into the rectangle as discussed, the only difference would be you placing some travel sized bottles in the center before you roll it up, securing the additional items inside of the tightly rolled t-shirt.
As long as you follow all of the tips that were outlined in this section, you should be able to discern which items are the most important to bring on your weekend flight trip. To recap what was discussed on this topic, you should first make sure that your chosen bag fits all size and weight requirements before stuffing it with your items.
When this has been decided, you will need to prioritize what you will actually need and leave out the things that you don’t, strategically replacing some essential items with smaller, travel sized versions, or just skipping it altogether and planning to purchase the same things when you get there.
Now that we have gone over how you can quickly, lightly, and efficiently pack for a quick weekend flight, keep reading to the next section where you will find an essential packing list for a trip of this nature.
Weekend Road Trips: Packing List
In general, weekend road trips will be a little bit easier to pack lightly for in comparison to the quick flight that was discussed in the previous sections. Unlike boarding a plane on an airline that regulates the size and weight of the bags that you bring, you will be able to decide how you will pack when you get into the car.
In addition, there will be no limitations to what kinds of liquids and snacks that you can bring, or if you would like to split up your luggage into smaller bags or containers while still packing lightly. With the possibility of placing all of your personal items in another seat or in the trunk of the car, you will have slightly more mobility than the plane option.
However, this will vary depending on the circumstances of your weekend road trip. If the entire car will be full of friends and family, you will still want to pack as little as possible in order to have the most comfortable ride to your destination.
Take a look at the list below to find a sample packing list for what you should bring on a weekend road trip.
Packing List For Weekend Road Trips:
• Packing cubes
• Snacks and water
• Essential toiletries
• Travel day outfit
• Set of layered clothing for each day
• Smartphone/tablet and charger
The first, and probably the most helpful, thing that you can bring with you on a weekend road trip is a set of packing cubes. Packing cubes are tiny bags that are usually very durable and waterproof on the outside.
They can be found in a variety of different sizes, and are meant for packing specific groups of items and keeping them organized, while not taking up too much space at the same time.
When using packing cubes to get all of your things together for a quick weekend road trip, you can reserve one cube for all of your travel sized toiletries, while the other one can hold the snacks that you are bringing.
You can even stack some of the smaller cubes into the bigger ones if you would just like to carry one to two of them on your lap or near your seat in the car, and they will still take up about the same amount of space as the backpack that was discussed earlier on in this article, if not much less.
The next set of items that everyone needs for a good road trip will include some snacks and drinks. You can choose to purchase sharable items like a bag of beef jerky or grab a few candy bars to keep to yourself.
Unlike being on an airplane, you won’t be required to put everything in one bag. So, you can have your packing cube next to you on the seat with all of your essentials, while keeping your grocery bag from the gas station full of snacks in your lap.
Your water bottles and other beverages can go in the cup holder next to the drivers seat so that you can conveniently reach it while you are driving or just riding in the passenger’s seat.
The rest of the essential items that you will need for a quick weekend road trip are basically the same as the list that was discussed in the previous sections for airline travel.
These items include your essential toiletries, any travel sized items that you might need, your travel day outfit, layers of clothing for your trip, and your electronic devices, such as phone, tablet, or travel laptop, with their chargers.
The only difference in the travel day outfit for a road trip will be that you might actually want to go lighter, contrary to the advice that was given for the airplane. Unless it is freezing outside, you are likely to be more comfortable with a more lightweight outfit when you are in the car for many hours on end.
What To Pack For An Overseas Trip
Throughout this article, we have covered everything that you need to pack for a quick weekend flight, as well as a road trip, along with some tips for how you can stuff everything in your bag as quickly as possible.
So, what happens when you need to take a short trip out of the country and would like to pack light for this adventure as well? Take a look at the list below to get an idea of some essential items for traveling internationally on a short-term basis.
What To Pack For An Overseas Trip:
• Essential items
• Travel insurance
• Over the counter / prescription medications
• Extra cash / spare credit card
• Passport and identification
The items that you will need to bring for an overseas trip will be almost exactly the same as the tips that were outlined in the first sections of this article. However, since you will be leaving the country, there are some additional documents and things that you will need to have with you in case of an emergency.
Is travel insurance important for these types of trips? Absolutely, due to the fact that something can go wrong at any moment. In the event that you lose a bag or have a medical emergency, you will be able to rest assured that the costs will be reimbursed.
Additionally, you should bring any over the counter medications such as Tylenol or Aspirin, as well as things that have been prescribed to you.
Since you will be in a country that you are not familiar with, you should always have extra cash or a spare credit card that is kept separately from the rest of your funds, incase something gets lost.
Your passport and identification documents should always be with you in a safe place in your luggage. It is best to also email yourself a photocopy of these documents in the event that they are lost or stolen.
(Check out this article on how to fly to Europe for cheap to help save you a little cash on your quick visit overseas.)
In conclusion, there are so many ways that you can pack lightly for a weekend vacation, whether you are driving into the next city or flying to another country. With the tips and tricks outlined in this article, you can save yourself a lot of time, money, and stress on your next quick trip.