Weekend Getaways Simplified: 8 Packing Tips For Easy Travel

By Dayna Brandoff

If you’re lucky, summer in the city means weekends (or at least one weekend) someplace else. Even packing for a just a brief weekend getaway, though, can seem nothing short of overwhelming. Here, we have 8 steps to the perfect weekend pack. Just one small duffel bag and a handbag and you can be (jet-)set for 3 days.

Do the laundry. This allows you to pack from your entire wardrobe, including things you’ve worn over the past week.

Gather key-items. As you think of them, gather the things you know you want to take with you and put them in one central location. We’re not talking about clothes here – we’re talking about the ‘stuff’ you’d like to have with you but know you might forget. For us, it’s our phone charger, glasses, a hostess gift and the magazines we’ve been meaning to read.

The perfect hostess gift!

Mentally walk through your weekend and plan an outfit for each activity. For example: We’ll get there and we’re going to stay in whatever we’re wearing…but it might be colder then. (Put hooded sweatshirt on the bed.) We’ll hang out for a while and then we’ll go to bed. (Put set of pajamas on the bed.) Then we’ll wake up and go for a run. (Shorts, shirt, sports-bra and socks on the bed and sneakers on the floor nearby.) We’ll shower up and head to the beach. (Bathing suit and cover-up on the bed, flip-flops on floor.) After the beach, we’ll shower before dinner. (Gather toiletries and put outfit appropriate for dinner plans on the bed, along with accessories.) After dinner, we’ll come home to hang until bed. (The pajamas we wore last night will work again tonight…)  And so on and so forth until we’ve made it through all the days of the trip.  Because we prefer to travel lightly, we try to pack things we can wear more than once.

Think about the ‘maybes.’ Maybe it will be cooler in the evening and you’ll need an extra layer. Maybe you won’t go out for dinner but would rather have an extra set of comfy clothes. Maybe you’ve completely forgotten to take out any underwear — now’s a good time to do that.

Download a new playlist for your iPod!

Group like with like. When every outfit is accounted for, pile the tee shirts on top of the tee shirts, the pants with the pants – you get the idea.  Why?  Because piles that are uniform in size will fit into your bag neatly and are less likely to wrinkle!

Pack the bag. Stick your shoes at the bottom of the bag, stuffing your socks into shoes to help them keep their shape. Your piles are already done, so just stack them on top of the shoes, filling in any spaces with the little stuff:  underwear, sunglasses, camisoles, etc.  Just be sure to leave a few inches at the top of the bag for…

Toiletries. No need to bring every piece of makeup you own. Select the essentials and put them in a relatively small makeup case. Like we did with our clothes, we mentally walk through our daily routines to ensure we have toothpaste, deodorant, face wash and everything else we can’t live without. Be sure to ask yourself if this trip requires anything special. If you’ll be in a bathing suit, you’ll likely need a razor and sunscreen, for example.

Zip up and head out. One bag and you’re covered. Grab it, get where you’re going and enjoy!

9 travel sized beauty finds we’re taking away with us!