Friday, June 28, 2013

How to pack light

I am no light packer. My aunts and cousins always tease me about bringing too much stuff I don't need. Even on Sundays, when we go to church, my relatives would be so amazed on how many times I change clothes in a day. My bag is my mini-closet. You could just imagine how hard it is for me to pack things when traveling.

But, for my trip tomorrow, I availed the cheapest of all flights. Could you imagine going to Cebu for only PhP 400? Yes, via Tiger Airways. However, the thing is, there is no check-in luggage. I'm only allowed to carry 10 kilograms of my stuff. I accepted the challenge.

Initially, these are the things I wanna bring:


Yep, if i could bring everything, I would bring everything. But the trick here is to bring only what you need. What I do is I schedule clothes for each day and bring two to three extra pair of clothes. Plus, never forget to bring a party dress. You'll never know when a party comes knocking on your hotel room.

Speaking of hotel rooms, if you are staying in one, you need not bring towels. Towels are huge space fillers. If you're the sensitive kind of person, instead of bringing a towel, you could just buy a thin and light string-dyed malong. Because they are thin fabrics, they're very easy to dry and to bring.

If you're also traveling with only carry-on luggage, never bring any liquid toiletries. In the Philippines, sachets are everywhere. If you're not in the Philippines, there will always be a 7-11 store. If not in the Philippines and there's no 7-11 store, the hotel will give you these for free. Just don't expect the shampoo to be foamy.

And this is perhaps the greatest strategy to packing clothes: the art of rolling.



Trust me, folding your clothes this way is a big, big, space saver. I was able to fit in more clothes than I imagined. And this bag would probably weigh 5 kilograms or less. I still have space for pasalubong! Yay!

Also, never forget to bring an extra plastic bag. Or if you live in the Los Banos area, a cloth bag would do. What for? To separate your dirty clothes from clean ones.

So there, my quick tips to traveling light. This is step one of my ultimate dream of traveling with a cute summer dress, just a small sling bag, a straw hat, and lots of moolah. :)