Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: This week we're talking travel tips and how to be
Speaker 1: efficient and effective on the road. Today's tip is about
Speaker 1: how to pack smart, which generally means light so you
Speaker 1: don't waste time while traveling. So in my family, we
Speaker 1: have a rule that, if at all possible, we don't
Speaker 1: check bags. Now, I know it's not always possible, but
Speaker 1: I do think it's a good goal, even if you're
Speaker 1: traveling for a week or so, and even if you're
Speaker 1: traveling with kids. Here's my reasoning. Checking bags means you
Speaker 1: need to get to the airport earlier and you need
Speaker 1: to wait on the other side of your trip to
Speaker 1: retrieve your stuff. And that's if your stuff shows up,
Speaker 1: which it doesn't always, particularly you've got a tight connection somewhere.
Speaker 1: We've all heard horror stories of people checking bags and
Speaker 1: then their stuff not showing up until well into the trip,
Speaker 1: if at all. There's actually a store, the Unclaimed Baggage
Speaker 1: Center in Alabama, that sells stuff from lost luggage. The
Speaker 1: stores ads note that thousands of items arrive in the
Speaker 1: store every day, so ponder that the next time you're
Speaker 1: thinking of checking bags. When I'm traveling by myself, limiting
Speaker 1: myself to carry ons is straightforward enough. I packed my
Speaker 1: carry on duffel bag with my work clothes and my
Speaker 1: running clothes. I try to wear anything bulky on the plane.
Speaker 1: I take my curling iron, but hotels have hair dryers.
Speaker 1: I packed my toiletrees in a ziploc bag, even though
Speaker 1: I have t s a pre check because sometimes I
Speaker 1: fly out of the American Eagle Terminal at Philadelphia, which
Speaker 1: doesn't have a pre check lane. I buy travel sized
Speaker 1: bottles of toothpaste and contact land solution, and all my
Speaker 1: makeup is either under three ounces or isn't really liquid.
Speaker 1: Hotels have shampoo and conditioners, so no need to bring
Speaker 1: those things. I used my purse as my other carry
Speaker 1: on and put my laptop, phone, sunglasses, wallet, and reading
Speaker 1: material in there. I recognize that I'm a relatively small person,
Speaker 1: but I've seen larger people pack for a week and
Speaker 1: similarly sized carry ons. My husband can pack enough business
Speaker 1: clothes for a week in his leather duffel bag or
Speaker 1: small roll aboard, so he doesn't check bags for business
Speaker 1: trips either. At this point, the only reason we check
Speaker 1: bags is if we're doing something requiring specialized equipment like skiing,
Speaker 1: although I note that the last time we packed to
Speaker 1: ski as a family, our luggage got lost and we
Speaker 1: wound up getting a knock on our hotel room door
Speaker 1: at two am when it was delivered. Anyway, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people assume that when you're traveling with
Speaker 1: your family, you have to check bags and you have
Speaker 1: to pack a lot. But with some foresight and practice,
Speaker 1: I've found that this is not always the case. I
Speaker 1: packed for myself in three children for a week in
Speaker 1: the UK in two carry ons, my duffel bag and
Speaker 1: one small roll aboard, and then my purse and a
Speaker 1: small backpack for each child. The kids wore their jackets
Speaker 1: to travel, and those were the bulkiest items. We didn't
Speaker 1: run out of stuff. The kids rewar clothes on the
Speaker 1: play home, but they wore jeans once before that, and
Speaker 1: that's about it. What this required was really thinking through
Speaker 1: what we'd need and what we wouldn't. We looked at
Speaker 1: the weather carefully. We brought enough clothes, but not extra clothes.
Speaker 1: I find that a lot of people don't even think
Speaker 1: through how many days they'll be gone and what they
Speaker 1: will wear each day. They just bring the clothes they
Speaker 1: like and figure they'll make wardrobe decisions as they go.
Speaker 1: This can waste tons of space. The kids just needed
Speaker 1: one pair of shoes each. They could bring a special
Speaker 1: small stuffed animal, but not the whole menagerie. We didn't
Speaker 1: indulge in fantasies about what we'd need if for some
Speaker 1: reason we were invited to dine somewhere fancy. Unlikely with
Speaker 1: my kids, we'd go get new clothes. It probably wasn't
Speaker 1: worth packing for events that had about a zero percent
Speaker 1: chance of happening, but it was great being able to
Speaker 1: carry our luggage on buses and trains just fine, and
Speaker 1: being able to carry it into our hotel rooms without
Speaker 1: feeling like we were unduly burdened. Now, I recognize, of course,
Speaker 1: that very small children require a few more items, such
Speaker 1: as diapers or bottles if you're using those. However, we've
Speaker 1: also found that many places around the world will sell
Speaker 1: baby products if you happen to run out. Unless you're
Speaker 1: going to the wilderness, you can usually get things. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, when we're going on a beach vacation, we'll
Speaker 1: bring multiple trial sized bottles of sunscreen to get under
Speaker 1: the t s A limit and then buy more at
Speaker 1: the beach. When we start running low rental car companies
Speaker 1: will rent booster seats for kids who need them, or
Speaker 1: I actually managed to squeeze one and to carry on
Speaker 1: Duffel once. Like I said, I get into this packing
Speaker 1: thing with time management. There's a truism that work expands
Speaker 1: to fill the available space. Likewise, I think this is
Speaker 1: true of physical space as well. If you tell yourself
Speaker 1: that you're only going to bring a small bag, you'll
Speaker 1: make it work. If you decide you can check multiple bags, well,
Speaker 1: you'll probably fill them as well, and then wind up
Speaker 1: dragging them around the whole trip if they show up,
Speaker 1: rather than ending up at that lost luggage store in Alabama.
Speaker 1: I know not everyone agrees with me. I mean, I've
Speaker 1: written about this in the past, and people have told
Speaker 1: me that they like their creature comforts, and for them
Speaker 1: having a whole bottle of their own shampoo along for
Speaker 1: the ride makes travel less daunting, as with much of life,
Speaker 1: you do you but in general I think that packing
Speaker 1: lighter keeps the focus of travel where it should be,
Speaker 1: on experiences, not things you need enough stuff that it
Speaker 1: doesn't hinder the experience, but we probably need a lot
Speaker 1: less stuff then we think we do. Do you pack light?
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear about it. You can let me
Speaker 1: know at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Yeah, hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
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