The Bag & Packing for the Weekend or Longer

Selective Choices

Closet Content Analysis: The Travel Bag

NICE                   NO THANKS         NOTE-WORTHY            NEED          NEW

My favourite way of packing, for the weekend or months away, is to roll. My husband, on the other hand, does exactly the opposite; he takes the biggest suitcase and lays everything flat, with as little folding as possible. I take the smallest suitcase and roll. You have to know that we have always had the "carry your own bag" rule when traveling together; "you pack it, you carry it". I have never carried his suitcase and he has never carried mine.

NICE: My lug weekend bag with wheels. It is large enough to carry the clothing I want and the outside pouches, are perfect for all the extras including toiletries, hair stuff and medication. This bag serves as my carry-on when I'm traveling to Europe. I just can't pack it fully, like I do for weekends, or else it will exceed the airline dimension parameters.

NOTE-WORTHY: Here's what I do as a "roller". For a weekend I plan the outfits and then roll them up with all that I need, including shoes, underwear and accessories - the shoes are in a cotton drawstring bag. Of course there is overlap so if I know exactly the events I'm attending, I roll relative to the order of what I am wearing when.

This sequence of four photos does not include underwear, socks, jewellery and shoes because I usually don't roll them all together for longer hauls. When I took these photos, I was packing for Europe.

Now, simply take the shoe bag and underwear and roll it up inside whatever your ensemble of clothing is. If you have socks, tuck them inside your shoes. Zipper-lock/Zip-loc plastic bags are great to pack accessories, jewellery, and any other small necessities. I put potential "leakables" in these types of bags even if just going away for the weekend. On long hauls, I take extra bags with me to put in the small stuff I buy. It makes for easier disclosure at customs if necessary.

With shoes and such, "the roll" will be a bit bulkier but when you arrive, just unroll and everything is there! This eases the frustration level of rummaging through the entire bag and all the pockets when you are thinking, "I know I packed it, where is it?"

More travel wardrobe tips are given on an earlier post and I expect other posts will be written as your comments and questions inspire me.