The Pink Travel Bug: Packing for NYC!

Tomorrow (well, more literally, today), I’ll be heading to New York City for a short weekend-weekday getaway (that’s Sunday to Monday) with J. I’m pretty excited about it and if you’re wondering why I’m still up at this hour, it’s because I’m suffering from a major tummy bloat from way too much food today! J and I had a great lunch at Sweet Cheeks Q with S and R (for more information on this restaurant, do refer to my blog entry entitled Date Night at Cheeks, Regal, Star & Pink). So yes, I can’t sleep off the bloat and so I shall continue. :)

Our missions for this trip were to firstly, and very most importantly, head to the embassy to collect J’s newly-made passport. And…(as I would very much like to think) firstly and also very most importantly, watch a Broadway show - Wicked!

Since I’ve been travelling quite frequently over the years, I’ve mustered some packing skills that I’d like to share. As we all know, we are often limited by luggage space constraints so it is very important to make full use of whatever we have.

1. Roll instead of Fold. Rolling your clothes actually saves quite a lot of space as opposed to folding them. So try this! You may want to air-seal your clothes such that they take up even less space.

2. Here’s what I mean by air-sealing your things. It’s amazing how much you can squeeze into these bags!

My contingency earrings (as will be explained in point #5) were going to be packed into an air-seal bag!

That's a quarter for you to do a comparison with.

PJs (just the top) fits snugly in this tiny space.

3. Bring travel-sized toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, facial foam etc.)

4. Use disposables as much as possible – yup, use and throw (so you’ll have more space to store your shopping)! I find things like Singapore Airlines’ disposable toothbrush set that comes with a miniature toothpaste tube (that I always seem to have an infinite amount of) very handy.

5. Do not over-pack. Especially when it comes to clothes. I sense some guilty souls right now…and I’ll admit I tend to pack too many accessories and clothes sometimes. But I’ve been trying hard not to give in to temptation! So what I do is that I plan my outfits. Here you can see how I’ve done some planning for the next two days. :) By the way, the pair of earrings on the extreme left has no outfit to match because it’s my contingency pair of earrings. I’m not over-packing here – I’m just preparing for rainy days haha. Well, just in case a pair gets lost or spoils. And that’s why it’s in a neutral colour.

6. Place solid items at the bottom of your luggage and the lighter ones (especially clothes that you don’t want to wrinkle) towards the top.

7. Pack the bulkier items first. Then, fill in the gaps with the smaller and especially more squishy ones.

8. Wrap fragile items either in bubble wrap, or if you’d want to save space, wrap them with your clothes.

9. Bring with you a half-empty luggage if you are going for a shopping trip. Trust me on this. You will need the extra space even if you plan to go to only two shops…because the two shops will end up sounding more like twenty?

10. Bring a canvas luggage – if possible. Canvas luggages tend to weigh a little lesser than their metal and plastic counterparts.

11. Just a suggestion for those who cannot stand the sight of a dirty luggage. Buy a black one! I never used to like this idea as I thought black was boring but I’ve been convinced that black’s the way to go ever since my red luggage returned to me from the baggage collection area looking like a distorted sunburnt tiger with really ugly stripes. Not a pleasant sight especially for a germaphobe like me. Okay, so a black luggage doesn’t quite prevent it from getting dirty but out of sight, out of mind! I just sanitize my hands more, that’s all.

12. Remember to bring that extra camera charger and memory card! The worst thing that could happen is to realize that the only storage space you have with you is your memory.

13. Always have some form of entertainment handy – you never know when your plane decides to arrive an hour or two late. It could be a book, kindle, smart phone…for me, it’s my iPad!