Preparing your bag

In this class I will provide useful tips to pack your bag for your trip.

Check the amount of luggage, the dimensions and the weight of the bag you can take according
to your airline, so you avoid paying for checked bags.

Julia and James are staying for a week. Julia wants to take a big suitcase for their one-week
trip, James prefers to take a carry on.
The first time I went to Europe I took a backpack, it was very heavy and difficult to carry. But it
was helpful for flights with low-cost airlines.

In this class I will provide tips to prepare your bag for a short trip. I recommend you also take a
look at the Travel Hacking course where you can find a class about how to pack for a long trip
and an article about different types of luggage. I will leave the links to these classes in the
resources section.

Lifehacker published a 1 to 6 rule to know how much and what to take if you only want to take 1
piece of baggage - luggage or backpack:
1 hat (I usually don’t take a hat, do you?)
2 pairs of shoes
3 pairs of pants
4 shirts
5 pairs of socks
6 pairs of underwear

Now that you know this, I want to share 10 useful tips:

1- Limit the amount of shoes you take. Make sure they are comfortable and that they are high
quality.
2- Take more shirts than jeans or pants and use solid colors that are easy to match.
3- Roll your clothes that have a thinner fabric and use the KonMari method to fold your clothes -
folding them into small squares
4- When you fold your clothes, stack them vertically in your suitcase since this saves space and
helps you see all of your clothes at a glance.
5- Try to fit your toiletries in just 1 bag
6- Pack travel-size items only
7- Take a small first aid kit with you.
8- Avoid taking “what if” things. Which are things that if you think of it, might not be that
necessary. For example, I went to a city where it wasn’t supposed to rain, but it started
raining...so I bought a cheap umbrella instead of packing one.
9- Don’t pack your bag 100% full, so you have space in case you want to buy something on
your trip.
10- If you are travelling to a place with cold weather and you are taking a big coat, I suggest
wearing it on the flight, so you don’t have to pack it, since these coats are usually heavy. I
usually feel cold in airplanes so wearing a coat is perfect.

The Airbnb that James selected includes a washing machine, so they can take less clothes and
do laundry during their trip if they want. Pretty clever right?

I have one last tip...weigh your bag before heading to the airport, so you don't have to open it in
the airport in front of everyone and start taking things out if it's too heavy. I recommend getting a
portable Travel Luggage Weight Scale. They are quite useful.
Let's listen to James and Julia preparing their bags for the trip.