Essential Luggage Tips When Traveling
Managing your luggage is an important skill to master if you plan on becoming a frequent traveller. From maximising space while packing to securing your belongings, there are many important measures to consider.
This post delves into a few different luggage management tips that could help you while travelling.
Pack heavy items at the bottom
Packing heavy items at the bottom of your suitcase or backpack has many benefits. It firstly stops lighter fragile items from being crushed and damaged.
It secondly helps to provide a better centre of gravity, helping your suitcase or bag to remain upright when placed down and helping you to carry it more easily (with a backpack, it’s better to have heavy items near your hips rather than your shoulders).
Heavy items to put at the bottom of your luggage container could include electronic devices, extra shoes and heavy clothing like jeans.
Free up space by rolling clothes
If you want to squeeze more clothes into your suitcase, roll don’t fold. Rolling clothes helps to make them much more compact, while still preventing creases.
Clothes are also less likely to unravel when being thrown around by luggage handlers if you roll instead of fold. Just be wary that bulky clothing may be more difficult to tightly roll.
This tip is particularly useful if you’re bringing a small suitcase or backpack, which may not have much space.
Pack a bag for dirty laundry
At the end of your trip, you may still have some clean clothing that you don’t want to get mixed with your dirty laundry. Bringing a plastic bag allows you to divide dirty laundry and clean clothing easily.
Wet items like towels and swimwear can also be easily contained without making the rest of your suitcases’ contents damp.
A tote bag or zip lock can be a better option than a plastic bag as it won’t rip and can be more effectively sealed. Just make sure that any bag you bring is large enough for all your dirty laundry.
Cushion fragile items
Bringing a bottle of wine? Or perhaps a laptop? While you can buy cases to help protect these items, an improvised method is to simply cushion them with clothing.
Wrapping a towel or a puffy jacket around these fragile items should be enough to stop them getting damaged – providing that the contents in your luggage container aren’t too loose.
This is useful for fragile souvenirs, which you may not be able to buy a purpose-made case for.
Weigh suitcases before flying
Many airlines put in place luggage weight restrictions. Some airlines will refuse to carry suitcases that are too heavy, while others will charge an excess baggage fee.
You don’t want to wait until you reach the airport to find out your luggage is too heavy – having to hurriedly repack and potentially leave items at the airport will add stress to your trip.
Instead, weigh your suitcase at home and at your hotel before you leave. This gives you more time to repack and reconsider your contents. There are travel suitcase hanging scales that you can use.
Secure your belongings with a padlock
While it’s a rarity, there have been cases of baggage handlers in certain countries stealing items from suitcases.
There are also cases of other travellers, hotel staff and hotel guests breaking into other people’s suitcases and backpacks to steal items.
A padlock is a simple way to stop crooks from rummaging around in your luggage. You can buy padlocks that are opened by a key, or you can buy padlocks that are opened with a number combination.
Invest in high quality travel padlocks that cannot be easily busted into.
Consider a custom strap for easy identification
Ever had a stranger accidentally take your suitcase from the baggage reclaim belt? It happens – especially if your suitcase is fairly generic and from a popular brand.
Buying a custom strap with your name on it to wrap around your suitcase can prevent a stranger from accidentally taking it home with them or to their hotel.
It can also prevent you from accidentally picking up the wrong suitcase. You can order custom luggage straps online.
Buy a smart luggage tracker
It’s possible to buy small trackers which attach to your suitcase. You can then monitor the GPS location of your luggage using an app on your smartphone.
This is very useful if your suitcase becomes mislaid – many people that lose their baggage never find it again, but with a tracker you can find out whether it’s gone on the wrong flight or whether a stranger has picked it up.
There are a few different companies that supply these trackers and you can compare reviews online.
Use luggage storage facilities
If you arrive at your destination early, you may find that you’re unable to check into your hotel straight away. Instead of having to carry around your suitcase with you until you’re allowed into your room, why not consider looking into a local luggage storage location?
Many airports and train stations have secure luggage drop-off locations where you can keep your suitcase until you need it.
This service is also useful if you have to check out of your hotel early and don’t have to fly until later that evening – you can drop off your suitcase at one of these storage facilities, and spend a few final hours exploring the city hands-free.
Allow space for gifts/souvenirs
If you like bringing back gifts and souvenirs, you’ll need to make sure that you’ve left enough room in your suitcase for these extra items.
A common mistake that amateur travellers make is packing their suitcase to the gunnels on the way out and then not having any room to bring back anything.
Think about what type of items you’re likely to buy while you’re away and make sure you have the space for them. If you’re likely to buy lots of clothes or bring back multiple bottles of wine, you’ll need to spare a lot of space.
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