Moving into 2nd quarter of the year, spring weather slowly creeps in, encouraging everyone to spend more time outdoors. Not forgetting summer holidays approaching in just a few months too! Have you started dropping leave applications to your bosses or planning holidays for the year?
Travelling is always a tapestry of discovery and a memorable experience (even if it’s bad). Regardless of a short getaway or a 2-week soul searching journey, travel planning can be mind boggling too. The 1st thing that bugs you probably is itinerary planning, and next? is definitely travel packing! Travel packing can be tricky sometimes especially if you want to bring functional clothes that suits the weather, but also want to look good at the same time. Should I pack light to travel at ease? Should I pack more just in case of emergencies?
This post is for those who wants to travel fashionably. You can skip now if you only care about the functional aspect. But feel free to read on if you are interested to know more!
The 5-4-3-2-1 packing method that you can easily find online is more an optimising your suitcase/luggage space method and identifying essentials to bring with you. But what about occasions? weather conditions? cultural elements of the place you are visiting?
Plan ahead by analysing the points below:
Length of stay and transport mode
First of all, you need to know how long is your holiday and the mode of transport, to know which suitcase size is more appropriate for the holiday? Is it a rucksack with a suitcase? Or just a weekend holdall? If your trip is mostly by foot and public transport, I would recommend a huge rucksack with a crossbody or a cabin size roller suitcase. If you are travelling by a hired car, then there shouldn’t be any issues to pack in a larger suitcase and leave yourself light and easy to pose freely with picturesque views!
Considering length of stay also gives you a rough idea on how many outfits to plan. Which piece can be repeated in another outfit, so that you can save space for other stuff. How many set of undergarments to bring, that needed to allocate space first?
Weather Condition
Weather forecast is the best tool to use on holiday and outfit planning. I had trust issues before with weather forecast as I am originated from a tropical country. Our weather changes a lot and you might lost track unless you stick your eyes on the forecast at all times.
But after my experience living in various countries and a number of travelling experiences, weather forecast is INDEED very helpful! Thermals and jackets are definitely essentials if the highest temperature of the day is below 15 degrees (A lot of times it might be cloudy or windy too), decide the thickness depending on your comfortability. If you are travelling to countries on the equator, bring extra short sleeves and undergarments as the humidity might make you change twice per day!
The Vibe
Delve deep into the geography and history of the destination, identify key elements, the mood and tone, so that you have an idea on what colour palette you would focus. I would say a rusty brown, forest green and dusty blue colour palette is suitable for an autumnal log cabin getaway. A tropical print focused, olive green with touches of pastels colour palette is definitely for a summer beach vacation!
If you are travelling to places with rich cultural elements especially the East, South East Asian countries or Northern Europe. Their key prints such as tile prints, batik, fair isle and Nordic prints are styles that you can incorporate into your outfit to blend in!
Special Events/Occasions
Are you travelling for a festival? business purposes? attending or celebrating a special event? Then you would need to navigate through these highlights to decide what styles are appropriate for these events. A suit for a smart event? A dress for festivals? And what accessories could complement all different outfits?
What’s Next?
After all considerations mentioned, draft an outfit colour palette that you can build interesting outfits with, and interchange with each other. You could implement the 5-4-3-2-1 method as well to optimise luggage space and cost effective too! Especially you won’t be bringing all kinds of shoes to match different outfits.
Sustainable Practices for Travelling
Choose digital first. Digital versions of boarding passes, maps, travel guides are now easily accessible. Download them all onto your mobile devices, which reduces things to carry with you. Just make sure you don’t lose your phone!
Packing light is also a sustainable practice for frequent travellers who wants to minimise their environmental impact. According to experts, the more weight you carry, the more fuel the plane burns and the more emissions it produces. Besides that, it also saves energy or water for laundry, win-win situation isn’t it?
Sustainable essentials such as reusable tumblers and utensils, laundry sheets, eco-friendly toiletries are something a susty pal would definitely have! Remember to pack along and influence your friends around you!
Do you find the points useful? How do you plan your outfits and what do you pack when travelling? 😁 Comment down below and let me know!
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