Tag Archives: suitcase

Trip Prep (or How The Earthquake Made Me Super Productive)

Posted on March 19, 2014 | Comments Off on Trip Prep (or How The Earthquake Made Me Super Productive)

On Monday and Tuesday this week, I knew I had to do all of my prep work for my NYC trip. I was leaving on the red-eye on Tuesday so I knew I had most of that day to get things done, but I didn’t want to leave everything to the last-minute.

My plan was to wake up on Monday and do most of my trip packing. On a daily basis, my alarm is set for 7am (yes, even while I’m unemployed). On Monday, I woke up at 6:24am (I know the exact time because I looked at my phone) and was mad because I wanted to go back to sleep and get in that last half hour. But a minute after I woke up, a 4.4 earthquake hit Los Angeles.

While a 4.4 isn’t too big of an earthquake, when it starts, you have no idea how big it will get. The first jolt was pretty big and the rumbling was very loud. Turns out, the epicenter was pretty close to me.

As soon as the shaking stopped, I got out of bed and went over to my living room to watch the news. I also got on my computer and sent a quick email to my parents to let them know that I was ok (I didn’t want them to see it on their news and not have heard from me). Since it was a smaller quake, there really wasn’t a lot of damage. In my house, one wineglass broke. That’s it.

After watching the news for a bit to see that it wasn’t a big quake somewhere and that everything was ok, I decided to start my day (I forgot to turn off my alarm and it went off a few minutes after I turned off the news).

I got all my packing done. It was tough because I’m only bringing a carry on and the weather is supposed to be highs in the mid 50’s and lows in the 20’s. That’s a lot of variety. But fortunately, I got some travel storage bags so I could make my sweaters and bulky jacket take up less room in my suitcase. I managed to get everything in there that I needed to bring.

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On Tuesday, I kept my schedule pretty open so I could try to prevent some stress about flying. All I really did was go over to my friend Erin’s house because she was going to blow out and style my hair for me.

Other than that, I tried to stay calm and get ready for my red-eye flight that night.

I’ll admit that I’m writing this post before my flight, so I’ll have to share my experience with that on another post.

Next time, I’ll be writing from NYC!

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Trying To Be An Organized Packer (or Another Bit Of My OCD)

Posted on August 19, 2013 | Comments Off on Trying To Be An Organized Packer (or Another Bit Of My OCD)

I spent this past weekend in Lake Tahoe with my parents (and my dog) to celebrate my birthday. I promise to have some Tahoe recaps (and photos) coming up this week, but first, I wanted to share some of my travel tips. Particularly when it comes to packing.

I don’t think that I’m an expert packer, but I’ve picked up some helpful ideas over the years. And when some of my friends traveling with me have seen these in action, they always comment on how they should use them too.

First of all, I try to keep all of my travel stuff in one location in my house. In my storage area behind my kitchen, I have my suitcases and all my travel toiletries stored. This way I can just grab them together. I keep my toiletries packed (one bag for liquids and one for non-liquids due to TSA rules), so I only have to grab those bags and not have to pull everything together.

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I also make a note if any of my toiletries run out on a trip so I can get a new one and put it in my bag as soon as I’m home. This way I can prevent last-minute CVS runs for a travel size toothpaste or contact lens solution.

For almost all of the trips I take, I only bring a carry-on bag (this will change for the Hawaii trip). So I have to be pretty mindful how I pack.

I always wear my bulkiest shoes on the plane, so they don’t take up room in my suitcase. And I try to only pack one other pair of shoes in my suitcase. I broke that rule on this trip because I just got some new barefoot-style sneakers (they look normal sneakers and not like barefoot shoes with toes). So I packed those up too so I could start wearing them in.

The best way I’ve found to pack shoes is to put them in shower caps. This way the dirty bottoms are covered and won’t get your clothes messy (thank you Pinterest!)

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Aren’t my new barefoot sneakers cute! They are by Merrell and I got them $30 off at Off Broadway Shoes!

I know that some people believe in packing each outfit in its own bag, rolling clothes to save room, or laying all their clothes on top of each other and then folding it as one piece. I’ve tried those all, and they don’t really work for me.

My favorite way to pack clothes is what I like to call puzzle packing. I put one layer of folded clothes in my suitcase. Then I start on the next layer, trying to fill in all gaps and maximizing the spaces (fitting things together like puzzle pieces).

Once I got all my clothes in, my suitcase looked like this:

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Inside are 2 pairs of shoes, socks and underwear, a dress, a sweater, a tank top, yoga pants, a workout top, a t-shirt, a bathing suit, pajamas, and a hat. And there is plenty of room in there for my toiletries and other items I might add at the last-minute.

The final step to my packing is making my day-of list. This is my list of things that I have to do before leaving for the airport.

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After taking this photo, I realized I left about 4 items off this list. But mostly what it is are items that can’t be packed until the last minute (I need to wear my glasses at night so I can’t pack them until the morning, I want to be able to brush my teeth and put on makeup in the morning).

I know this is a little crazy, but it does help my anxiety about flying a bit. Also, I have yet to forget a major thing for a trip. Hopefully you will find some useful tips for your next trip. And if not, you just got a peak inside my crazy mind!

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