Can you tell that I am going on holiday soon? With all of these “travel/holiday” related posts, I am guessing its become pretty obvious. But if not, then I am. Which is the reason I have been spamming you with holiday and travel tips, yano because I’ve been inspired and all that.
Over the years, I have tried and researched many travel tips to help with my planning, packing, travelling to and from the airport/locations and how to plan for a holiday in general. As an extremely anxious traveler, it’s not that I don’t enjoy travelling as believe you me I really do but until I am at the airport, with a drink in my hand (and even then I am still panicky until I’ve arrived at my destination) I just can’t relax. But I have started to be a little better at planning and preparing for a holiday so I thought I’d share my tips with you on how to plan, pack, travel and how to relax.
PLANNING OUFITS
I am the worst at planning outfits. But I am slowly learning with a little encouragement from my fiancé – okay a telling off for over packing but still – we all do it. Especially us ladies. When it comes to packing within the weight limit, I find it extremely difficult. Its impossible for me and my fiancé to share a suitcase as it ends up being full of my things instead, even for my wedding abroad I have two checked in luggage bags plus two hand luggage bags and I am worried even that won’t be enough! Whoops. But planning my outfits and limiting my shoes will certainly help keep my luggage under the weight limit. About a week before I travel, I am now starting to think about what outfits I will want to wear, in all honesty when on holiday I probably have three outfit changes a day so instead of packing enough for three outfits every day for two week (which is a hella lot) I am starting to look at items of clothing that I can mix and match. Can I take a dress that can be worn in the day to the beach but can be dressed up for a night out? The same goes for shoes, I am one who takes a million and one pairs of shoes, just in case I fancy wearing them on a certain day but instead I’ve been good and I – kinda – plan ahead. When taking sandals stick to two pairs, one nude and one black then it will go with everything. Take 1 pair of flip flops for the beach/pool and one pair of sensible shoes for walking or doing the ol’ tourist thing. Then, fill the rest of your case with heels. Only joking (maybe). For my heels I try to stick to a few pairs, on holiday everyone loves wedges so I usually wear these through the airport as they are the comfiest. Then I will limit myself to two or three pairs of heels that will go with most (if not all) outfits. I usually take those barely there sandals in nude and black, and then one more fancy pair that will look super cute with many different outfits.
PACKING
On my recent travels, I got extremely told off by my fiancé as we were sharing a 15kg luggage as we were only going away for 4 days but my make-up bag weighed 4kg. Whoops! So now I have been savvy with how much make-up I take and make sure I only take what I need, I now limit myself to three lipsticks as that’s all you’ll need (a nude, a pink and a red). I also stop taking a million and one eyeshadows, blushers and make-up brushes and instead I take the Maybelline The Nudes Palette which has rapidly become my favourite, as well as one neutral coloured blusher and limit my makeup brushes. Here’s a quick tip when packing powders though, add a cotton pad on top of the powder in the packaging to stop your powders from breaking mid-journey. One thing I recommend you over packing on is underwear, you can never take too much underwear and it doesn’t really weigh a lot. For every three days that I am away, I’ll take an extra pair on top of what I have packed.
HAND LUGGAGE
Let’s face it, security at airports never (touch wood) check the weight on your hand luggage. At least none ever have checked mine. As long as you are not struggling to carry your bag through to check in and your bag looks like it’s a reasonable size or weight then you will usually be okay. Where possible you may be able to sneak a few extra things in your hand luggage (without your fiancé knowing), the key to packing hand luggage is to put everything you don’t really need during travel at the bottom (when standing up) and things that you will need to access easily on the top. I won’t waffle on too much about the Hand Luggage essentials, but if you fancy a read then just click zee link.
FLIGHT
There is nothing worse than being bored, cold and tired during a flight. Especially when you are sat next to someone with a screaming child or someone who always want the air con on. Pfft. So to help me have a relaxing flight, I make sure I have a few things. First things first, pack a cardigan or shawl. Even if you might not need it, its worth having in your bag in case you get a little chilly. Especially on your return flight home, we always forget to bring a coat and land in the lovely warm UK freezing our schnipples off. To help make a flight more enjoyable, I always pack my iPod and will take my Kindle so I can play a few crosswords or read a few books, anything that will keep me entertained during the flight and will drown out any screaming children. Yay. Also, another flight tip. Keep lip balm close. I always get really dry lips on the plane which I absolutely hate so I wouldn’t be seen on a flight without lip balm nearby.
MAKE A LIST
When travelling, I can switch from Monica Gellar to Joey Tribbiani in seconds. I am usually quite an organised person, but when flying I suddenly get really anxious and panicky and always feel like I have forgotten something. Which of course, gets me worked up until I end up looking like I am having a nervous breakdown. No joke. Making a list about a week before you travel (when you are a little more relaxed) will help make sure that you don’t forget anything. I tend to make a list of everything I need to do to prepare for travelling; whether it be hair appointments, nail appointments, what I need to pack, chucking out any fresh food the day before I leave (no-one wants to come back to mouldy food in the house) and even picking my outfit to wear to the airport. Planning – and list making – is the key to a stress free travel experience.
PLAN YOUR ROUTE
I hate rushing. I also hate being late. Hence why I am usually the person who turns up 30 minutes before check in even opens. Hey you may judge, but at least I’ve never missed a flight. I am one of these people that like to know the time that check in opens, how long it will take to travel to the airport (whilst allowing extra time for traffic jams), how long it will take me to get unpacked from the car and through to departures. The whole she-bang. And that doesn’t stop there, this goes on until I have arrived at my destination, and by destination I mean unpacked and chilling. It’s good to plan (every aspect if you’re like me), so I like to plan out what time I need to get up, how long it will take me to get the car packed, travel time. I also need to schedule in enough time for me to have a coffee and something to eat at the airport, and leave enough time to collect the hire car once landed and travel to our destination. And then I can relax. Phew.
TRAVEL WALLET
I am definitely a little geek when it comes to travelling, and I couldn’t travel abroad without my trusted – and oh so pretty – travel wallet. This is a beautiful little accessory that I perfect for that travelling fashionista and is basically a holder for your passport, boarding pass, travel sim card, insurance documents and travel money. But its just pretty. There are so many different types and style of these to suit all budgets, I am currently lusting after a lovely leather one from Aspinal of London but I just can’t justify spending £125 on one. If you are someone who occasionally forgets the important things, or just someone who loves uber cute accessories like me then you definitely need a travel wallet to keep everything organised.
FOOD & DRINK
This might sound a little weird, but for a few days before you travel always avoid foods that could make you poorly. For example, I have a form of IBS that means when I eat certain spices or bread my tummy swells up and I look 6 months pregnant. Although my form of IBS doesn’t affect my toilet habits, travelling with a painful swollen tummy is something that I want to avoid. It’s just not a nice look (or a comfortable one). So if you know that a certain food may cause a trigger or there’s a change your body could react to a “heavy” meal then just avoid it. For the morning of travelling, I’d recommend to stick to a light breakfast and something that isn’t too heavy on your tummy and will make you travel sick. Instead I stick to having fruit or a croissant and a coffee. Stick to what you know to avoid starting your holiday off by being poorly.
I hope you’ve found my travel tips helpful! Do you have any travel tips that you’d like to share? Will you be using any of my tips when you next travel?
0 Comments