Guest Author - Kimberly Button

Whether you’re traveling on business or on a family vacation, the need to pack light is still the same. Unless you pay someone to carry your bags for you from your front door to the hotel room and back, at some point in time you will suffer from aching muscles and a stiff back unless you learn how to pack effectively.

On my first trip to Europe, I packed an enormous suitcase that was so heavy that it could not easily be lifted, plus two carry on bags. As we were trying to get from the Paris airport to the hotel, we soon discovered that there are A LOT of stairs in the Paris underground system. As we each tried to carry our overstuffed suitcase up and down countless flights of stairs and onto a crowded subway and subsequent bus, we vowed to never, ever, ever over pack again. That experience haunts me every time I pack a suitcase so here’s my hard-earned lessons on how to pack.

• Be ruthless in packing outfits for your trip. As much as I always try to pack as little as possible, I always end up with a few shirts and a pair of pants that I never wear during the vacation which just take up space in my suitcase. Remember, the memories of your vacation will come from where you travel, not the 20 designer outfits that you wear.

• Strive to have all of your clothes mix and match with each other. By bringing shirts and pants and accessories that can be interchanged to make a variety of outfits, you’ll be able to pack a lot less without feeling deprived. If you can only wear one shirt with a specific pair of pants and shoes, reconsider how important that outfit is.

• Roll your clothes tightly to maximize space. Place any potentially fragile items such as eyeglasses inside the clothes before rolling to prevent breakage.

• Check the weather of your destination before you leave. Then you can pack appropriate outfits instead of packing for every “what if” temperature.

• Put all personal care items that could explode under pressure in a Ziploc bag or at least a plastic shopping bag wrapped tightly.

• Utilize the space inside of shoes. Pack socks, rolled underwear or other tiny items inside of your shoes to maximize space.

• Bring as few shoes as possible. Shoes are one of the bulkiest items you can pack, so try to limit yourself to just one or two pairs. Keep in mind that they should be comfortable if you plan on doing a lot of sightseeing or hiking.

• Always make room for a lightweight, waterproof jacket that can be used in unexpected chilly or inclement weather.

• Buy travel size bottles of personal care products or transfer your products to smaller bottles to save space.

• Unless you’re traveling on business or bringing delicate clothing, don’t worry so much about wrinkles. Most hotels have irons that you can use if necessary, and light wrinkles can be steamed out of clothing by hanging them in the bathroom during a hot shower.

• Bring lots of plastic shopping bags. These bags can be reused to house dirty laundry and to separate wet clothes from clean clothes. You can also wrap shoes in the bags to prevent dirt from transferring from the soles.

• Though you might be tempted to pack every little item that you “might” need, there’s very few places left in this world where you can’t easily buy aspirin or a bandage or a tube of toothpaste. It’s admirable to try to save money by packing a suitcase of emergency items, but the stress and toll it takes on your body just aren’t worth it.

For even more information on how to pack for your next vacation or business trip, check out the following books:

Smart Packing For Today's Traveler

Fodor's How to Pack



Kimberly Button is the author of The Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook, the only Walt Disney World® Resort theme park guidebook that features scavenger hunts, trivia questions, word puzzles and hidden Mickey searches tailored to each attraction to alleviate boredom while standing in lines. For more information and to read an excerpt, visit www.disneysurvivalguide.com