How to Pack Your Bag and Never Forget Anything Ever Again

Tl;dr: find here he ultimate packaging list for millennials. 

When I was 15 years old, I’d spend hours reading articles from a Belgian online business magazine. “What is the best month to have a kid that will be a billionaire” were the sort of articles I was reading until I stumbled across “how to pack your suitcase for a business trip”.

I copied the packaging list given on the website and have updated it every time I took a trip somewhere since.

You can find the list below.

Clothes: underwear, socks, t-shirt/shirt, trousers, sweater, pajama, towel, shorts, and swimsuit (if warm destination).

Products to place in a transparent plastic bag on top of the suitcase: toothpaste, deodorant, perfume, solar cream, soap, hand cleaning gel.

To place in a small pocket of the suitcase: lock, a deck of cards, 3 reusable bags*, nail clipper, lunchbox, spoon, hard-boiled eggs.

Tech gear: phone and computer chargers, home bank ID machine, kindle, external battery, computer, mouse.

To keep in pockets: earplugs, phone, keys, wallet**, sunglasses, chewing gum, water bottle, pen, hat, passport/ID.

Artifact for long-term trips: bed linen, gym gloves, gym shorts, a sleeping bag.

If out of the EU: ordering local currency***, downloading “here maps”****.

Planning the future: check how to get from the airport to your accommodation; check for Couchsurfing and meetup events; check interesting places to visit on the “here map”, make sure you have enough money on credit cards, check what are the local supermarket brands, and how works public transportation.

Finally, look for the cheapest sim card provider.

Personally, I also carry a 100 ml bottles with sun cream (which prevents me from buying some) and another one with olive oil*****.

And voilà!! You got it all. I have used this list for long and short trips, to go skiing and to go to the beach and it never failed me.

I have no doubt it won’t fail you either. No need to pack your entire house, two pairs of pants (wearing one and packing the other) are more than enough.

I count one t-shirt/shirt per day, the same for underwear. I also ordered a couple of 100 ml transparent bottles that allow me to take any liquid with me on the plane.

All of these artifacts also fit into a bag you can take with you on the plane, so no more lost luggage!

*The three reusable plastic bags are for dirty clothes, grocery shopping and the third is for the kitchen of the hostel.

**I always take the minimum I need to travel in my wallet: if I carry my passport, I’ll leave my ID home but will take my driving license. I’ll take with me as well a student card to get discounts, my Revolut card, and my normal bank card.

***Ordering local currency while still in your home country is a way to protect yourself against horribly high prices once in the foreign country.

****Here maps is an app that allows you to benefit from public transportation, car, walking, and cycling itineraries without being connected to the Internet. It saved my life countless times.

*****Not anymore since I became a carnivore.

Photo credits: Photo by Denisse Leon on Unsplash