Flight attendants spend their career traveling, so when it comes to packing for a trip, there’s nobody with more tricks and clever hacks. Learn the flight attendants’ secrets to pack the right things, in the most efficient way for a tranquil trip.
What Should I Pack?
Whatever the weather will be like where you’re heading, pack some flip-flops. Wear them for walking around in the hotel, to throw on in your hotel room, or to wear in the shower if you’re staying in a hostel. Flip-flops are lightweight, so you can throw them in your bag without adding to the weight.
Always pack a good moisturizer. When you fly, your skin can get dried out, thanks to the cabin pressure. If you’re heading to different weather than you have at home, climate change can dry you out too. Moisturizing is important to care for your skin. Put it on before you fly.
Pack some essentials in your bag for every trip. The best things to always pack include your swimsuit, a little black dress, sunglasses, sunscreen, and an umbrella. If you can, pack these in your carry on bag. If your luggage goes missing, you can still go onto the beach, go to dinner, get around in the rain, and protect yourself from the rain while you wait for your case to arrive.
If you’re taking a lot of electronic devices with you, like tablets, phones, or laptops, keep your cables under control with gear ties. Wrap your cables up and secure them to themselves with a brightly colored gear tie so you can easily spot them in your bag, and to stop the cables from getting tangled up.
How To Pack
Depending on the size of your suitcase, and whether you’re planning on taking only a carry-on bag or will be checking a suitcase, getting everything you need to pack to fit into your bag can be a bit of a challenge.
Pack the way flight attendants do to protect your belongings and fit more things in. Shoes go at the bottom of the case. This keeps the weight at the bottom of the case and stops dirt from the soles from getting on your clothes. Next, assemble complete outfits for each day you’ll be away. Roll your clothes up and put these in next. Rolling rather than folding is a classic flight attendant packing hack that prevents clothes from getting wrinkled and taking up as much space. Lastly, fit your toiletries bag into a corner. The key to packing efficiently is to only pack what you actually need.
Pack with a color palette, so you can pack fewer accessories and pairs of shoes. Everything will go together, so you can pack fewer clothes, but still have plenty to wear.
Shoe bags can help to keep your clothes clean and safe from your shoes. Save the packaging your shoes came in, or just use plastic bags.
If you know you’re an over-packer, resist the urge to pack an outfit for every day. Instead, wear the same clothes a few times. You should pack enough socks and underwear for every day, but keep your other clothes simple to keep things under control.
Choose simple outfits that you can change with light layers. Wear the heaviest things you’re taking on your flight, so you don’t have bulky items taking up space in your bag.
What Not To Do
Flight attendants have a few key things that they find annoying when it comes to passengers. If you know what to avoid, you can be a dream passenger, and be more likely to get the best service and maybe even some extras or an upgrade.
Don’t pack things that you know you will need on the flight in the bag that you’ll be storing in the overhead bin. Instead, put what you’ll want into the personal bag that you will keep under the seat. If you can’t have a personal item of luggage, take out what you’ll need in the boarding area, so you aren’t slowing down other passengers by searching your bag for your belongings when they’re trying to get into their seat.
Checked bags can make you feel as though you ought to pack as much as you can fit in. Don’t do this, in case you buy something while you’re away. Leave a bit of extra room, so you can fit in souvenirs or other items that you buy while you’re on vacation. Clear some space by packing overnight items in your carry-on, in case your checked luggage gets lost.
