Packing hacks
Wrinkled clothes and spilled make-up are a pain. They’re also mostly avoidable, with a bit of pre-planning and the right sort of gear
1 Pack your worst underwear
Underwear takes up more space than you realise. If you’re going on a long trip, bring along underwear that’s on death’s door, and abandon it along the way. Each pair of undies you lose is a little more space in your case for something more fun.
2 Get a garment bag that’s an actual bag
If you regularly travel with a suit in tow, it’s worth trading in your regular suit bag for a weekender that has an in-built garment bag. Hook and Albert ( www.hookandalbert.com) and Combat Gent ( www.
combatgent.com) both make these two-for-one bags. Failing that, put your clothes in dry cleaning plastic before you pack them – it really does prevent wrinkles.
3 Apply a ‘fragile’ sticker
Forget what you see in movies – fragile stickers command respect. Pop one on your suitcase and it’ll likely be placed at the top of the pile when it’s loaded into the plane – which means it’ll be unloaded first, and you’ll leave the airport faster at your final destination.
4 Rolling beats folding
Unless years of working retail have turned you into an expert folder, in all likelihood, your clothes will end up less wrinkled, and you’ll be able to fit more in, if you roll them up in your suitcase rather than folding them. If you feel like going deep, there are a surprising number of Youtube tutorials on the subject.
5 Glad Wrap is your friend
Put clingfilm under the lid of any vaguely gooey beauty product that are going in your suitcase. Even if the lid pops off, they’re less likely to leak. Or, if you’re really paranoid – put all your products in ziplock bags.
6 Do your research
It costs way more to buy extra baggage at the airport than it does online before your flight. Do not succumb to the lazy tax. Spend a bit of extra time getting your head around your baggage allowances before you head off and you’ll end up saving money. If you’re taking flights on multiple airlines, they probably all have different rules. So pack in a way that complies with all of them.