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2torial
#0491:
Learn2
Pack for a Business Trip (Continued)
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Take a look at your rolled-up clothes and bagged-up toiletries
and ask yourself: What size bag do I need? You may be able to put
everything into one large carry-on bag, or use a hanging garment
bag. Check with the airline about the size and weight allowance
for carry-on bags.
The advantage of a single carry-on bag is that you won't have to
check your bag or worry about it getting lost or redirected. And
you don't have to wait for it to come down the conveyer belt. The
drawback is you'll have to take less.
If you decide you'll need two bags after all--one to check and
one to carry on the plane, place your toiletries, passport, money,
credit cards and itinerary information either inside the carry-on
bag or on your person.
Be aware that toiletries are the items most likely left behind--precisely
because they're used the morning of the flight and never packed.
Consider buying little versions of everything--shaving cream, toothpaste,
hair brushes--so you can go ahead and pack your toiletries the night
before your flight. You won't have to worry about rescuing anything
from the bathroom on your way out the door in the morning.
If you opt not to buy travel versions of toiletries, mark the toiletry
items on your list with a red pen or marker. Hang the list on the
bathroom mirror or another place where it'll be easily seen the
night before. The next morning you'll be greeted with the list and
you'll have less chance of forgetting those essentials in the shower
stall.
Pack it!
Packing suitcases or any bag besides a hanging garment bag:
Place belts around the walls of your bag, instead of rolling them
up, to save space and save the material of your belt.
Many people say shoes should go first, but shoes might be crushed
if you're placing many clothes on top of them. See if there is a
side compartment of your bag and stick the shoes in these upright
holes.
Stick appliances and any electrical things you may have at the
bottom.
Next, place a layer of clothes that don't matter as much if they
are wrinkly, such as bathing suits, underwear, socks and woolly
sweaters and pajamas. If you only have one bag, you may want to
place your zip lock bags of toiletries in between this layer of
clothes, or at the bottom of the bag with the appliances, but make
sure that nothing can poke a hole through the bag. Otherwise, stick
your toiletry items in side compartments.
Next is the layer of work-related gear. Carefully place previously
rolled work gear on top of the recreational clothes. Cover with
an old dry-cleaning bag, if you have one, to seal them into place.
Packing a hanging garment bag:
Hanging garment bags are great because you can hang up some of
your clothes, they have lots of little organizational pockets, and
some of them are allowed as carry-ons.
Keep outfits together, on one metal hanger. Use metal hangers because
they take up less room than any other type of hanger. Suits should
be kept in dry cleaning bags (if you don't have a dry cleaning bag,
use a trash bag--clean, of course) to keep anything from rubbing
against your suit. Insert rolled clothes and hanging clothes first.
Next, start stuffing the side pockets and organizational pockets.
If this is your carry-on, you'll want to make sure your toiletries
are in an easily accessed compartment (perhaps a compartment outside
of the bag). Place shoes in a separate section of the bag, and make
sure that the items that are directly across from them are lightweight.
Otherwise, you'll be unpacking smushed shoes.
When taking a carry-on, make sure that everything is in tight containers
and that the zippers or locks of the bag are secure. Think of how
embarrassing everything pouring out of the bag into the plane aisle
would be. Keeping items inside your bags is important, but most
important is making sure you keep those bags--and the items within
them!
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