Like many of you, some members of the Viertola Studios team are heading out of town for the long weekend! When travelling, especially if it's a short trip, it makes life a lot easier to travel light. Unfortunately, avoiding overpacking is a problem many of us are still working on...

To avoid a broken back or an angry significant other, we've put together a few tips to help you avoid overpacking this long weekend :)

1. Checklists Are Your Friend

Write down where you're going to be having dinner, activities you'll be participating in, and things that you know you need for sure, regardless of what you're doing (like a toothbrush, socks and underwear). This is going to be your reference point as you go along. If things aren't necessary for what's on the list, leave it behind. Before you zip up your case, check to see that you have those non-negotiable essentials. 

2. Bring shoes/clothing you can wear more than once

Shoes are generally heavy and take up a lot of room so pack wisely! Ideally (and depending on the season), wear a pair of sneakers on the plane. These are usually the clunkiest but great to have for comfortable walking, a cool urban look and it allows you to do more active activities, if need be. Pack a pair of flat sandals that can be worn during the day or at night and then throw in one pair of heels that will go with everything. For clothing, wear you're bulkier items on the plane - jeans, blazer, sweater etc. and then pack items that can transition from day to night. To see what we mean, check out our last blog post where we made 5 outfits out of 1 dress!

3. How you pack is important too...

Find your inner Marie Kondo and roll that s*&%t up!! It saves a lot of room and prevents stuff from wrinkling. 

4. Get to know the travel section at the drug store

These days you can pretty much find travel-sized everything when it comes to toiletries! If you can't, you can buy little empty bottles to decant your potions and lotions into. This saves room, lightens the load and you don't feel guilty ditching them when you're on your way home because you used most of the product. 

5. It's all about the accessories

Us over packers all have the same thought, "But what if ___!" We come up with 10000 "what if" scenarios to justify bringing a stupid number of clothes. But here's the thing...

a) normally when you travel, no-one knows who you are and will not know or notice if you repeat an article of clothing

b) you can make a simple black dress or a pair of jeans and a tank look totally different with a few simple simple accessory changes

Whether it's a change of earrings, belt, clutch or a simple silk scarf addition, you can totally change the look of an outfit without having to change into another one. 

Remember, more empty space in the suitcase makes more room for shopping when you're away :)

Safe travels!

xx

The Viertola Studios Team