Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey travelers, it's me. It's Zee Michelson. How are you doing today? I want to make your travel dreams come true with every episode, and today we are going to talk about packing.

Speaker 1: 0:14

I know it's a nightmare what to pack, what not to pack, what clothes you should bring, and so on. I know when I started traveling, I brought along enough suitcases that I could probably dress the entire country I was traveling to. The suitcases were so big and so bulky and I wound up traveling and carrying them mainly by myself. So I didn't want this to happen ever again. So what I decided to do was I learned how to pack and not to pack. I now travel with a backpack and I travel with a carry-on suitcase, and this goes for almost everywhere I'm going, whether I'm going on a cruise or I'm going overseas. I don't like to carry a lot, because sometimes you wind up carrying your own suitcases and you don't want to do that. So let's talk about what you shouldn't pack. That's a big thing.

Speaker 1: 1:11

I know a lot of people. They love their shampoo and their conditioners and their body lotions and their hair dryers, but this takes up a lot of space in your suitcase and most of the places that you're going, unless it's a third world country. If you're going to a cruise line or a cruise ship, they have these toiletries in the room. They have shampoos, they have conditioners, they have body lotions and most of these are absolutely wonderful. They also have hair dryers, believe it or not, and particularly when you're going overseas, sometimes you don't have the same outlet. The outlets overseas are different from here in the United States. So use the hair dryers that the hotel or the cruise line is supplying for you and again, you've saved so much space in your toiletry bag and it also gets you through the airport faster if you don't have all those liquids in your suitcase. Now I know a lot of people, including my daughter and her husband. They travel with neck pillows. When I look for neck pillows, when I'm shopping for people for neck pillows, I look for neck pillows that are mushable or deflatable things that can be easily put into your suitcase so that you don't have to have it lopping around on your rolling suitcase and taking up more space. So neck pillows yay or nay. Now, if you don't want to bring a neck pillow, you can ask the flight attendant for a blanket. The blanket can be rolled up and used as a neck pillow. So keep that in mind. Every little bit that you take away from your suitcase helps you and your back from breaking from wearing, from carrying these suitcases. So remember that also.

Speaker 1: 2:51

I know we ladies suffer from this. Too many shoes, too many shoes. Who can have too many shoes, right ladies? Well, I know I know when you're traveling and thank goodness these security things are lightening up where we don't have to take our shoes off all the time so wear your heavier shoes or your bulkier shoes when you're traveling.

Speaker 1: 3:14

I usually wear my sneakers because I'm a sneaker girl. I wear my sneakers and this way I can slip them on and off, particularly with these new Skechers. Have you seen the new Skechers out there that you can just slip them on and off? Hey, those are really good and they're good for walking as well, because you'll need a good walking shoe.

Speaker 1: 3:32

But you don't want to carry the walking shoes, the hiking shoes, the heavy boots, the high heels, the sandals. You don't want that all in your suitcase. It takes up too much space. So think of this where you're bulky your shoes when you're getting on and off the plane and then pack your dress shoe and maybe another flat shoe. You know something nice and casual. So this way you only have basically three pairs of shoes. And also, remember when you're packing your shoes. Your shoes can be also used as portage, where you can actually stick your stockings in there or your socks in the shoe and it takes up less space. Remember when you're packing your shoes.

Speaker 1: 4:14

I use little grocery bags, little plastic grocery bags. I wrap my shoes in there so my shoes don't make the rest of my clothes all dirty and disgusting. I use those and then I use those shopping bags later for any laundry that I might have too. That I need to take care of. Now, if you're going to a sunny place, you know Aruba, bermuda, bahamas, wherever I know ladies, you want to carry those nice big hats with the big brim because they really look cute, they really are adorable. But if you're carrying these hats or trying to pack them in your suitcase, yeah, you can kind of put them in your suitcase and you can kind of fill the head part in with stuff. But the brimmed hats sometimes can get a little mushy or smashed in your suitcases. I usually just carry a baseball cap because they're cute too and they fit easily, they fold pretty easily down and they keep the sun out of your eyes, so I do that as well.

Speaker 1: 5:15

Now, how many of you like to Read when you go on vacation? I know a lot of people love to read. My daughter is an avid reader. She loves to read. I like to relax and read by the pool sometimes I think it's great. But a lot of people pack their books, and I know people can read two books in a sitting. Well, that doesn't surprise me any, but books are heavy. So what you want to do is you want to, either because you're going to carry your electronics with you anyway. So maybe do it on the Kindle that you're carrying or your iPad that you're carrying, and if you have really great eyes, you can actually download your books onto your phone. But my eyes are terrible, so I have to carry my iPad, but then again, you're not carrying the book.

Speaker 1: 5:57

Now I know Rick Steves has great travel books out on the market and they are fabulous, and a lot of people love to take his books along when they're going to some of these locations. Hint, either tear the pages out that you need or make copies of them. So this way you're not carrying the entire book with you because those books are heavy, but he has some great information. So Rick Steves does have some great information of where to go, what to do, what to you know, what to eat all of that when he travels and his books are fabulous. I recommend them highly, but I don't recommend traveling with the entire book because it can take up so much space in your suitcase. So remember that.

Speaker 1: 6:37

Now, also, things that you really might want to take and you might not want to take. I'm going to tell you jewelry Ladies. I know when you go out and you're going to go fancy and you're going to have your evening gown on or your cocktail attire, you want to wear your lovely jewels. However, I do recommend not taking your expensive jewelry with you. You know, just to be on the safe side. You can get some fabulous costume jewelry to match the garments that you are wearing, and if they accidentally get stolen or you lose them, you're not crying over thousands of dollars that might have gone, disappeared. So I would definitely travel with some costume jewelry as opposed to your major, major jewelry.

Speaker 1: 7:24

Now, some people say that they don't even wear their wedding rings. I don't either. I don't carry my wedding ring with me as well. I'll never have the silicone rings that are out there. So if you want to show wedding bands like the man has a wedding band on and the woman has, they have the silicone wedding bands, which are really cute. So you can do something like that if you want to show that, yes, you are really married. But you know, I've been married to my husband for over 30 years and half the time neither one of us have a wedding ring on. But when we travel, we don't travel with our expensive jewelry. So keep that in mind. You don't want anything to go that way.

Speaker 1: 7:58

Now I've talked about the hair dryers. Again, you don't need to take a hair dryer with you. One is if you're overseas, the component for the outlet is different from the components for the outlet here in the United States. We don't want to blow up your own hair dryer because they don't match and then you'd have to carry an adapter. Most of the places that you're going hotels, cruise lines they all have hair dryers. Now Use that so much easier. Keeps the space available. Now, also, when you are traveling to wet places, you go in England or Ireland and Scotland and it could be rainy here in Florida. We have our afternoon rains during the summer and it comes down in buckets.

Speaker 1: 8:39

Some people like to pack umbrellas. Now, I have to say I pack an umbrella I really do, but the umbrellas I pack are so small they're about the size of a six inch ruler because they open up pretty good. Now, when I do this, I also take a look at where I'm going. So I pack a small umbrella. Also, I have with me those lightweight ponchos. They have a hood. They're very lightweight plastic. You see them all the time at Disney World when it rains, you see a ton of people wearing them because they have a hood and you can put the hood up. If it's raining and you're covered, your clothes stay dry, you can see where you're going and you can keep going on your trip. You can keep traveling and you can keep going on your trip. You can keep traveling. So a tiny umbrella I call them my six inches and a lightweight poncho. These can go easily into the suitcases.

Speaker 1: 9:31

Now, what should you pack, or how should you pack? First things first. If you don't have any of those packing cubes, I recommend them. You can put a lot in these packing cubes, particularly bulky items, like if you're going to pack a sweater. Sweaters can be very bulky, so you get a packing cube. You can get a couple of them. You can put your garments in here and then suck the air out and it really condenses the space in your suitcases, which really helps. And they're not that expensive and they're reusable. You don't use them once and throw them away.

Speaker 1: 10:03

Also, when you're packing, have you seen those Apple AirTags? They're also supplied by other companies as well. They're really good. You put them in your suitcases. I would put them in all the suitcases, even the one you're carrying onto the plane, because you can track your suitcase with these AirTags. It says where your bags are going and hopefully your bags aren't going to a more fun place than you. So you can put these in a suitcase and you can track, because sometimes your suitcases can be delayed or lost. And I would even put it in the one that you're carrying on, because sometimes your carry-on luggage can be taken from you if they're too packed on the plane so they want to put it in storage.

Speaker 1: 10:46

Now I don't carry a purse or what the people call a handbag. I carry my backpack and in my backpack is my wallet, my passports Also in there. Here's what you should pack in there In my backpack I also pack my immediate medications. So if you're on medications, don't put it in suitcases that might be taken away from you, because if you get delayed and you need your medications, you need to access your medication. So put it in the backpack. Also your wallets in your backpack. I also recommend putting a change of undergarments in there and maybe a shirt, because if you get delayed or if you're somewhere stuck or your luggage gets lost, at least you can freshen up a little bit. So you have a little bit of your toiletries in there, you have your medications in there and you also have maybe a change of undergarments. And again, it's in your backpack.

Speaker 1: 11:38

Your backpack can carry quite a bit. It's in your backpack. Your backpack can carry quite a bit. But remember, your backpack has to be able to fit under the seat or above, in the overhead. But usually one luggage is supposed to go in the overhead and that's your carry-on bag. So my backpack is small enough to go under the seat and it usually fits very nice, because that's also where my iPad is. So there you go. So I have a backpack and I have my little carry-on with my rollers. It rolls very easily in every direction. I think they're great. So those are the things that you should have.

Speaker 1: 12:10

Now, what about clothing? I know a lot of women. I ran into some women on a cruise line one time. I was carrying my one little suitcase and we were only on the cruise line for like 48 hours, only two day, very, very fast. And there were other travel advisors and she looked at me and said that's all you brought. I said we're only going to be on the ship for two days. She said well, I couldn't figure out what to take. So with that, you have to realize you have to decide what to take. Okay, you're going on a cruise or you're going somewhere where you're going to have to have at least one dressy outfit. So for the men, men, you should have a pair of dress slacks and a blazer or a suit jacket, a nice dress shirt and a tie. This will get you through the dress-up evening.

Speaker 1: 12:56

For women, you have some very, very lightweight garments that you can bring for dress attire A little black dress. I've seen jumpsuits. I carry one jumpsuit. It's fabulous, I can roll it up in a ball and nobody will know it was ever needed and ironed. I don't like to iron. Iron is a four-letter word to me, so I don't buy anything that needs to be ironed. So when I'm packing, I make sure I have that garment with me, and it's a beautiful pull-on jumpsuit with a little tiny jacket. It's very lightweight and I'm ready for a night out, but a little black dress will work. Or, ladies, if you don't like a little black dress, you can go with a nice skirt and a pretty blouse and, again, cocktail attire.

Speaker 1: 13:38

Now what about during the day? Okay, you're going to need a pair of comfortable slacks, couple of pairs of comfortable slacks. Whether you wear jeans or a pair of other type of slacks, you know you wear comfortable slacks. Bring along two pairs of comfortable slacks and, if you're going to a warm location, a couple of pairs of shorts. Same with the men. Do the same thing Comfortable pair of slacks, couple of pairs, couple of pairs of shorts. If you go into a warm location, your shirts should be lightweight, maybe nice polo shirts or, as they call them, golf shirts to wear with these garments, because you're going to be doing a lot of walking in a lot of these places.

Speaker 1: 14:15

If you're on board a ship, again, you got to pack your bathing suit. I always pack two suits, two bathing suits for me, two bathing suits for my husband, because bathing suits get wet Whether you're sitting on the beach or in the water and you don't want to get into a wet bathing suit the next day because usually it'll take at least 24 hours for that suit to dry. Take along two suits. Now, when I'm packing my shoes because we talked about that, we talked about what shoes to pack I always bring along and put my shoes in those plastic grocery bags that we all get at the stores. I put them in there.

Speaker 1: 14:50

I do a lot of reusing of things this way. It protects my clothing. I can put my shoes in there and sometimes the last day of a cruise my bathing suit is still wet. I put my bathing suit in there so it doesn't get the rest of my clothes wet. So a little of those plastic bags. So there you have it. You have what to wear, what not to bring, what to bring and keep it down to a backpack and a small carry-on luggage. And I'm talking the luggage that says it's a carry-on luggage. And remember, sometimes your carry-on luggage when you get onto the plane they will ask to take it because the plane needs to put it in storage. So don't panic, alrighty Now. That being said, I want everybody to have a fabulous trip and if you need to rinse a few things out, you can rinse them out in the hotel, and some hotels and some cruise lines have laundry services. So don't pack like you're going away for a month and a half when you're only going to be gone for seven days.

Speaker 1: 15:55

Again, thanks for listening to me. This is Zee Michelson. I thank you for tuning in and I hope I've tickled your travel taste buds. You know this is a fun time to go search the world. It's a big, wide, wonderful world we have out there and it's time to explore it. So let's travel and, like I always say, shoot for the stars. And if you only get to the moon, at least you made the trip. This is Z Michelson, and if you want to get a hold of me, feel free to send me an email ZeeMichelson at gmailcom, and remember Zee is spelt Z-E-E. Happy traveling.