Travelling light is the way to go if you want to skip baggage fees. Plus, it’s just easier to get around when you’re carrying less junk. With that in mind, what are some travel items you always bring but never need?
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It’s easy to overpack for a trip. You figure you might as well bring your extra phone charger, face cream, a few backup cardigans — better to have more than you need than not enough, right? Except that those little things can take up a lot of room in your luggage. So what should travellers leave behind?
If you’ve travelled enough to figure out the perfect packing technique, share it with us. Tell us: What items do you pack and never use?
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Comments
3 responses to “What Do You Always Regret Packing When You Travel?”
A big leather jacket in case it gets really cold. It never does.
I always regret not packing Vegemite.
Water resistant (hiking) shoes when I go to Europe in winter. Every time I’ve been, it may have been wet, but nowhere near to the extent that my trusty pair of vans couldn’t do the trick.
Different priorities call for different approaches to packing. I’m usually pretty thrifty, and I find it stressful to waste money when I could avoid it. For a long time, I did the same as @chrisjager and wasted a huge chunk of packing space with a jacket. Now, either I pack layers when I think I might get cold/wet (which usually takes less room, anyway) or I make a guess on the weather and don’t pack extra warm clothes. I accept that I’ll buy a cheap jacket if I really need to, but it hasn’t come up yet.
I’ve had people laugh at how much junk I’ve taken with me to weddings, as a groomsman – multitool, needle/thread/safety pins, snack bars. Last wedding I was at, we needed all three.
Travelling for work is a different story – if you’re going to be spending a lot of time at airports, you need access to work and probably entertainment and need to arrange your luggage accordingly. Once I’m at my destination, I try to get as close to my normal morning routine as possible, which includes getting some exercise – I pack running shoes and some extra clothes (as long as I have a baggage allowance). It’s a trade-off with being able to work at my best, so I very rarely regret packing them.