A big part of my husband’s job is his travels all over the world – sometimes it is Europe, sometime it is Middle East, sometimes it is the USA. He really travels a lot. Sometimes he has long week trips, sometimes short ones when he goes and comes back the same day. But the most common ones are overnight trips. Guess who is packing?
I always help him. There were so many times when he just came home from work and had one hour before going to the airport. I do not want to spend our one hour together before the flight packing. So I pack everything for him in advance. This way instead of seeing him packing in a hurry, we can have a cup of coffee, talk, share the best moments of the day with the kids. I know this is not the case if both partners are working, traveling and are busy like bees, but this is how it works in our family.
Knowing how to strategically pack a carry-on is an essential skill to have. This is why I decided to share my business-overnight-packing-light strategy.
The secret of packing light is choosing the right things and the right luggage.
Let’s admit, that we tend to take more than we actually need for our trips, that is why it is so important to streamline what you think to take to the trip with you. Almost always you can reduce your items needed by half when traveling.
This is my checklist for a business-overnight-trip-packing-light:
- 1 business shirt
- 1 pair of cuff links if your shirt is with double cuffs – this is very easy to forget when traveling
- 1 necktie
- 1 pair of underwear
- 1 pair of socks
- bag with personal hygiene products and toiletries
- travel bag with wires of telephone, tablet, computer
- 1 set of gym outfit (shorts and T-shirt made of light functional fibers)
- 1 pair of light trainers
All the clothing you should put in to the travel organizer bag. This way they will not be lost in your traveling bag, and will have less wrinkles then you unpack them.
Even a very small suitcase is too big for this amount of things. So you should pack these items in a backpack, to be easy to carry.
You should also take your usual work briefcase to the trip. It is already packed with your laptop or tablet, business cards, memory sticks, pens, so there should not be extra packing work with this.
If you want to travel light, you should travel in the same suit as you are going to wear during your business meetings on this and the next day. You will have your fresh change of underwear, socks, shirt and necktie to look fresh and a bit different the next day.
As you have packed your sports outfit, you will also have a chance to go to a hotel gym or for a run. Remember that a business trip should not be an excuse for not working out. Yes, the lazy, excuse-making self that is inside all of us would probably whisper to you: “relax, you are on a trip, finally you have some quiet time to have a longer breakfast, drink your morning coffee without any distraction”, but resist it and you will be surprised how much energy and positive effect some sports can make on your brain abilities.
