Preparing To Cruise

It won't be long before we are cruising again. It's been a while and I am going over some of the things we need to remember to take along.

1. Need to check our take along med kit. In it I have Tylenol, Ibuprofen, cold tablets, Bonine for motion sickness, a small Vick's rub, antiseptic spray, and bandaids. I need to refresh some of that as it's been a while since we've added to it. If you do nothing else, pack some bandaids. Walking a lot more than usual will ensure some blisters no matter how good your shoes. I also pack a couple of large square stick on bandaids as well. There was a time when I skinned my knee and the only thing the ship's medical office could give me was huge gauze pads and some tape.

2. Bob will be gathering all our documents--passport, boarding passes, etc. You still need to print out some for boarding purposes and now most cruise companies have you print out your luggage tags. I hate the new way of doing that. The old tags were easier to just loop on a handle. Now we take a small stapler so that we can staple the luggage tags on just before we go to the ship. It's also a good idea to make a copy of your passport to tuck away in case your passport is lost or stolen.

3. Digging out our adapter comes next. While the ships have both North American and European outlets, an adapter will let you plug in a few extra electronics to charge. Just remember that you can't plug a hair dryer or curling iron into the adapter--unless of course you like to see sparks and smell smoke and do without it for the rest of your cruise. Don't ask me how I know.

4.  I'll need to buy some packages of peanut butter or cheese crackers. They come four or six in a package and because they are pre-packaged, you can take them with you on an excursion just in case it goes a little longer than you planned and there is no stop for a snack or food. Fresh fruit is usually not allowed to be taken from the ship to shore so you can't count on grabbing an apple or banana from the buffet at breakfast.

5. A couple of ziploc bags are always a handy thing to pack. If you should happen to need an ice pack it will be convenient to have the bag to use. A gallon sized bag can hold a wet bathing suit in case you need to pack before your suit dries. A quart sized bag will help protect your phone on the beach from water and/or sand.

6. Open the file I have with my cruise packing list in it and print it out. Long ago I decided to put together a list of things we usually take. Sometimes I add to it. Other times I delete some things. A lot depends upon where we are going and what cruise line we are sailing with. It does save a little sanity and panic over what I might be forgetting.

Okay, now I need to get busy and start gathering it all together. The dining room table is where it all accumulates. When it's all there, we can decide what suitcases to use or go over the pile of clothes and things and decide what we can cut back on. Even though we've traveled a lot there is still that little voice that says, "Don't forget." As long as that little voice speaks up before we are on our way, it's a good thing.

Baggage Costs--Packing For Less

Once again it looks like all the airlines will be squeezing the traveler with higher baggage costs. Gone are the days when checking luggage was included in your ticket price. In the guise of making ticket costs less, airlines began backing out lots of their services and charging individually for them--baggage being the big ticket item.

With all our travel we have learned to cut back on what we pack but it looks like we may need to get even tighter with our packing list. I remember earlier in our travel experiences when we were standing in line to check our bags and realized the couple in front of us each had a medium sized suitcase and it had a tag on it to indicate they were going on a cruise. We were too but we had two suitcases and a large garment bag.

Bob's curiosity got him. "How is it you only have only two suitcases and you are cruising?" he asked them.

"A while ago," the man said, "we realized we were bringing too many things home that we hadn't used or worn. We decided to put a safety pin on each item for the next trip. If we wore it we took the pin off. If it made it home with a pin still attached, we knew not to take it the next time. It cut our packing in half." He flashed a satisfied grin.

While we didn't go the safety pin route, we did start making note of what we took that didn't get used and planning to do laundry when we could. That has cut down on a lot of extra baggage. Some common sense taught us to buy sample sized toiletries. We don't pack anything that won't be worn more than once and pack more tops than bottoms.

Shoes are tough sometimes but usually it goes with one nice pair if cruising, sneakers and an everyday pair of sandals.

Our next challenge will be to get it all into just one suitcase between the two of us. Wish us luck.

Packing Tips: Zip It!

As we get ready to pack for another trip my mind turns to ways of economizing space and having less luggage. We don't do too badly. I think our years of experience have taught us some things, others we've learned from observation or travel articles. I ran across one by Anne McDermott called Sit & Zip. Here's how it works.

Buy gallon sized zip lock bags.

Roll your pants, polo shirts, t shirts, etc. into a tight roll.

Put two or three in a bag and then sit on it.

While still sitting, zip the bag shut.

Okay, now I know that requires a bit of coordination not all of us might have but I'm guessing it might be worth a try. Also I'm pretty sure that some shirts, skirts, pants, may not stay wrinkle free or even come close so that might require that you will have access to an iron upon arrival at your destination.

Here's a video for those of you who need a visual picture. Good luck! And don't forget to save those bags for the trip home unless of course you want to buy another suitcase to pack for the return trip.

Shirt Folders

One of our favorite TV shows is The Big Bang Theory and of course we enjoy the idiosyncrasies of Sheldon. Lots of interaction in the show takes place in the laundry room of the apartment building and I've seen Sheldon using a folding board for his shirts. It seemed a very efficient and clever way to get your shirts and T-shirts folded evenly. Little did I know that they are readily available and suggested for travelers to use.

Shirt folders are sold with boards that help you fold all the shirts you need uniformly and are stacked five to eight or more deep in a folder that closes around them and keeps them neatly packed in your bag. Here is one example available at TravelSmith and another at LuggagePros. The video below gives you an idea how it works.









Ah, but if you just want help folding those shirts, there is a make-it-yourself board. The instructions are found at eHow.

Or you could buy a plastic one like Sheldon uses. FlipFold makes several sizes.

Summer Shoes To Go

Shoes and chocolate. Hard for me to pass up but when it comes to packing for a summer getaway, you can't take a closet full of shoes with you and you do have to be careful your chocolate doesn't melt. Your shoe choices have to be made on the basis of what you've planned for your travel. The guys have it easy. My husband wears a pair of brown shoes and packs a pair of sneakers and a pair of sandals. Me, I have to worry about dressing up, being nicely casual, getting shoes for the water/beach/pool, walking shoes, exercise shoes, etc. What's a girl to do?

I ran across an article at Smarter Travel that offered lots of suggestions for different types of shoes that pack well because they either fold up, flatten, or are light weight. Some of the suggestions were good but several were a little pricey for me. When one link showed me that Oprah loved the shoes, I knew they were out of my price range.

So how do you pack for summer fun? A pair of ballet flats work well for occasions where you want to be a little dressy or resort casual at dinner. Sandals that can take getting wet are great for the pool or beach (I like Tevas). Of course if you're a flip-flop wearer that problem is solved. A pair of shoes that you can exercise in are usually good as walking shoes too. Find some that are made of a breathable material and they'll be lighter to pack.

Now that sounds easy. But wait! Those cute little sandals will look great with that pair of slacks and I really need a brown and black pair of ballet shoes and a white pair just because it's summer. And. . .and. . . This is where I need to dial it back. And of course if I really, really need that extra pair, well, it's a shopping opportunity. Right?

How Much Luggage Do You Lug?

We have a friend who thinks it's a real hoot that we set out everything we're going to pack for a trip on our dining room table before we put it in a suitcase. Well, we don't use our table that often for dinner so why not?

Setting out the clothes and other necessities on the table for a trip allows us to see if we're over packing. Rarely does anyone under pack. We can assess the piles of clothes and gear and then reevaluate the necessity of all of them. Do I really need ten shirts for five days of travel? And what about all those shoes?

It is a much better idea we've found to work this way rather than to just fill a suitcase as we gather things for our trip. If you start out with one of the larger suitcases, you are bound to fill it up and bring more than you need. We aim to fill the smallest that will accommodate the absolute necessities. We've often had stateroom stewards do a double take when they deliver just two suitcases for a cruise and we say that's all we have.

While we haven't tried it, we met a couple once who were down to one suitcase each for a cruise. When we asked how they did it, they replied that there was a safety pin on each item that they packed. If they returned home with something that still had a safety pin on it, they would leave it home the next trip.

Packing for several different climates? Layers is the word to keep in mind. Light weight clothes that are layered can offer a lot of protection. Add gloves, a hat, and a scarf and you can survive most colder areas. Afraid of a rainy day? A small travel umbrella and a rain poncho from a dollar store will help you through it.

The laundry is the traveler's friend. I know you're on vacation but part of the travel experience can be enriched by the people you meet in the local laundry. Many ships have self-serve laundries. It doesn't take long to get a load of laundry done and certainly cuts down on how much packing you do if you plan to use it.

Neighborhood laundries in other cities and countries can be quite interesting as well. We got to chat with a friendly Parisian one day as she showed us how to operate the machines. Another time we had a friendly exchange with a student in Heidelberg and I got to practice some of my high school German. As my grandson would say, it's all part of the experience. And when you are traveling through Europe and using the trains, it helps to have a smaller suitcase and less to lug.

My Packing Personality

Usually I don't take quizzes online but when I perused an old newsletter from Independent Traveler, I found a quiz that offered to tell me what my packing personality is. Since I am a few days away from having to pack for a short two week trip (that's short for us), I thought it might be fun so I followed the link and took the quiz.

It turns out I am a Last-Second Lightweight Packer. Here's the result:

You prefer spontaneity over careful planning -- and your packing style is no exception. You're a bit of a fatalist. You feel that if you're going to forget to pack something, then you're going to forget to pack something, and there's not much you can do about it. You like to travel light, thereby avoiding airline baggage fees, pulled arm muscles and exhaustion. You've probably headed out the door with a few things left behind that you wish you had packed, but you never let it ruin your trip.

So, "fatalist" that I am, I will wait for the day before we leave to set out all the clothes and sundries we need to take for this jaunt out West and as usual, lay it all out on the dining room table to check over one last time before putting it all in the suitcase. And if we should forget something? Well this time there'll probably be a Walmart around the corner.

Want to take the Packing Personality Quiz? Just click on the link.

The Handy Dandy Travel Helper - Zip Top Bags

Without zip top bags my suitcase and backpack would be a disaster. I use them in all sizes to organize and keep things from getting lost in the shuffle of bags from place to place. You know what I mean. Remember that old gorilla baggage handler commercial for American Tourister? We start out packing so neatly and everything shifts. Not only does it shift but it settles as well just from the weight of the clothes or the other bags on top of yours. Here's the way I use those handy dandy helpers.

The 3-1-1 Bag - Most of us are now familiar with this bag. Liquids you intend to carry-on must only be 3 ounces put together into 1 quart sized clear zip top bag and you are allowed only 1 such bag. I don't normally carry toiletries in a carry-on but I do stick my lipstick, lip gloss, hand cream, sanitizer, etc. in one bag--even my chewing gum (unchewed of course).

Medications - Both my husband and I count out our prescription meds that we will need for the trip plus an extra few days in case we get delayed in flights or weather conditions on the road. We put the first week into our pill holders and then the rest in a small plastic snack bag that zips. All of that goes into a larger quart sized zip top bag and I can easily pull it out of my backpack in transit if I need them.

Power cords - Ever get to your destination and have to untangle the power cords from each other or items in your suitcase? If you put them in a zip top bag there will be less hassle because they won't move around as much. If you are so inclined, you could even get a separate bag for each power cord.

Liquids - All right. Yes. My natural color is now gray but I'll never reveal it as long as I can keep coloring the roots. I do not want those liquids floating around my suitcase though. Even though it's not a liquid, I also put my hair spray, spray-on sunblock, or any other aerosol into a zip top bag. I double check to be sure they are zipped tight.

Delicate items - Okay, now this is getting into the area of TMI (Too Much Information) but I personally hate the idea of someone doing a security check of my suitcase and rifling through my underwear. All of that gets put into a zip top bag so that simply by feeling the outside of it and looking through the clear plastic, an inspector can tell there's nothing hidden inside that would be a security risk. Sure, it's just my quirkiness but I feel better doing that.

Vacuum pack - If you have a clothing item that is made from material that is slippery, silk for instance, you might want to put it into a little larger zip top bag and work the air out of it before you seal it. This will help it to lay flatter in the suitcase and not slip between other things to crease and wrinkle.

That takes care of all the areas I can think of. If you have some more tricks for packing with zip top bags, please share them in a comment below.

Stuffing The Suitcase

Do you roll or fold your clothes? Make use of that expandable suitcase feature? Do you stuff your shoes? What about those bags that you can use to vacuum pack your clothes? All of these ideas are what float around the travel sites for suggestions on saving space in your suitcase.

I'm still not sure if rolling or folding your clothes is best. Some say that rolling them keeps the wrinkles to a minimum but a lot depends upon how good you are at rolling them. At least if they're rolled, when the suitcase is on its side, the clothes don't shift like they do when folded creating more wrinkles. I do roll a lot of things like bathing suits and items that I can stuff down in between my folded clothes to keep them from shifting.

Definitely stuff those shoes with other things. Mostly I do this with socks. After all, they're going to go in those shoes eventually anyway. Other small items can slip inside as well just be sure that if you put liquids or gels in them you use a plastic baggie.

I've often wondered about those bags that you can suck all the air out of to pack bulky clothes in less space. Trouble is, where would you get a vacuum when you're traveling? The same people do make travel bags that don't require a vacuum. They would work on large items but I find that even ziploc bags help just as well with smaller items. You can squeeze a lot of air out and make them compact.

Probably the best method to packing doesn't even involve the actual stuffing of the suitcase. Lay out all the things you think you will need. Then reduce them by one-third. We always tend to take more than we need and most of the world does have a laundry or at least a sink to rinse things out.

Travel Prep - Lighten Up!

In addition to the number of bags you carry on your trip you also need to be conscious of how heavy those bags are. Generally travel within the U.S. limits the weight of each piece of luggage to 50 pounds or less. Anything more and you could be charged $200 for the overage. Overseas travel is a little more lenient but check with your airline to be sure.

Aside from the overweight charges you don't really want to be lugging around a heavy suitcase especially if you are traveling on your own. Trust me. Moving from one place to another on Europe's trains or subways is more of a challenge than you might want to take on if you are dragging a heavy suitcase. Many stations have long sets of steps up and down and very few elevators or even escalators.

So, lighten up! Here are a few ideas:

• Wear your heavy shoes. Those are usually your walking shoes anyway. 
• While those toiletry organizers are lovely, they also can add a lot of extra weight. Ziploc bags work well and are a lot lighter.
• Buy sample sized toiletries or plan to use what the hotels/ B&Bs offer you instead of packing shampoo and conditioner and lotion. 
• A reading device such as Kindle, Nook, iPad or Surface will be a better choice than carrying three or four books for your reading along the way. 
• Plan to pack less clothes and do laundry or hand washing along the way.
• If you think you will need some warmer outerwear, either plan on wearing layers or find some lightweight outerwear that will serve you well and not weigh you down.
• If you are a souvenir shopper see if you can't keep from accumulating too many to carry by using FedEx, UPS, or a postal service to ship those souvenirs home. Often the places you purchase from will offer to ship for you.

And the handiest gadget we have found for our travels is a luggage scale. Online or at a AAA travel store, you will find handheld luggage scales that clip onto the handle of your suitcase and when you lift, it will give you the weight of your packed suitcase. The gadget weighs very little and packs away into the corner of your suitcase. I've seen them cost anywhere from $15 to $45.
It has saved us more times than not from having to redistribute weight from one suitcase to another at the check in counter in the airport.

Travel Prep - Oh, Those To-Pack Lists!

Several years ago Bob and I were standing in line behind another couple about our age who were obviously about to go on a cruise. Their luggage had cruise tags on them for the cruise line that would take them from baggage claim to the ship. Each had a suitcase that was medium sized, probably 25 inchers. Bob and I looked at each other and the three suitcases we were toting. We were proud that we'd gotten our cruise stuff into three suitcases instead of four.

Finally Bob could stand it no longer and he asked, "How did you manage to get all your stuff for a cruise into two suitcases?"

"It took a while," the gentleman answered. "We've done quite a few cruises and finally took to putting a safety pin on each item that we packed. Each time we wore something we took the pin off. Anything we took home with a safety pin still on it we knew to leave at home the next time."

It made sense! While we never tried the safety pin method, we have learned that we can survive with a lot less--even on an extended travel itinerary. Believe it or not there are plenty of places to do laundry and/or get it done. Considering the cost of extra bags charged by the airlines, it works out to be a lot cheaper to take less and spend a little time doing laundry. Check out my post from when we were planning our Australia trip.

To stream line our packing which usually gets done a day before we leave, I have several different lists for the different types of trips we take. One list is for cruising. Another for warm weather travel and another for colder climates. Cruising calls for some nicer outfits for dinner but for other trips, we can get by with one smart casual outfit for those occasions where we may find ourselves wanting to catch dinner at a nicer restaurant.

If you'd like your own list, Independent Traveler has a great place to start with an interactive packing list you can customize it to your own needs. There is a lot more on their list than you may need but as you consider your preferences, you can pare it down to something a bit more workable. Remember that many of the places you stay will provide toiletries and some of those gadgets that you just think you absolutely can't get along without will
be extra baggage. After all, this is time to enjoy the destination the video games can wait until you get home.