How to efficiently pack hand luggage for an autumn/winter getaway
Now that the summer holiday season has drawn to a close, many of us are tempted by the idea of booking a cheap, mini weekend getaway in the colder months of the year.
Whether it be a trip to visit Santa in Lapland, a holiday to the gorgeous lagoons in Iceland or a festive visit to European Christmas markets, there are so many brilliant holidays that you can plan for the last few months of this year, or as a treat for the start of 2025.
However, once the weather turns colder, packing solely with hand luggage becomes a much more stressful task. With boots, scarves and jumpers to squeeze into just one piece of luggage, it can be a nightmare!
So, to help ease your worries ahead of your colder vacation, travel experts at SkyParkSecure have devised a handy list of top tips for making the most of packing in winter hand luggage. With these tools under your belt, you will instantly become a packing pro:
Packing Cubes
These little beauties have become increasingly popular in recent years! Packing cubes are not only useful for organising all of your items, but they also compress your clothes down to save you as much space as possible. With all of this free space, you will be able to fit in a lot more of your belongings and reduce your stress levels in the process. Then, once you land at your destination, you will be able to find all of your essentials clearly within each cube! They can come in lots of different sizes, and will make your travelling process so much easier.
Vacuum Bags
Similar to packing cubes, these are also brilliant for making more space! Vacuum bags do exactly what they say on the tin – they compress your clothes down in separate bags, allowing you to fit in more items. The only drawback with these is that they tend to leave your clothes a bit creased. So, if you want to look your most elegant self during your vacation, make sure that you will have access to an iron each day!
Airport Layers
No, you don't have to go to the extreme effort that Joey does in that one episode of Friends! However, when it comes to packing, it’s truly best to try and wear your heaviest items when travelling through the airport. Yes, it might not necessarily be the comfiest or easiest option during a long day of travel, but it will save you a ton of space in the long run! So, instead of trying to squeeze them into your hand luggage, make sure you’re wearing clothing such as your favourite winter coat or your heaviest jumper during your travel day. Or, you could even layer up on a couple of t-shirts or a few pairs of socks! Trust us, you’ll be glad you did it.
Plan In Advance
With every trip we go on nowadays, we tend to create a list of fashion pieces we want to bring with us, and vaguely plan out our outfits for each day of our holiday. When it comes to winter holidays, though, this is a step that you definitely won’t want to miss out on! Planning your outfits in advance means that you won’t pack tops or trousers that you’ll never end up wearing, thus saving you some space in your luggage. As our clothing tends to be chunkier during the latter months of the year, it’s best to pack light and to re-wear your pieces as much as you can.
Lighter Options
As previously mentioned, we tend to lean towards heavy jackets, jumpers and sweatshirts for our autumn and winter getaways. However, restricting yourself to these might mean that you won’t have as many outfit options available. If you’re the kind of person that likes to have a different outfit for each day, then it might be best to consider taking warmer, lighter layers with you instead. Items such as long-sleeved t-shirts and thinner jumpers will allow you to both pack lighter and change up your wardrobe!
