JSL Travel Guide: Packing Tips

The latest new series I’m introducing to the blog is our very own, personal JSL Travel Guide! As Jetset Lust has given my life and brand a new direction, I want to touch on areas that have to do with this new chapter. And traveling will be one of the biggest ones! From where to travel, stay, eat, how to’s, and more, I’m sharing with you my personal revelations that make traveling a peach. Keep your eye on this series for all about how I do what I do during my trips, and where I’m going/have gone!

Read More for my personal Packing Tips!

JSL Travel Guide: Packing Tips

With Paris Fashion Week upon us, I’ve got major packing craze going on here. Now that my flights and stay have been all figured out (omg why is it always so stressful??), I can focus on my favorite/least favorite part of travel- Packing! It’s a love/hate relationship.

My first PFW experience, I didn’t know what to expect. So, it was inevitable that I overpacked. I’m used to having all of my wardrobe with me in my Airstream for travel, so I felt like I needed all the options possible to style my looks. I was also there for a month, so triple that feeling to needing basically my whole closet. But you’d be surprise how much I got to fit into 2 suitcases, and what I actually ended up wearing! I learned that both are important: Options, and Less is More.

Here’s everything I learned about packing for international trips (including carry-on), and how to bring everything you need:

1. Start planning your outfits in advance!
Give yourself at least a week before the trip to get your outfits planned. Now that I do this, I find myself taking things out that I thought I’d need, or adding things I forgot. And it also lets me fine-tune my outfits to be picture perfect, and have time to buy anything I might need to complete a look. I like to lay things out on my bed and start trying on outfits in my free time throughout the week. Then hang them up with whatever pieces I planned to wear together until time to pack.

2. Make your outfits interchangeable!
Basically, you need to make a capsule wardrobe for your trip. But if you’re an American, you may have trouble with this concept because of how we overstock our closets, and feel the need to have a completely new look for each occasion. I suffer from this myself, being a blogger and feeling like I can’t re-shoot the same things. But for travel, it’s ESSENTIAL! First, start by pulling all your favorite things from your wardrobe and hanging them out to see. Find shoes & purses that you love that will go with multiple pieces you hung. Now only choose 1 dressed up and one comfy/casual version of the shoes and bags. Do the same thing for hats and other accessories, layering pieces, etc. Pick 1-2 sets of your favorite jewelry for different layering options. I usually bring one gold set and one silver set. But really, I usually end up wearing the same necklaces and rings the whole time.

3. Use space wisely!
It sounds silly, but there is a right and wrong way to pack! First, you MUST roll your clothes- yes even your socks and skivvies! I’m serious, everything. Why? When you pack your clothes folded, it’s like putting cubes into a square container. All your space is filled. If you roll your clothes, you give yourself way more nooks and crannies to fit in other things. Like putting golf balls into a square container. You can see all the extra space you could fill with small things. I fit a whole month of clothing, purses, and hats into 1 medium suitcase, and 15 pairs of winter boots and shoes in a second medium case. If I can do it, so can you! First step to success- go watch a packing tutorial video on Youtube!

How I roll my Clothes/Fit Accessories:
It’s not as difficult as you think. First, take all your similar underwear and stack them, fold in half, then roll. I usually put them in a drawstring bag, and have an extra drawstring bag for the dirties. Take similar shared tops like long sleeves or tees and fold each in half, then stack and roll together into “log” shapes, separating the types of tops into their own log roll. Do the same with short bottoms (skirts, cut offs) and long bottoms (jeans, leggings, etc). Fold them in half individually, then stack, and roll together. For thicker pieces like sweaters or coats, I roll them individually and put them in my suitcase first, filling in bottoms on the bottom half of my suitcase, and tops/dresses/etc on the top half. If you have any hats with brims (like boater hats), I make a hole in the middle of one packed suitcase side and put the crown of the hat in, hole facing up so the brim is supported by the clothes around it. Then I stuff socks, tights, scarves, or etc into the head hole of the hat to use the space/keep the shape of the hat. If you have purses packed, use that space by putting belts & jewelry inside the purses. For shoes, there are different methods. Heel boots- put one heel inside the other boot and put in the bottom corner of the suitcase. For slip ons/mules, flip one up-side-down and put it heel-first inside the other shoe, so you can fit rows of shoes this way!

And here’s the best tip I learned- once you’re packed, zip everything up and let your suitcase sit upright for a few hours or overnight. When you open it again, everything will have settled and will show you what extra space you might have available! You may be able to fit in that extra item you wanted to bring, or can know you’ll have space left to bring souvenirs home with you. Once you’re fully packed, it’s a good idea to weigh your suitcase and make sure it’s under the airline’s weight limit. You don’t want to be that person who has to open your suitcase in line and scramble to move things to your other luggage.

4. The Carry-on matters.
If you opt for a carry-on on top of your checked bag, this is the perfect chance to make your life easier. I just learned how it is ESSENTIAL to have a carry-on when you’re traveling far away or international. The airport lost both my and Josh’s bags at JFK, and had to fly them to Paris to deliver to our airBnB. It was supposed to take 1 day, but then only one suitcase of 2 got delivered! Luckily it was the one with my clothes that came first. The second case was shipped on a different flight completely, and took another day to arrive- which left me with NO toiletries whatsoever… Only pjs, my airplane clothes (that I desperately did not want to wear for the germ factor), and foundation, eyeliner & mascara. I had run out of face cream and makeup wipes on the last flight, not worried because all my beauty products were in my checked bag. But it didn’t matter when they got left in the States and I had to rough it for 3 days! No dry shampoo or shower shampoo, no deodorant, no hairbrush, only one extra pair of panties… luckily I had my toothbrush. But we didn’t even have our power converters to charge our phones and computers. So what did I learn needs to go into a carry-on?

Think of everything you need in a 24-48 hour period, from waking up to sleeping through the night. From beauty necessities, wardrobe essentials, creature comforts, electronics, entertainment, etc. That is what goes into your carry-on. It’s basically what you might call your survivor pack- what you’d need if you were stranded on an island. With wifi and cell service, of course.

What MUST go into my carry-on:
Cell phone charger, power converter (if international), iPad w/movies, Laptop (goes into my hubby’s carry-on) a book or magazine, fuzzy socks to put on in the plane, my basic makeup needs (foundation, powder, highlighter, mascara, contour stick, lip gloss), travel pack of makeup remover wipes, face cleanser to keep the airplane breakouts away, my favorite face moisturizer, Tarte Under Eye Rescue Masks, travel tooth brush and toothpaste, travel deodorant, travel body spray, travel dry shampoo & hairspray, travel shampoo & conditioner, hair ties, travel brush, a second casual outfit, extra panties, maybe a newsboy cap to hide my hair under when there’s no proper way to wash it, sunglasses, travel snacks, and AirBorn tablets to boost my immune system (very necessary!). Last time I got acute bronchitis from flying, I vowed to really pamper myself on my next flight. It’s so important, so you don’t put your whole trip at risk of spending it sick the whole time! Whenever someone was coughing around me in the airport or on the plane, I literally held my breath and tried to escape/prayed I didn’t inhale any contagious germs!

5. Plan your travel Outfit.
Besides a carry-on & backup outfit, I take my travel outfit very seriously. Comfort is of utmost importance to me when I travel, but I also like to look presentable. Maybe even a little trendy. But most importantly, I like to feel as good as when I was a kid and made a blanket fort to watch movies in. Thats the warm and cozy feeling I get when curled up for a long flight. So think like a kid, and wear what makes you feel good. I wear my travel outfit to and from my destination, and I want it to take up minimal space in my suitcase for when I’m on my trip.

My normal travel outfit is:
Black jeggings, white tee, floral silk bomber jacket (perfect light jacket in case the plane is cold), and slip on mules. Theres the potential you have to be barefoot in the Airport if you wear these mules, hence why I pack my fuzzy socks in carry-on or my purse to slip on real quick when waiting in line to go through security. They’re also a handy creature comfort for the flight. Pick a purse that’s easy to carry in the airport with/in your carry-on, and one you know will go with trip outfits.

6. Toiletries.
Toiletries are the hardest thing to pack. Especially if your hair/skin requires 382289378 different products to look good. Keep it simple and bring what you use the most, and maybe a backup option for what could be a bad hair/skin day- I like to bring both hydrating and moisturizing face cream for when I may need or heavy or light option. Pack them in your suitcase, because your carry-on has your 24 hr necessities.

Toiletries I bring:
It’s a 10 Shampoo & Conditioner, Catwalk Hair Oil, Razor, Wet Brush, travel pack of Q-tips, 1-2 travel size perfumes (I wear Riddle Oil & share Le Labo with Josh), face cleanser (I use Averr Aglow Cleansing Nectar) & cotton pads, face hydrating serum (I use Tarte Hydrating Serum), Face Moisturizer (I use A Complete), Argon Oil for my hair before bed, hair spray, hair extensions, and a curling iron. I’ve never needed to pack a hair dryer, but if I did, I’d bring a mini one.

7. Things you might consider bringing…
Sometimes you go on a trip and end up needing something you didn’t expect. Especially when staying at an AirBnB.

Here is a list of things I will probably pack from now on:
A silk pillowcase (so my hair doesn’t get tangled when I sleep on rough pillowcases), travel nail kit with tweezers, neutral nail polish (for touchups), nail polish remover wipes, a mini steamer (for when your clothes get winked and there’s no solution), a mini sewing kit (for when your button falls off, or worse…) a swimsuit (you never know when a hot tub situation might present itself), pain meds or essential oils (in case you end up feeling under the weather), antibiotics (if you get sick in another country it could be difficult to get meds! If you have antibiotics leftover from a previous prescription, bring them! They might save your butt), outlet converter/power adapter (If you’ll be in a different country. The more outlets on it, the better), market tote (if you’re staying a while, you’ll want to save money on buying grocery bags).

Okay so this is everything I learned (so far) for packing for the most comfortable trip. If you have any other tips, please share them with me! I might add them to my post! And to help you out with carry-on packing and Airport fashion, you can shop my Jetset Essentials below!

8. Be Prepared

On my recent trip, I learned to be prepared for the worst, like when your luggage gets lost. I had to make a claim, and recall the type of luggage and brand name, name on the tag vs name on my flight info, etc. After some research I learned that one should have a photo of their luggage on their phone for this reason, if you have to prove it’s yours or remember the appearance/brand. I also take a photo of what’s inside of each side of the suitcase, to give an idea what it was packed like and what I brought with me (in case someone gets into your luggage at TSA and maybe adopts something of yours). I also had to buy some toiletries I only had in my checked baggage, so the airport would refund me for those expenses. You might take a photo of your carry-on, just in case. One interesting thing I learned was that if you are flying only within the US, you may be eligible for compensation if your flight was delayed or canceled, you were de-boarded, or if your luggage was delayed or lost! Up to $600-$1,000. Which may not come close to the value of what was lost, but it’s better than nothing that most people get, because they don’t know to ask for it.

So I hope this Packing Guide has helped you, and that my travel lessons learned were worth it in order to bring you this post!

Jetset Essentials:

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1 Comment on "JSL Travel Guide: Packing Tips"

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Emma Braun

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Picking up the right stuff for international travel is a tricky part, especially the footwear, how many pairs to pack, which one is the most suitable, and how to pack them. That’s why I always carry the most versatile pair of footwear and that is a pair of comfortable sneakers OTBT Lunar, from OTBTSHOes.com. it is my favorite pair of sneaker that is extremely versatile, comfortable, durable and thus easy to pack.

JSL Travel Guide: Packing Tips

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