Packing 101

You would've thought after my years as a flight attendant, spending several winter seasons on back-to-back overseas trips, packing a suitcase would be one of my biggest talents. Well, that's not the case, at least not when I'm traveling for leisure. (Give me a 10 day Dubai-Phuket sling, and the bag would be packed in no time!) I always overpack, and to have two more people to pack for is also an added challenge.

Whenever I'm traveling on holidays, I fill the suitcases with loads of "what if-things". You know - "what if it rains", "what if it gets cold", "what if there is no beach towels at the hotel", "what if we get bored and need books to read/games to play/toys etc".
It's also tricky to pack for stays in places, where the weather is unreliable. Not even in the summer in Sweden can you be sure you won't need jeans, or a fleece or a rain jacket; and last December going down to NZ was pretty cold too, in "summer".

Along the years now of traveling with children, I've started to take it more easy and realized we always get by. I'm still not anywhere near the "traveling light"-trend, but it's getting better. I've realized that we usually don't need half of what I think we do, and if I would desperately need something I haven't brought - I can usually buy whatever it is on place.
So my routine is normally like this: I pack the suitcases a couple of days in advance, then the day before leaving I tend to take nearly half of the stuff back out! And it works most of the time!

This time to my surprise, packing for going back to Sweden while it's still winter, has proven super easy. Reason being, all of our winter clothes are already there and I don't need to bring nearly anything! (I don't have anything here to bring, that would be warm enough either..!) Easy peasy!