Pack Basic, Look Extra: How to Plan Outfits for Travel

Lugging around an overweight suitcase while on vacation can be an absolute nightmare, especially when confronted that mighty opponent of all travelers: STAIRS…. And like, adorable, uneven cobblestone streets (::shakes fist at all of Europe::)!

Even if you are just schlepping via train or bus from the airport to your hotel, the hauling of all your things can make for a tough arrival in any city.

For the onslaught of Japan travelers who are coming to view the 2020 summer Olympics and hoping to take the Shinkansen around the country please note that there is also an upcoming ban on large luggage for the Shinkansen trains, so packing light is going to be essential to having enough room for your souvenirs! (I’ll be making another article about what you can do to get around this in a later post, so stay tuned!)

Many expert travelers plan out their outfits, toiletries, and personal items by day when trying to avoid over packing. I never thought there was an art to it until recently… when I realized that over packing meant a hellscape of my own making wherein I embarrassingly can’t even carry my own luggage down a flight of stairs at the train station.

Here’s a quick and easy guide to how to minimize your packing to make for less stress when arriving, and more room for fun souvenirs for your trip.

The following rules are optimized for a 1.5+ week trip! A shorter trip can have way less items than this, a longer trip a bit more, but just plan to have a day for laundry if you can!

1. Make sure you can wear your item at least twice on your trip.
2. If you are an avid clothes shopper (like me) accommodate for at least 1 or 2 items being purchased while on your trip.
3. Shoes are HEAVY. 2 – 3 shoes max. 1 set for long walking (sneakers) 1 business casual for dinners or evenings (loafers, short boots, low heels, etc)
4. Ideally, most of your items can be mixed and matched with each other to make for more outfits with less items/
5. ADVANCED MODE: Make a color palette to help you decide what items to pick for your travel wardrobe! Sometimes this occurs naturally, though, so no need to stress about this one if you’re not sure how to do it!

I found making a chart was the easiest way for me to visually lay out what I’m bringing, and an easy way to delete items when I realize I don’t really need them. I make a box for each day of my trip, with a box above with the date, planned itinerary, and weather forecast. I then take photos of the clothes I want to bring, or a picture of me wearing the outfit. I tend to want to try everything on that I plan to wear to make sure it all still fits (haha) and is comfy enough for what the day’s plans are.

I use Adobe Illustrator to make these little graphs, but you could easily use a wardobe organization app like Closet, MyWardrobe, or You Closet.

Here’s a rundown of my recent packing list for a 2 week trip to Japan (pardon the words I blurred out for privacy’s sake!):

This is for an early Autumn trip, so I have a lot of items that can layer together in case as it gets colder towards the end of the trip. As it’s also monsoon season during this time, I made sure to pack a sturdy raincoat that still looks stylish. Not pictured here are my shoes: 1 pair of sneakers and 1 pair of short white boots for rainy weather that also double as “cool” shoes for evening wear.

I always try to pack light, non bulky clothing that don’t wrinkle easily. the only exception to that I’ve made here is the silk black dress, which I kind of said, eh, screw it, and brought anyway. All these items, plus toiletries, makeup and socks and underwear came to 28 pounds. Not bad!

Of course, to go on a trip abroad you need much more than clothes! Here’s a quick peek at the other items I needed in my carry on:

Note that the water bottle is empty so I can fill it up after I finish security. I refuse to pay $8 for water inside the airport! It’s a racket! Also not pictured is my laptop, which i forgot to take out of the backpack for this photo!

I hope this little guide helps you plan a more efficient and stylish packing list for your next trip! Do you have any special tips to pack more efficiently on your travels? Let me know in the comments!