What I always have in my suitcase
After traveling being my full-time job for the past six years, I’ve gotten pretty good at packing a suitcase. I’ve fit a two-week trip to Italy, five days in Australia, and a long wedding weekend’s worth of junk into a carry-on suitcase.
For a long part of my career, I would just spend my days working on call. I’d know what days I would be on-call, spend the whole 24 hours of the day on call, and if I got called I was given three hours or longer to get to the airport. These trips I got called for could be going anywhere. Over the years, through much trial and error, I’ve come close to perfecting what should always be in your suitcase.
Some things I always have…
Mini Makeup. Now a lot of the time, or for a fun trip, I’ll bring my normal makeup. But when I’m just flying for work or a short trip, I always have a mini makeup bag with the essentials in it. Now, this also covers when I straight up forget my makeup or don’t need the whole works. I started doing this after leaving my only makeup in Alaska and having to ship it back to me.
Basic t-shirt/ tank dress. So basically a casual little black dress. I’ve carried the same black t-shirt dress in my bag for the past six years and I still use it just as much as I did when I first started. I now have a tan dress that I rotate in and out as well.
Swimsuit. Now you may just think this only applies to people like me, who get sent to random places, but you wouldn’t believe how many times I had a trip planned and a random reason for a swimsuit came up. For example, once I was on a ski trip, and there ended up being a hot tub. Or another time, I was visiting Southern California in December and was too midwestern to realize it’d be nice enough for a beach day. I’ve learned my lesson and always shove in a suitcase before zipping up my suitcase.
Hairbrush. May seem obvious. But, like leaving my makeup places, I’ve left plenty of hairbrushes/ forgotten to pack altogether. So, instead of buying another twenty-dollar hairbrush at the airport, I’ve got a designated mini suitcase hairbrush.
Dry-Shampoo. A common theme is forgetting things when packing for me. Dry shampoo is usually the last thing I remember to pack, but I never regret doing so. A good dry shampoo can save you from using crappy hotel shampoo. I’ve currently got two mini bottles of dry shampoo that I rotate between when traveling, and the mini bottles last a lot longer than you’d expect.