As we’re quickly nearing the start of the trip, one of our biggest focuses lately has been packing. There is truly an art and science to packing, although people have different views on the best way to pack. We have a fair amount of experience in this area and so are going to share some of the ways we’re packing for a big trip while staying organized.

We have a unique way the trip is starting and that is impacting how we are choosing to pack this time. The first day of the trip, we will fly to New York City. We will spend the evening there, sleep one night and explore the next day before getting on our plane to (England continuing on to) Dublin.

Because of this, we don’t want to have to unpack everything for one night, especially not in a tiny NYC hotel room, so we have set it up that our carry ons will have everything we need for in New York. We shouldn’t have to open the bigger suitcases much if at all until we get to our second destination.

Another consideration with packing is what would happen if one of the checked bags is lost.

We are doing our best to minimize the impact we would feel if that were to happen. Each person has at least 2 packing cubes of clothes. Their socks, underwear, sweatshirt or jacket, tshirts etc are all split between the 2 packing cubes and then each of their packing cubes goes in a different suitcase. That way if one suitcase is lost, the people impacted should still have half their clothes and have all the clothing items they need. Buying compression packing cubes allows clothes to take up even less space than they otherwise would. You fill them up like a normal packing cube but then there’s an extra zipper that makes them compress the clothing inside to it’s smallest possible size.

Using containers for each type of item goes a long way toward staying organized.

Packing cubes are a great way to do this for clothing. Toiletry kits are helpful for keeping toiletries in order. The ones we bought all hang so they don’t have to sit on small bathroom counters. We have special cord bags to contain all the chargers for things like tablets, laptops and the voltage converters.

It’s less likely that something will get left behind in our many times of packing and unpacking if it has a designated place or designated container.

Labels help us remember what’s in each container. For the first part of the journey, we also have a basic list of what is in each suitcase.

There have been some fun items we’ve bought to make this new lifestyle work smoother. Perhaps in a future post we can talk about those. Things like the one tiny item that has our preschooler engaged for hours, or the clothing fabric that will help us stay cool in the hot weather and warm in the cool weather. It has been fun to discover these things as we prepare to travel. More to come!