Let’s Look: Our Best Travel Tips

Good morning and happy Wednesday! I hope you are having an amazing week! Today, I’m linking up with Shay from Mix and Match Mama blog and Erica from A Little Bit of Everything blog to chat this month’s “Let’s Look” blog prompt – best travel tips.

Okay, so I’m not a world traveler and honestly do very little travel, BUT I will share some of the things I always do when we go on trips! Let’s break this down a bit as there are many stages involved in my personal travel process – so here we go!

P R E – T R I P . H A C K S

Okay, so one thing that stands out and I find a necessity when traveling is my Packing List on my phone!

I’ve shared this before, but I LOVE using LISTS/REMINDERS app on my phone! What I love about this particular one, is I can cross off everything that is needed for the trip on my pack list and then just reload the next time we travel! Super easy and saves me the time of having to do it again!

When packing for a trip, I set out a couple laundry baskets all week and fill them with items/clothes that I think of right then and there. Having a set spot to drop items whenever is super helpful for my packing process.

Cleaning the house – does anyone else clean their house like mad before they leave so they can return to a fresh home post vacation?! It’s the best feeling and something I do before we leave for any trip – I always take extra time to make sure everything is buttoned up around the house.

Charge all devices and download books, episodes, etc. I make sure the day before we leave all kindles, iPads, leap frogs and ear pods are charged up and ready to go.

Roll your clothes – you can pack so much more by rolling your clothes in your suitcase!

T R A V E L I N G . H A C K S

For budgeting help, I like to use a cash rewards credit card on trips to earn points/cash back and be able to see a separated snapshot of our vacation expenses.

Wardrobe capsules- I always make sure to pack outfits that can be mixed and matched. It helps save some space and plus I love having options!

During our trip, I unload our clothes from the suitcase and have a designated luggage bag (or two) for all the dirty clothes. By the end of the trip, anything clean or unworn will go into another empty suitcase and I can unpack those immediately into our closets. The dirty clothes suitcase goes straight to the laundry room.

P O S T . T R I P . T I P S

Okay, you might be noticing a trend here – I like to minimize the work back at home post vaca, so one of my FAVORITE things to do towards the end of a trip if I’m able to – drum roll please, LAUNDRY! Oh my gosh, don’t even judge, but if there is a laundry machine at the place we’re staying – you better believe I’ll have all the dirty clothes done and packed in a seperate “clean” suitcase so it can be put away right when we get home!

There is honestly nothing better than that in my opinion! It minimizes the crazy unpacking mess when you get back from your trip and the huge backlog created by mounds of dirty vacation clothes now added to your regular laundry routine!

Laundry basket transport – the same way I use laundry baskets to collect items during the packing process, I do for the unpacking process. The laundry bins get filled with items, clean clothes and toiletries that should be put away and carried upstairs for easy transport.