Packing to go on holiday

I watch the forecast like a hawk to see how many layers I need to take. I’m going away next weekend, so I shouldn’t need extra
Layers. Shoes are the biggest issue as they take up a lot of room. It is easier now that trainers are acceptable wear with a dress, as my feet need to be comfortable at all times.
I use default lists, but it is all the non-clothes items which are tricky as I can’t pack them in advance,
I need to decide what clothes I’m taking well in advance as otherwise I will surely find I have worn beforehand just what I needed to take, then have a last minute panic.
I wear one piece of jewellery only, for simplicity, so it has to be the right one.
This summer I have had to buy extra “ heatwave” clothes. I have scarcely needed them in previous years.

Holidays weren’t really a feature of my childhood although we had a couple staying with an aunt. I don’t recall any packing, I was too young.

My list is in my head and years of travelling abroad for my dh’s work has refined it down. I think on our very first holiday together half of the boot of the car was taken up with my platform shoes! I do have a tendency to overpack and come home with some unworn stuff. We’re having a couple of short breaks this month so I shall try to restrain myself and pack economically.

I don’t know if any of you have read this book but it’s a delightful tale of exactly what it says on the title page - two weeks in September on holidays, including many of the minute details of holidays preparation. persephonebooks.co.uk/products/the-fortnight-in-september

ViceVersa

No, we only travel with hand luggage - takes me about five minutes to pack.

Snap! And a supply of travel soap leaves for washing as we go.
But then our holidays don’t include posh meals or sports which need a lot of equipment.

Meant to say… my mum didn’t do packing. She just told us that we were going to (eg grandmas) for a few days and to put anything we would need into a bag. We learned very quickly about what we needed and what we wanted and the difference between the two!
A consequence was that I read my way through my Mancunian G’ma’s bookcase full of Penguin classics, so that was handy.

Lins872

We often went to Rothesay on Isle of Bute on.holiday. Our clothes were packed in a wicker trunk and sent on ahead to our BnB . So for the week before the holiday there was very little choice of clothes to wear

My granny had a holiday house there, so went most summers.
I just remember mum whitening all our sandals & plimsols. I know we had a new long dresses to wear to the Dancehall on the front. That’s all I can remember tbh.

I pack week before. Iron & place a plastic bag in between our clothes to prevent creasing. Oh & put half n half between our two cases incase one goes missing.

travelsafar

I have a friend who always packs a 'just in case bag' plasters, insect bite cream, savlon, painkillers, throat pastilles and cold remedies, compression bandages...in case of sprains...icepack and Coldsore ointment!!! 😆😅

That was me when the family were small plus steristrips and an ice pack! It usually stayed unused but it was my comfort blanket for years .

I tend to make a list and after packing, highlight the items on my list that can’t be put in until the last minute ( phone, charger, wash bag, medicines etc) I too start to make piles of clean items ready to pack, perhaps adapting as the likely expected weather becomes clearer. My mother did much the same. I always take a first aid kit- similar to above.

We have a narrowboat, so some things are already there which we don’t need to think about, such as toothbrushes and towels. We tend to go away for about 10 weeks at a time now we are both retired. So there is basically our entire wardrobe to take (catering for all weathers) and I also like to take as much food stocks as I can as my pet hate is shopping when on holiday. It’s also an enormous task to get the house sorted - because we are away for so long I like to empty the fridge and turn it off, and although I’m by no means a tidyness freak I like to have everything clean and vacuumed, and beds changed, for when we get back! So all in all it’s quite hard work. I often think it’s far less hassle to load a couple of suitcases and jump on a plane, which we do from time to time.
Should add that our son comes over every week and looks after the garden and clears the post.

Well I always do that, even though there are now just the two of us. We are off to North Wales in a few weeks, so soon the case will be open on one of the spare beds. A list beside it and a pencil to cross things off, and little piles of Mrs JJ and Mr JJ stuff.

I honestly can’t remember and we didn’t have a holiday very often.
I haven’t had a holiday for a while recently but I do remember feeling slightly panicked about packing, possibly the more holidays you take the less you worry about what to pack.
So I always overpacked!

Yes, I have turned into my lovely Mum. Holiday stuff put to oneside, or hung up away from the stuff we'll wear before the holiday. Lists made and new knickers bought!
House cleaned and left tidy ready for our return.

A week before the we go I go through my wardrobe and pull out things I might want to take. I then hang these in the guest room or put them on the bed and make the final choice the day before. Without missing a beat DH takes one look and says every time “We’re only going for a week”(or whatever)!

Pantglas2

Lists are your friends Folks… I start a list, weeks before, with everything I need to take for a winter or summer holiday and find I can leave it until the last day before actually packing.

All washing is done a few days before so no surprises like no clean undies to put in!

I'm afraid that making a list would just mean that I took far too much, I'm better off packing at the last minute

We had very few holidays when I was a child so I don't remember any packing by my mum.
At the moment DH and I are in Holland on our boat and it is very hot.
I had to pack what I needed as DH brought the boat over 4 weeks before I flew out here. Luckily I had packed mainly shorts and strappy tops.
When we go on a hotel holiday I make lists and start packing about five days before we leave.
We always take too many clothes and each year I comment that next time will be different.

I usually went to our UK holiday home for virtualy all of the school summer holidays with the children. I just had a black bin bag for each child's clothes and bunged the bags in the back of the car before we left. When they were older they packed for themselves, one of my boys took mostly his trainers, with a few clothes as an afterthought. Fortunately we have a washing machine there, and a washing line in the garden.
I also used to have to pack enough food to last until we went to the supermarket, this is much easier now that I can book an online delivery for breakfast time on the morning after arrival.

When I was 17 I went on holiday for a week to a holiday camp with some friends and my boyfriend, I brought my suitcase back on the Saturday morning, ready to take away with me that afternoon on another holiday in the hope that I might find a lauderette somewhere. I went out for a few hours and when I got back I found my suitcase emptied and repacked with all my clothes clean and pressed. My sister had done it because she didn't like the idea of me taking dirty clothes with me. I was never organised and these days it's mainly checking that I have all my medical supplies with me.

Mollygo

🤣🤣🤣
I told my DH not to wear the two polo shirts and favourite shorts that he wanted to take away with him . . . So why did I have to run the washing machine the night before we left?

.. yes, why did you? Can he not wash his own clothes?

It sounds like your mum and mine were part of the same secret society of Holiday Packing Strategists.
The ritual you describe—the spare bed covered in little labelled piles—feels like a sacred pre-departure tradition. Each pile was like a miniature shrine to a future version of ourselves, sun-tanned and relaxed, untouched by spaghetti sauce or grass stains.

And yes, the “wearing old stuff so the good stuff stays clean” rule was iron-clad in a lot of households back then. You’d end up going to school looking like a walking “before” photo in a laundry advert, because your nice shorts were already stationed in the holiday pile.

As for turning into our mothers… well, perhaps it’s not inevitable in every way, but the packing thing? That’s genetic. One day you’re tossing things into a suitcase at the last minute, and the next you’re eyeing the spare bed two weeks early thinking, “Might as well start a few piles…”

The real question is: have you also inherited the mysterious “extra packing” gene, where you end up taking twice as many clothes as you actually wear?

I am on holiday and about 4 weeks. I've washed all my clothes and rinsed any new.ones..all I have to do is make final decisions about what to put in. I'm going away for 8 days so am.making notes on what I wear over 8 days to see what I will actually need.

my mum did very organised packing too. Dad had an old Standard 10 and he packed numerous cases, bedding, picnic for own the way, though it was less than an hour! toys and goodness only knows what.
these days I am what is probably what is known as a packing slob. on the morning we go to Borth, i throw what clothes we need and toiletries in carrier bags, grab the bag of dog food, box of food plus finally my dog and off we go!

I absolutely hate packing. I have to pack OH as well. I use a list just to check against after I have filled the cases, usually about 2days before. Then weigh it and if it's underweight just shove more stuff in that I "might" wear.

I am long retired but continue to work two days a week for a fabulous shop which exclusively sells hiking, travel wear and equipment. The clothes are designed to be easy to wear, pack very small, dry very quickly and don’t need ironing. I have a bulging wardrobe of amazing clothes for far east and hot country travel and enough coats and jackets to last a lifetime. I get a great staff discount on everything and stock up in the sale. Most of the styles are classic and can be dressed up if needed. Packing for a 4 week long haul holiday is fun and I have mastered the art of getting everything I need into a carry on bag along with some washing detergent. I usually start about a week before and curate my bag until I depart. I always use packing cubes to keep tops and trousers etc separate and easy to repack as we travel around. I love packing as it’s the first part of the adventure.

Lol what a lovely reflection ! Yes I like to make sure I'm well organised for a week or more holiday but weekends in our caravan I just grab a couple of changes of clothes and we're off as we keep most other stuff in there such as towels, toiletries etc I remember my Mum packing a tiny travel kettle and tea bags and a travel iron as hotels didn't provide these then. Also packing had to be fairly light as suitcases didn't have wheels then and we travelled abroad by train so we all had to be strong enough to carry our own luggage and get it up and down the many steps to the platforms!

I only go to Warners now for 4 or 5 days. I would get freaked out trying to pack for a longer holiday abroad.