Packing is Your Friend

I am beyond excited to be taking a trip to Chicago with my best friend. It’s the idle trip, roaming the city with your best friend, enjoying a baseball game, and not to mention enjoying one of the best musical festivities ever, Lollapalooza. However, before we can enjoy, we have to pack. Packing can be everyone’s worst enemy, especially for a girl who wants to pack all her chic, new outfits to showoff somewhere. Throughout my countless times of traveling for long, short and last time distance here are some helpful tips.

1. Travel with someone you love. If you just like them, you maybe doomed for failure or find a new best friend. Your idiosyncrasies may not fly with them and vice versa. Trust me you’ll learn about them in no time, not to mention if you ever want to travel with them. If they are always late and you are always early, not a good sign.

2. Try on the ENTIRE outfit. When packing we stuff clothes, accessories, and every little thing we don’t need in our suitcase because we “think we may need it”. If you try each outfit on, shoes and jewelry, than you’ll find out you don’t like the way it looks together and change for something else rather than bringing options of accessories and clothes you don’t need. Less is more ladies, LESS IS MORE.

3. Pack, repack, and then pack again. I always pack two to three nights ahead. The second night before I try it all on again making sure I like my options and I have everything ready. Once I am confident with my wardrobe, I pack it up. The morning or day before I depart, I take it all out.  There I look through it again, and then finally pack it up for good. That last process of packing can change your mind on one or two things that you really don’t need. In addition, since your clothes have already been packed they will stay small which you may find you get more space once you pack everything up again.

4. Make the best playlist dedicated to your trip. Half the fun of a road trip or plane ride is the songs you are listening to. Always make a playlist for the new adventure, with new artists and songs you have only heard once or twice. Therefore, you can enjoy them in a new setting, which could lead that song to be the soundtrack of your trip. Make sure it fits with the trip; don’t do pop tunes if you are going to Alabama. For this trip because we are going to a music festival, I made a playlist with all the bands we will be seeing at Friday's schedule along with some similar artists.

5. Finally, take pictures and NOT just selfies. I have never been a big fan of selfies. Whether its your arm in the picture or the fact that it’s just your face with a small amount of background showing where you are, cool I didn’t know you were at the Bean, all I can see is your face…However, take pictures of the entire city, never stop snapping. Take as many tourist photos you want, but take some time to venture off and explore new places or different attractions. Find a photo of the city you have never seen in photos before, whether it’s a couple enjoying the city, kids, a unique sign, or a building – take and don’t delete it. There is no such thing as a bad photo.