Hey everyone!

One of my favourite things to do before I go on a trip is to pack all of my suitcase. I’ll plan my outfits, my day bag, my skincare and everything in-between. But something that I’ve always struggled with is finding exactly what and how much to pack. I always find myself short on socks but enough underwear to last me three years (seriously, where did those socks ever go?). There is nothing worse than sitting in the taxi on the way to the airport and being hit with the sudden realisation that you’re stuck without your favourite mascara for a month. So I created the ultimate travel essential checklist, so you don’t have to be stuck with the feeling that you’re missing something as you lock the door.

Remember that you may need to bring more or less, depending on where you’re going and for how long.

In your suitcase

1. Two to three versatile t-shirts. These could be plain or coloured, whatever you like. This way you can alternate between them and swap out the bottoms to create different outfits. Make sure that your tops match with your other bottoms. 
2. A pair of denim shorts
3. A pretty skirt
4. Long pants if needed
5. dinner dress or day dress
6. comfortable sweatshirt
7. two pairs pyjamas
8. Pair of sandals 
9. Pair of sneakers
10. Fancy pair of shoes. Heels, sandals, what ever you’d like to wear to a restaurant 
11. Beach bag and purses
12. Hat for beach and everyday activities
13. Chargers for tech. If you’re going international, make sure you have the right adapters. 
14. medication
15. Extra space for stuff you buy while on your trip. Somehow, it never fits all back in.

Toiletries

1. skincare, including face wash, moisturiser ect.
2. body wash, flannel, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant
3. body lotion and shaver
4. toothbrush and toothpaste (nice to bring on long flights)
5. makeup that you would use on a daily basis and makeup for dinner
6. hairbrush and hair ties, including hair product if needed
7. aloe vera gel – a goddess at healing sunburn
8. small first aid kit. This includes tweazers and a safety pin or two. These WILL come in handy at some point ( I learnt that the hard way, lol.)
   

Carry-on bag

1. passport
2. sunglasses
3. wallet – have enough foreign currency, too!
4. phone (including music and headphones)
5. book or tablet for entertainment
6. Lip balm, moisturiser and makeup/baby wipes. Trust me, it makes your life so much easier having these on hand.
7. Notebook and pens. ( I will talk about travel journals and how they’re awesome in a later post )

Other

1. Disposable camera or polaroid. I used my polaroid and it was a bit of a pain to carry around. But the photos were amazing, and I created a polaroid wall from all of the pictures. I would recommend a disposable camera as its smaller and still creates cute pictures.
2. Always have an emergency pack on hand. This can be a little bag of tissues, hand sanitiser, hair ties, bandaids, spare change, a nail file ect. These things come in handy almost everyday for me. You’d be surprised how many times the emergency pack saved us. There were places where you had to pay to use toilets (in Europe) that only took coins. But of course, when we went to go to the change operator, it was closed. Some places were out of toilet paper and the tissues saved us. My sisters dress strap broke when we were 2 hours away from our hotel. Yep, if we had od had a safety pin, it wouldve saved us much aggravation.
3. Some places, depending on where you are travelling, have rules that females must cover their shoulders, in churches ect. Scarfs and shawls come in handy when this is the case. So I would suggest it, but only if you’d need it.
4. Refillable water bottle. Super handy to have, especially when travelling for a while or going of the beaten track.

That’s about it! I hope I helped you organise for your trip better! Comment below any other ideas or if you found this post helpful. Feel free to comment and follow for more blogs. Follow me on Instagram, Pinterest and Spotify for more!

Blessings, Jorja Rose x