Happy Organizing While Traveling
Post-pandemic travel is a lot like traveling by stagecoach; jostling along in a bumpy carriage. There are organizing strategies that will help you be comfortable and organized on your journey. Using apps for travel and packing keeps you organized while you travel.
Use apps for travel
There are lots of changes before and during your travel. Flights changes and weather interruptions impact our journey. Start by updating and uploading all travel apps related to your travel. The best apps according to Travel and Leisure include Flight Aware and your Airline app. Add your hotel company app for paperless access to your reservations. Consolidate all your travel on TripIt. TripIt declutters your itineraries and documents by keeping them organized in one place. You can set your reservations to be automatically sent to TripIt, which will let you view travel confirmations, flight itineraries, tickets, and hotel.
Use a packing list
Life is busy and travel is complicated. Often we are busy preparing for the trip the week before with extra meetings, calls, and tasks. Giving yourself extra days to pack helps you be more organized. Pull out your travel bag 3 days in advance and start dropping in what you need or set aside 2 hours to fill your bag according to your list. While you can purchase items on the road, use a packing list. You can customize your list on the Notes app with a check box to include your specific needs. Of course, there are many apps specifically for packing.
How to pack to stay organized during travel
- Frequent travel requires a complete personalized toiletries bag. A clear bag with toiletries helps you know you have what you need. Include a complete set of what you use stored in this bag. No overthinking what to pack and no need to remember your daily items with a designated toiletry bag.
- Use packing cubes for categorizing what you pack. Different sizes of cubes organized and consolidate clothing. You can group items by day of the week or type of clothing.
- Putting small items, like socks or power cords, into a packing cube can help them from rolling or moving around in your bag. With a technology organizer, you are never without the cords you need.
- For a complete guide on what to pack and what to pack it in, check out this New York Times Guide.
Safe spots for important travel documents
Peace of mind is when you know are organized with your important documents. When traveling internationally, it is important to keep your travel documents safe all the time. There are travel wallets and waist belts for your money, credit cards, global entry card, and passport. Be sure to use the safe in your hotel for jewelry and devices. You will want to make a copy of these important documents, as well as items in your wallet, to store at home while you are gone and in your handheld travel bag in case of loss. Give these to a trusted person at home while you are away to keep just in case of loss.
Pack your patience and be prepared for changes
We have been waiting for this time to travel for a while. It is different now after the pandemic. Pack your patience and other items of interest to keep you entertained during your travel. Kindle, audiobooks, music, and games make travel time fun. Be prepared for changes. Bring your headphones and It’s all about the memories you are making.
My biggest travel challenges these days have to do with technology. I often have trouble getting the whole ‘boarding pass on my phone’ thing to work right. And then I’ve had the airline app go down, and not be able to access the pass when I needed it. For awhile I had to have proof of vaccine on my phone. Once I had to scan a QR code to fill out a form to get on my connection. Fortunately, I am comfortable using my phone. I felt bad for the older travelers who were truly at a loss.
In the end, two things:
1. Being organized makes traveling easier
2. Traveling is worth the stress, and provides us with great stories if nothing else!
You are right about packing your patience. Recently stood in a check-in line at the airport that didn’t move at all for 1/2 hour. The agent spent almost that entire time with one couple whose flight had been cancelled. I feel for everyone involved in this. No fun having your flight cancelled, but still, no fun missing your flight because the agent is spending so much time with one couple. Then again, no fun being the gate agent who clearly needs more people around her. The staffing shortages hurt everyone.
The old “leave plenty of time” is good advice!
Pack your patience is such a great reminder. That and the travel packing cubes go a long way to make travel less stressful. I love all of your advice. Packing and traveling can be stressful and especially if this is a first time traveling in a long while. The pandemic put things on hold for several years, but it seems like things are back in full force. However, the travel environment has changed. Things are more costly and resources are fewer. So adjusting the expectations along with packing light will help.
@Linda – there have been many articles by flight attendants on how busy this year will be. It is wise to know that getting there will be a bit more stressful but worth the energy.
@Seana – thank you for sharing so many perspectives on how travel impacts everyone.
@Seana – it is very much moving toward paperless travel. With many airline apps you can also track you bags to see if these will arrive at your destination. It is hard to get it all to work together!