Packing for trips

Just some ranting first. Packing is late this year
Usually I have the luggage bag packed at least a week in advance. I'm late this year, only started packing everything in on Sunday and we're due to check-in on Wednesday. 

I'm so happy that since there are no heavy coats, sweaters, thermals and gloves etc... things that will wrap us up like bak-chang - the luggage is so so so much easier to pack this year. There's no need for roll ups vacumn bags at all. Infact, I managed to pack all our clothes, socks, undergarments into 3 packing cubes. 

Light travellers
We're light travellers, infact I think we're still lighter travellers than hubby. Or should I say, as I'm the one packing the bags I prefer to travel light. Honestly, I wouldn't know how the girls would pack if they're doing it themselves. I've seen how hubby packs for winter, he layers his thin clothes. I layer with thermal wear + sweater + thick coat. And usually we're kept warm as our thermal wear and sweaters are 100% merino wool. It can be a challenge as we can't do our laundry the usual way. When we drop by laundromat, we can only wash our pants, simple T-shirts and shorts and bras. 

I've seen families of 4 bringing 5-6 bags. Like what? What the heck did you even pack? The girls know what I always say "I pack simple, I'm not doing a fashion show." I've also seen 1 person lugging a huge ass check-in luggage bag and a trolley bag for cabin. "Perhaps there are lots of empty space in each luggage?" Maybe.... but how the heck are they going to have all 5-6 bags in one room or 2 rooms?   

So when people see the number of bags we have, they are shocked. Really! It has got nothing to do with me being an ex-cabin crew and I know how to pack better than anyone else. I've seen cabin crews carrying lots of stuffs with them too! How I know? They never repeat in their apparels at all, and they have matching shoes and boots and bags!!! OMG!   

 
Usually we bring this huge luggage bag to pack all the 3 girls' stuffs and hubby will bring his own luggage bag.   

Why I like to travel light?

1) Space in the room. Usually all 4 of us cram into 1 room. So I don't want to have so many bags in the room. Sometimes we do have 3 bags in a room and that is quite messy. Why 3 bags suddenly you may ask? Sometimes we'll open up one bag temporarily to put all the snacks in for our car rides. The girls will put the bag between them so they can snack; we can also bring out the food for our picnics from there. That same bag will be used to store whatever extra snacks we buy for the family and ourselves on the journey home. 

2) Makes moving around easier. Especially when we're on public transport, the lesser bags we have the lesser distractions we'll have. We can thus pay more attention to our kids and our possessions. We can prevent any theft. Makes is easier to bring down the luggages from train too! 

How did I pack for this not so cold winter Japan trip? 

Lil' one's personal effects are packed into the second smallest cube - measurement of packing cube is 34 x 28 x 12cm 

The other 2 bags are one for me and the other for che-che. Packing cubes measuring 42 x 32 x 12cm

This packing gives me lots of space. 3 packing cubes + 1 toiletries bag.  I know it looks filled up, it is. Coz I brought quite alot of stuffs over for my Japanese girlfriend.   

For my record, I packed 8 panties this time coz I wanted to throw the not so good ones away. No disposables this time for all of us, otherwise will take up alot of luggage space for 15-16 days. I need the space for KN94s and covid test kit now. 

Just some of the local foodstuffs she miss. Plus bottles of sambal chilli which I've packed into the packing cubes for some cushioning. And presents for her 2 girls and the family.

Didn't pack in travel cooker this trip, so that is so much easier and lighter.

Packing is slightly different this time

It makes a difference when one packs all their stuffs into 1 bag. So if we do that, we'll up with 4 bags. 

Usually I combine all our home clothes into 1 bag, our socks into 1 bag, our sweaters into 1 bag etc.. Then every time I'm their maid, while they shower I (a) get their room clothes and undergarments ready for them. (b) put clean socks next to their shoes for next day use (c) hang clothes for next day’s use. And when I pull things out, I often have to re-fold other items and re-pack neatly again. Neverending job.

So this time I told them, they're responsible for their own packing cube. I'm not going to take out anything for them, they will fold back and tidy their packing cubes themselves.     

Weight of these luggage bags after packing for this trip

The man often complains that our bag is always heavy. It is definitely heavier than his. But don't forget his luggage bag only contains his personal effects. 

The huge bag contains x3 personal effects, a travel cooker, dishwashing detergent + sponge, cutleries, washing laundry stuffs (scrub, powder, capsules), first-aid box, instant noodles and porridge, herbal tea sachets, wet and dry tissue papers, snow grips for our shoes [these are heavy but good defensive tool off any perpetrators. Throw at them can kill them. 🤣]. Last trip I also packed 2 sets of hiking sticks. Lots of miscellaneous which I can't tell you off-hand what's inside. Want plastic bags, I have. Want rubber bands, I have. Want plasters, I have. Need tissue papers, I have. And the list goes on.

Many a times when he makes the comparison between the weight of our bags, the girls learnt to defend us females. 

Well, I usually have records of the weight of our bags EX-SIN and EX-station. This time will be the first in recording this down in the blog. You can be the judge.

His bag weighs 9.97kg. Our bag weighs 20.45kg (inclusive of all the barang barangs, almost my house is in here). So even if we divide 20.45 by 3, it's 6.81kg each. Which means our individual personal effects is infact lighter than 6.81kg!  

People often looked at us. Check-in staffs often goes "that's it??"

Surely it's a compliment that we don't travel with so many bags. 

When lil' one and I went to Vietnam, we stare the tour mates' luggages  and they stare at us. Haha! Almost everyone asked us "your bag is so much smaller. For 2 of you?" Our bag is smaller than theirs - each passenger lugging one bigger luggage each.   

Will I still want to travel in such manner? Yes, why not? But it does come with a price. Usually need to be a maid in the hotel room and wash wash wash. 

For our 2022's 5D4N Vietnam and 6D5N Bangkok trip, for the record I didn't have to do any washing in the night. Haha! I often have to be a slave and wash socks and undergarments. For Vietnam, I did wash her socks on a daily basis coz it was raining almost daily and her shoes stained the cute socks, so I told her to use the same one throughout the whole trip thus won't stain more pair of socks. Other than that, no need to wash undergarments. For Bangkok, I didn't have to wash anything. So shiok!!

 

Packing organization

The man just folds and puts his stuffs in the bag. For me, I do like to organize things in. The thick clothings, bedroom clothes; the undergarments, socks, gloves + mufflers all into different bags.

Packing cubes :

This is only the third time I'm using this new packing cubes, wouldn't say that I really like it or hate it but I'm still in the process of experimenting the best packing cubes to use for summer travels. Packing cube is soft material so it still looks not the OCD precise neat packing in the luggage if compared to a harder cube. However with it being soft has it's advantages, I can put it more as it will expand outwards.

Vacumn seal bags : 

We usually travel in winter now, so I use vacumn bags to squeeze out the air. I love it when I see space between the bottom part and the top part of the bag. I've experimented with different brands vacumn seal bags, some bought online and turns out different from the listing. Material wise so cheapo from China. Worst! When the bags broke. I found this brand, Pack Mate, the best. I swear by this,  bought alot from Amazon US. 

I started with the vacumn type for home use and used a few times overseas but it's not easy to have access to the vacumn cleaner like the ironing board. Once the housekeeper was cleaning the room next to us and I dragged the bags out into the corridor and borrowed it from her. Sucked out the air in 3 secs!! 😂 Other times housekeeper not around so have to do it manually. It's possible just need lots of effort, felt so tired after that. After that I got the roll ups for overseas use, often get the girls to sit on the bags while I push out the air. Over the years, che-che would help me. Using her elbows, knees and helped to push out the air. 

Naraya packing garment bag :

I can't find a photo of this bag online. I started to use this when I was flying. I can fold it to pack in lesser clothes which goes into my LV cabin bag, or leave it straight and fill it up with more clothings and it goes into the check-in luggage bag. It's really versatile. I had matching colours with the toiletries bag, shoe bag etc.. I was really sad as Naraya stopped production for this bag  for a long period of time. Then once in one of our travels after quitting SQ, I found it. But no more satin material, comes in some ugly fugly cotton print but I got it anyway. No matching toiletries bag. This bag makes taking in / out items easy and no mess as there's a zipper on the top, but not advisable to use this for thick winter clothings. The last time I used this bag for myself was in 2018 BKK.    

  

Extra bags

During SQ days, I had this satin travelling bag. It's rectangular and so neat. But after some time I hated it coz of the ribbon, otherwise it makes a good bag which one can open up to put all the souvenirs home. 

Then we had another mama-san bag which crew will always go to this shop in Itaewon, Seoul and have them sew our name on it. It folds neatly into a pouch. I had 3 different sizes and can you believe that I still have one more - the largest - that is with me up till this date? It spoils easily too which led to the demise of my 2 smaller bags 😥.

Packing extra bag is a must. Hubby will always mistakenly call it "alibaba bag". Use it for last sector home, for convenience if we need to pack for a night in another place while luggage is left in hotel, for laundry days, for packing snacks for car rides etc...     

How do I keep my packing to a minimal?

Not there for fashion show so I only have the sports/walking shoes that I wear for the whole trip. Unless I know I'm on a trip for another reason, I'll pack in my court shoes.

Packing for winter each person

1. 1 set thermal wear

2. 3 sweaters (only drycleaning. Can't wash during holidays so I bring a Febreeze and spray and hang up to air it)  

3. 1 pants/jeans 

4. 3 sets of undergarments

5. 2 sets of home clothes to wear in room

6. 3 pairs of socks

7. 1 pair of glove, 1 muffler, 1 earmuff

I do wash undergarments, socks on a daily basis. If can't dry, I'll iron dry. As for pants/jeans, will wear for a few days then wash. I try to plan to wash it in hotels where we spend at least 2N so I wash it on the first night, I will always iron dry on the last night. Or if we send it to the self-service laundromat will be so much easier. 

Packing for summer each person

1. 3 sets of clothings. For myself, I love to wear jeans so it's easier, I pack 3 tops

2. 1 set of jeans for self

3. 2 sets of home clothes to wear in room

4. 3 sets of undergarments

5. 3 pairs of socks

   

Toiletries bag

3 of  us share one bag. So there are lots of stuffs in there. I usually pack a small bottle of shower gel, anti-dandruff shampoo apart from all the other facial stuffs. My Kiehls masks are really important especially in cold countries. Not forgetting I need to pack Cetaphil for che-che and now all the Aveda hair stuffs for the frizzy -haired lil' one.