Easy Travel Organization Tips You Will Love

Legends of America

Legends of America on the road in the Salt Flats of West Texas.

by Alejandra Leyva

Who doesn’t love traveling?

Going around the world in a backpack or suitcase has to be one of the most exhilarating and satisfying feelings in the world. At every destination, one after the other is a new story waiting to unfold.

Sure, traveling is fun and all, but the process never gets easier. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or are going for your first-ever adventure, getting organized is always a pain in the neck.

What to consider to get organized while traveling

Vacation & Play Map.

Vacation & Play Map (Poster available on Legends General Store).

The first step to getting organized is listing down all the factors that will affect your trip. This may include:

Location

Getting as much information about your destination greatly helps in keeping your stuff organized and sorted out even before your trip. For example, if you are traveling to Asia, do some research on the weather conditions of your destination for your travel dates. Many people assume that Asia in general has warm weather conditions all through the year, but many Asian countries, especially East Asia, do get winters (and terrible ones, at that sometimes).

Budget

If you have a tight budget, you may need to pack more stuff so you don’t have to make unnecessary purchases in your country of destination. Some locations (especially when they’re popular tourist destinations) charge higher than usual on their prices.

Companions

Traveling alone is exciting, but that means you’re solely responsible for all your stuff, plans, and schedule. Traveling with companions, on the other hand, gives you the option to divide bringing stuff you can both use. For example, you and your companion can decide who brings electronic devices like blow dryers to save on luggage space.

If you have children or seniors as companions, you may have to choose accessible bedrooms and accommodations that they can feel comfortable and safe in.

Easy Travel Organization Tips

After you’ve sorted out the general details of your trip, here are some helpful organization and planning tips that may come in handy for your next trip:

Plan your destination in sections

Many people undermine the benefits of planning ahead especially when it comes to your destinations. And no, it doesn’t mean that you need to plan out your 9 to 5 schedule and stick to it by any means because that’s just not possible.

Bucket List Attraction in each State.

Bucket List for each State. Click for 8.5 x 11 print version. Click HERE for mini-poster print.

The best thing you can do is have a list of your go-to destinations (try to find the bucket list of destinations of each American state as a starter), and then map them out. Figure out which ones are closest to each other and set a specific date to spend on one location that is closest to each other. Doing this will save you a lot of time and money spent on transportation.

Stock on compartment bags

Compartmentalizing your luggage is a must for every trip, and having storage bags in handy help in keeping your stuff clean and organized especially when you bring a lot of toiletries, accessories, or shoes.

If you’re someone who brings along many toiletries and beauty products, using a hanging toiletry bag keeps your things in order, avoids spillage, and doesn’t take space on your bathroom counter as you can hang them basically anywhere!

Those who are going on RV camping vacations for a trip have so many options to increase RV camper space with the use of compartment bags, storage containers, and proper shelving.

Plan your meals

It’s easy to get sidetracked by your meal habits especially when traveling. After all, one of the highlights of a trip is to explore the cuisine as much as you can.

If you are into meal planning, going on a trip doesn’t mean you can’t plan your meals in advance. You can pack a healthy meal plan during an RV trip, or when camping. If you’re going abroad, there are so many food options that offer healthy meal plans you may want to consider.

Packing cubes are underrated

If you still throw your outfits straight into your luggage, then I have some news for you—stop it, and let packing cubes do the job.

Packing cubes are rectangular bags that minimizes the wrinkles on your clothes and keeps them away from dirt from the other things in your luggage. What makes packing cubes increasingly popular is that aside from keeping your things organized, they help make more room in your luggage.

You can use packing cubes to group your clothes by type or by color, depending on your preference.

Group your outfits

If you’re going for short-haul trips, getting your daily fit planned out in advance may save you more time, space, and energy than you think.

What I do even before the trip is to go through my closet and build an entire fit for each day of my trip and take a picture of myself in the mirror (yes, including the shoes!). I place these pictures into the notes app and label them as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. so I don’t have to rummage through the mass of my clothes looking for what to wear and risk getting my other clothes wrinkly and dirty.

Another tip you can do is to group your clothes by set, which means you fold your shirt, pants, jacket, and socks together so you can pick the whole set up in one swoop to get changed rather than take your whole luggage out.

Unpack immediately

If you have access to a closet in your accommodation, unpacking immediately will help you stay organized if you stay in one location for more than three days.

Set some time to get your things organized and set all your daily fits together and put away all your toiletries. That way, you’ll be able to see which clothes need some ironing or if you missed important stuff and have to make a trip to the nearest convenience store.

Louisiana Campground

LOA on the road in Louisiana

Keep your wires together

If you bring along a lot of gadgets, you should separate all your wires and chargers. Most of them look the same, so getting a tag label and naming the wires will help you identify which one is for which.

Also an important tip! Remember to research the plug, socket, and voltage requirements of each destination as each country does have different voltage and socket requirements. You may want to bring along a universal charger adapter if you’re not sure, or if you’re traveling to many locations at a time.

©Alejandra Leyva, for Legends Of America. Submitted April 2023.

Alejandra LeyvaAbout the Author: Alejandra Leyva is a food enthusiast, digital nomad & content creator. She follows #deleteBigTech and practices Live Slow & Do More way of life. Find her on X (formerly known as Twitter) and via her website here.

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