Packing inspo
Perhaps I will only at 40 years old be able to pack properly for a holiday. Every time I pack for any holiday, I get a bit better at it. But it’s still not perfect and I find myself standing in a strange bathroom in a villa with crickets chirping outside, kids shrieking, running around the pool, covered in mosquito bites, holding chocolate croissants, and I will be thinking: “Damn, I wish I’d brought the…” I go against the gender stereotype norm when it comes to packing – I never bring quite enough.
This holiday I’ve just returned from in Sicily was good. I would give my packing 8/10. I am especially pleased that I put embarrassment to one side and packed 40 PG Tips teabags because without a cup of PG Tips in the morning I am really only half a person. And Liptons Yellow Label really won’t do.
But there a few items I missed out. As luck would have it, we have another holiday happening at the end of August, so I’ve got another chance to pack perfectly.
The things I missed most this time were:
1 My micro fibre hair turban. Mine is Aquis Lisse, but Soap & Glory also do one here. I meant to pack it, but forgot it and missed it sorely. I’m sure you know the thing I mean – it’s a kind of scoopy towel with a loop and a button and you jimmy up your hair with it. If you’re getting your holiday right, your hair ought to be wet quite a lot of the time and it’s often very handy to be able to get it right out of the way and dry it at the same time, while you get all the endless errands done that come with holiday villa living.
2 A foot file. My feet take a battering on holiday, from the heat, the sand, the chlorine, the salt water. And I am a monster for picking at dry skin so they quickly turn unsightly. I got my very good foot file from a corner shop chemist, but any old one will do.
3 After-sun hair treatment. My hair is bleached to shit as it is at the ends, and the swimming and the sun left it a proper frizzed-out mess by the evening. And not in a good way. Next time, I’m packing something like the Schwarzkopf Sun Protect leave-in conditioner and my Keratase Elixir Ultime Hair oil. I hear great things about Philip Kingsley’s Elasticizer, too.
£17 for 75ml
4 A blow-dry brush. I only packed on Tangle Teezer for the whole family, but in fact I really missed my little aerated brush that I use for blow-drying.
How about you? What things have you latterly discovered you can’t do without on holiday?
Pashmina, Turkish towel, sunglasses, marmite, berocca, Liz Earle face spritz and after sun gel and factor 50!
I always bring tea bags too and get mocked by my husband, which is unfair as he is a coffee drinker and the places we usually go have great coffee but shit tea- I should insist on going to China next year.
Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream is great for everything- lips, dry skin, burns, bites, you name it.
Less glam- Sudocrem is also brill for everything
I was going to say Sudocrem (known charmingly at our house as ‘bum cream’) which is even better now in the little tubes.
Also a couple of Opinel knives and a knife sharpener for self catering if you can – double as prep and steak knives. As Laura said, the knives are always always rubbish and blunt. If you ever find a French gite where they’re sharp, I’ve been there the week before and sharpened the lot for you!
And not packing, but a brilliant discovery: cabin on the ferry. We take an early-morning 4-hr crossing which necessitates getting up at 3.30am and have found that a) even on such a short crossing a couple of hours’ sleep/doze makes the rest of the day much better; b) my own sandwiches are much nicer than any food Brittany Ferries can offer me; c) if you want to wander about, having somewhere to park everything is great and d) you can avoid all the other frightful grotbags almost entirely.
However it’s always worth a quick trip to the bar where you can see large tattooed French truck drivers drinking rosé at 10 am and get a pretty decent cup of coffee as well.
I pack for all the family, it is just easier that way although now the boys are older I get them to lay out everything they want to take on the bed and I check it (control freak , er yep ,self-confessed!) I have a checklist of the boring essentials like euro plug/ chargers/mosquito stuff/goggles…..I get all my stuff out then a few days later, half it…or at least third it, often still return home with a pile that does not need washing due to not being worn, one forgets how when you are in a pool most of the day its really only breakfast and dinner that require clothing! I always seem to forget at least one crucial item , usually of my own. Funny how you never seem to forget things when travelling alone….Have you tried Organic World Moroccan Argan Oil, £1 from Savers?! Great for the frazzled ends syndrome!
We always do self catering so I take a knife, a tin opener/corkscrew and a decent tea towel as they are always shit in cottages. For myself I always take my Babybliss Big Hair dryer which is enormous but totally sorts out hair that has been buggered about on the beach or in the pool so you look vaguely OK for dinner. That and a vat of John Frieda Secret Agent Touch-up cream.
Hei Poa Pure Tahiti Monoï Oil Tiare: for god’s sake keep it away from precious clothing but for lying by the pool anointed and glowing like Bianca Jagger, this is the goods.
Geo F Trumpers Extract of West Indian limes: I can chuck it on and not worry that I will develop brown bergamot-stained skin that makes me look like a living totem pole.
Maybelline babylips: because I like childish things.
Milk Baby Nighty Night Room Spray: fuck the baby, it calms me.
Acqua alle Rose rosewater tonic: sold all over Italy, cheap as the proverbial, smells lovely, even more gorgeous on tanned, sunny skin.
Neutrogena ‘Rainbath’- Helena Christansen uses ‘Rainbath’, a curiously scented bath gel and when you recall that Michael Hutchence once said that La Christansen’s skin was ‘like a percale sheet, satiny, stretched very tight with no imperfections’, it is a perfectly reasonable assumption that emulating her body washing regime might help in the attainment of a sheet like epidermis. I’ll pass on the dead, jacking off rock-star spouse though.
Hawaiian Tropic after sun body butter: smells of holidays.
Paul Mitchell: Awapuhi Moisture Mist: smells of holidays and a nineties blast from the past when I always had a bottle in my little Prada nylon backpack.
On our most recent holiday, husband packed. We forgot the high chair, the change bag, sun cream, spare shoes and sunglasses. Remembered the kids.
All of which was in the local shop?
Yes yes yes to PG Tips! Don’t be ashamed. I don’t like to think how miserable I would make everyone if I didn’t have my tea. This is perhaps a bit sad and old fashioned, but my husband or I will always, at some point in any holiday, wish we’d remembered a deck of cards.
Cindy yes, I thought a deck of cards would come in handy this time, too. Thanks for reminding me x
Babyliss Big Hair, though it’s such a heavy bit of kit to lug around. Though six massive rollers and a small tin of Elnett will do the same thing.
Never leave home without US-made industrial ear-plugs, ever since my husband managed to book us a week in a charming little apartment bang opposite a 24-hr tattoo “parlour”.
And for the full Top Cat, a sleep mask, as so many places have such thin, useless curtains. Must be a large and very soft mask – the sort you used to get in the pointy end of the plane.
Vastly overestimate the amount you will read by the pool. Nothing worse than running out. Can recommend taking the Vintage Classics editions of the John Cheever and/or Richard Yates complete short stories, with some back-up Alice Munro and something utterly delicious, like the complete Molesworth, or brace of Mitfords or a wodge of Wodehouse.
I always forget things too even though my husband always reminds me that there are actually shops in other countries. I NEVER believe him. Most important things for me are imodium/paracetomol/calpol sachets as I can guarantee someone will be unwell on holiday or in transit and jolly usual to have while you search panic stricken for pharmacy/doctor etc. I also find travel wash useful and hair scrunchies/clips etc which are easy to forget and get lost. I also try to leave a bit of space in suitcases as always good to have a bit of room if like me you like shopping and bringing a few things home. Love the photo of Joan Collins made me laugh!!! We used to go on holiday with my parents when my children were little (so we could have a holiday) and my Mum actually packed that much!
Sorry me again! when the children were very little and needed black out curtains which they never have anywhere except very expensive hotels, we found a roll of black bin liners and some masking tape made the napping tolerable.
Hi Esther
I flew Ryan Air to Valencia, hand luggage only, 50 ml only which, as you may know, all has to be squidged into ziplock freezer bag. This was a huge challenge for me. I’m still here by the pool but didn’t have enough space in freezer bag for body moisturiser as my skin gets dry.. I bought some Nivea locally but not the same . I pack lighter and lighter and roll my clothes up , it’s never the clothes, it’s the cosmetics!
I couldn’t reply to the cards one, but wanted to add: dice. As many as you can carry. 6 minimum allows you to play Yahzee and Killer. If you can manage 5 dice per person Palifico. Plus many variations of of gambling/drinking games which I will not bore you by listing here.
One of those “butterfly clips” for your hair works several jobs a) keeps wet hair off face whilst doing makeup, b) keeps long hair off neck when it’s bloody sweltering, and c) helps hold hotel curtains together at night so you don’t wake up to a shaft of sunlight across your pitch black room when you’ve had a few too many cocktails the night before. Oh, and I never EVER leave home without Ziplocks, especially one big enough for “we’ve got late checkout so we can have a swim before we go to the airport, but now we’ve got wet bathers and nowhere to put them”. Averaged 50+ flights a year for a while, it’s freaking amazing what I can fit into a wheel-on. 🙂
hair clip – genius! Ziplock bags also an essential! who rolls, who folds?!
Definitely recommend the Elasticizer which is brilliant. There’s also now an Elasticizer Extreme which I bought because my hair is extremely rubbish although the product seems the same just a bit gloopier. If you can be bothered to use it every week it is transformative – I now actually have some bounce and shine to my hair – just wish I could say the same about the rest of me!
Sorry for crashing but question for those who us Elasticizer… Do you do the whole wet hair-apply-leave for 20 mins-wash as usual? I have some Elasticizer and although it’s good I’ve only used it twice as with 2 little ones I don’t have time for that sort of faffing and don’t like washing my hair in the bath. Is there a shortcut that works just as well?
(No packing tips from me – I always edit down to the extreme and still only end up using 1/4 of what I’ve packed!)
Hi Cesca, I do the whole leaving it on for 20 minutes on wet hair. I stick a shower cap on so I’m not dripping water or product and then go and do something else whilst it’s working. I use it at least weekly and it really has worked for me. I’ve tried all sorts of intensive conditioners from Kerastase, Redken, john Masters Organic etc as well as all the less expensive brands like Pantene but I haven’t found anything as good as Elasticizer.
Definitely a big roll of ziplock bags!!
Hi, just started on Elasticizer. Tried spraying water from plant sprayer onto hair to dampen, putting gloop on, combing through and sleeping in it. Put towel or muslin on pillow. Also tried putting plastic bag on like a turban with towel on top, go about your house business for twenty mins before washing off. Don’t answer the door. It is good stuff though, worth the faff.
I have forgotten to pack dental floss on a trip to remote spot. My teeth felt like they were each wearing a fur coat by the time I got home, in spite of rigorous brushing. Now I just leave some in the suitcase.
T bags deffo,ziplocks, Moroccan Oil hair mask,pareos. Try everything on before packing in case it or I have changed shape….be ruthless in quantities of clothes,biscuits if going to bizarre biscuitless country…anti biotics always,tummy upset stuff etc
Blow dry brush…that sounds like something I need in my life. Which one is good? I’m sure I’d end up with something useless.
This blazer type thing.
http://www.sofieschnoorwebshop.com/vare/2201-sofie-schnoor-jacket
Basically wear it every day, rain or moderate shine, it goes in the wash, looks fancy, doesn’t wrinkle and even though it’s a shocking 100% polyester never gets sweaty! Weird and freaky.
I have just bought this clear multi compartment mothership washbag from screen face http://www.screenface.co.uk/bags/large-set-bags/stilazzi-medium-set-bag.htm
Aaf I love this jacket but cant understand the link is it German? Is there a UK link where I can buy it? Thanks so much X
Again you have blogged exactly what is going on in my head ! I just come back from hols too and this time I remembered to pack my microfibre turban and my blow dry brush – I’m not joking it MADE my holiday. I also took the Elastisizer – it’s ok but nothing spesh. Thinking next time (August too ) I’ll just get a leave in conditioner. Would also like to take a multi purpose oil for hair, body etc that doubles as a perfume.
Oh yeah and a clear make up bag so I don’t have to faff about at security.
Hi Sarah,
Found an English link here:
http://m.boozt.com/uk/uk/sofie-schnoor/jacket_12902405/12902413?position=1000000&navId=59888&group=listing
Sunglasses (obvious.)
Aveeno (for the notorious peely peely following inevitable white hot sunburn reserved for fair skinned Scottish gingers DESPITE practically eating vats and vats of the sodding lying factor 50.)
Ear plugs (CRICKETS EEP EEP EEP.)
Face wipes. (Make up remover/cool down weapon)
Mosquito repellent (the bastards like to suck me dry.)
Phone charger (Kindle app, camera and brightness always turned up 100%.)
Tetley tea bags (foreign tea is pigswill. No wonder coffee is such a big European thing if that shit is all you can come up with)
A bin bag (pop your dirty clothes in it and then just smartly empty it into the washing machine upon your return, feeling smug at your own time saving foresight.)
Dry shampoo (sweaty scalp)
And this year, a 4 slice toaster (for husband’s uncle in Barcelona- apparently you can’t get them there. Who knew?)
Honestly that lot is the difference between paradise and agony on Snolly holidays.
Snolly I love this
Just remembered a good tip. When you get home from holiday leave all the items you always take on holiday but don’t use at home like adaptor plugs, travel size shampoo pots, insect repellents etc in the suitcase so that you won’t forget them next time and then add in what you often forget or stick a reminder post-it note in the case.
Many thanks Aaf have ordered it I love it and its on its way!!! Soon realised your link was Danish not German oops not very European of me!!! Cant like your comment as my mac won’t do it. Sorry hope you see this X
Great Sarah! You won’t regret it I think.
Seeing as I travel for a living you’d think I’d have packing nailed. In the Bahamas in February I forgot sports bras and cleanser/make up remover. Two of the worst things to forget as I couldn’t buy them anywhere. Ended up running in a bikini top getting sore boobs and had sore eyes from having to wash my face with soap and water. So retro. X
Having just come back from honeymoon and had to cope with a husband moaning about his ‘Bali belly’, there’s only one packing essential for me now – rehydration sachets.
get used to the moaning. that’s all husbands do
Also get used to scoping out every nearby pharmacy for over the counter medicines for his indigestion/possible ulcer/athletes foot/sunstroke. Welcome to marriage!
I know it’s very sad, but we have a “travel packing list” document which has sections such as general holiday, holiday cottage, hand luggage, dogs etc so that we never forget to take anything. We update it with additions as times change – hot water bottle, tea bags, ear plugs, spare car key etc!
Aaf I love my new jacket wearing it out tonight! Thanks for the tip X
My eyes seem to take a battering on holiday from suncream, salt water, chlorine and flying. I find rehydrating eye drops an absolute must for adding to my holiday list.
If you’re going self catering, I’m also a big fan of collecting sachets of salt, sugar, ketchup etc before my hols so I don’t have to buy huge bottles or packets that we won’t finish.
To the amusement of everyone I know I travel with an inflatable footbath. Absolute bliss after pounding the streets sightseeing. Another weird foot related life saver is a syringe needle which is sold with a sort of protective plastic cap. I use this to puncture and drain (sorry) any blisters I get on my feet. Flip flops even if I’m not going somewhere hot. This is for standing in shower troughs that might not be clean and thus avoiding verrucas. I speak from experience. And of course a small foot file to keep the hard skin down after walking all day in sandals. I realise this is a lot of foot stuff but if your feet hurt it’s misery.
I like to take a pillow spray if I know I will be staying somewhere which might be whiffy.
Afterbite- insect bite remedy sold in Boots. Very effective on itchy bites. In a sort of pen size so easy to carry around.
Folding coat hanger- useful for doing laundry in hotels where you cannot remove the hangers from the wardrobe.
Folding handbag like the Longchamp ones. I take it empty and use it when I’m there.
A Dog Dazer – this is a gadget that emits a sound that repeals fierce dogs, enabling you to get past them. If you’ve ever been walking in Europe in the countryside past remote farms you’ll know this is super handy.
Ooo this is a very creative and unusual list! I especially love the sound of Dog Dazer