Are you heading ‘out of town’ this weekend? Us too! Hooray for bank holidays! But, whether you’re heading off for a weekend with the parental units that’s a 20-minute train ride away, or heading to New York on a jaunty weekend, you’re bound to totally fuck up in the packing area. Here’s a few common mistakes to avoid.
Packing when drunk
You’re leaving Friday straight after work, ergo, packing Thursday night is a necessity. The problem is, because it was basically the weekend, you went out last night leaving you stuffing clothes into a bag with one hand while resting the other hand on the wall to keep yourself from falling face down onto the floor of your spinning room at 2AM. Flash forward to Saturday morning when you realise you’ve managed to pack a grand total of seven pairs of pants, four odd socks and a novelty T-shirt reading ‘Trainee Gynecologist’. Not ideal for lunch with Grandma.
Not understanding how mean some budget airlines who shall not be named are
Sure you’ve been sensible and bought yourself a nice little carry-on luggage from Primark, you’ve got your sassy little shoulder bag that fits within the strict size guidelines for the additional bag, and then you got to the airport and went SHOPPING. A quick stop in WH Smiths for mags, and a sandwich from Pret (no way are you paying £8.50 for a gross cheese toastie onboard) will find you at the gate frantically trying to put on all your clothes at once to fit your new purchases inside your suitcase as it turns out you’re not even allowed to HOLD ANYTHING EXTRA IN YOUR HANDS. There go the extra legroom seats you queued up for ages for go.
Taking probably more than you need to
See Sunday night’s the big night out, so you’re going to need a pair of heels for that, but then on Saturday you’ll probably go on a walk, so trainers are also a necessity. But then what if it rains? Not packing wellies would just be tempting fate, no? And that’s just shoes. Don’t even get me started on the outfit situation.
Forgetting the one thing that’ll definitely ruin your weekend
Oh sure you remembered that stupidly innapropriate dress that you packed just ‘in case’, which you’re almost definitely not going to wear, but that book you've been saving up to read on this trip for ages? On your bedside table at home, isn’t it? Cue every leisure activity over the next 72 hours coming hand in hand with an edge of regret because it’s almost definitely not as good as reading that book.
Ruining everything you own
Hey! So glad we packed that argan oil. Really wish we’d checked the top was on before we shoved it in the case.
Follow Jess on Twitter @jess_commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.