If you're off on your hollibobs and you're going to be staying in hostels and moving about every day you need to be as together as is humanly possible when it comes to packing. If you're anything like us, organisation doesn't exactly come naturally to you so we've put together a few tips on packing to make it as painless as humanly possible.
Pouch it up
Guys, for real. Packing cubes are one of the nerdiest purchases that you’ll ever make but something you’ll be thanking your lucky stars for when you’re two weeks in and you’re searching for the one clean t-shirt you’ve got left at the bottom of your bag. Their purpose is basically to divide the shit in your bag up into catgeroies so it’s easier to find – especially useful if you’re backpacking. If you can’t afford packing cubes, tote bags or shoe bags will totally do instead.
Ditch your fancy phone
Pretty much everywhere you go there'll be internet cafes (especially if you're staying in a hostel) so carrying around your swanky iPhone 5s only means that you’ll A) be tempted to spend money on roaming charges and B) you’ll lose it/get it stolen and guess what; your insurance probably doesn’t cover you if you're abroad. Have a root through the rubbish under your bed at your parents' house and find your old Nokia 3310 and take that away with you instead. It'll definitely still work (things were actually designed to last in the old days) and the battery life will blow you away. Plus, it's got Snake to play on long bus journeys.
Solid Shampoo
One teeny tiny little plastic bag is never enough to fit all our lotions and potions in when we're going through airport security – especially once you factor in sun cream and after sun. Solid shampoo and conditioner bars are therefore a traveller's best friend excellent thanks to erm, not being liquids meaning you can keep them in your bag at security, leaving you extra room for that ill-advised Sun-In.
Portable sockets
If you’ve stayed in a hostel before you’ll know that you’re lucky if you get access to one stupid plug socket, let alone enough to charge your iPad, iPhone, camera and erm, vibrator? This guy’ll make sure you can charge them all at the same time to save you doing that coming back to the room and switching them over thing that’s really annoying.
Get a Grid It
Again, a lame purchase but this guy’ll hold all your little bits and bobs that normally get lost at the bottom on your bag like hair clips, jewellery, pens, pills and make-up
Bluetooth speaker
Easily the best purchase you’ll ever make that you’ll desfinitely still use once you get home. These speakers aren’t anything new but a so worth their weight in gold. Connected to any wireless device via Bluetooth it means you can finally stop trying to make that phone in a cup speaker thing try to work (it doesn’t).
Follow Jess on Twitter @jess_commons
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.