Last month, we heard about Tracee Ellis Ross’ fabulous solo travel adventures, in which she proudly declared herself an overpacker. Y’all had some great comments about traveling and overpacking. As a fellow overpacker (more on that below), it’s nice to be among friends. Keegan-Michael Key also has some packing advice for the class. KMK is now an ambassador for the Choice Hotels brands like Radisson, Country Inn, Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, and more. During a National Waffle Day appearance at a Comfort Inn, Key shared some of his own insight about traveling and packing. According to KMK, there is no such thing as overpacking! He also believes that the key (pun intended) to success is to pack the night before and “bring extra socks and extra underwear.”
“If you think you’re overpacking, you’re not,” Key says with a laugh. “You’re going to feel so good when you’re in the hotel and go, ‘Oh, I forgot the—wait a minute. No, I didn’t. It’s in the second bag.’ Everyone says you only need one bag, but that second bag full of miscellaneous stuff? You always end up needing something from it.”
He also swears by one simple rule: “Always bring extra socks and extra underwear.”
“There’s going to be a day where you’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know we were going on that hike,'” he explains. “Then you come back to the hotel all sweaty and think, ‘I’m so glad I packed that extra underwear.’”
Because he frequently travels for work (a recent favorite was to Sydney, Australia to film Play Dirty with Mark Wahlberg, out on Prime Video Oct. 1), says he’s learned to prep smarter over time.
“Pack the night before,” he says. “This is something I’ve changed about myself. I used to try to get more sleep and pack in the morning, but now we do everything at night. Literally the last thing we do is take out the garbage and zip up the bags.”
The shift, he admits, came after a few debates with his wife, Elle Key. “I have to go on record: She was right,” he says. “Even if you sleep a little less, you’ll sleep more soundly knowing everything’s done.”
I both agree and disagree with KMK here. Where I agree: Pack at least 50% extra pairs of underwear. Ladies, if you’re traveling to some place warm, I’d also recommend a pack of pantyliners. You just never know what the sweat factor will be. I’m also a big advocate of packing the night before. I’m generally a last-minute person (thanks, ADHD), but in this case, I make an effort to do as much as I can in advance. That said, I still often end up doing a last minute unpacking and repacking because I just can’t help but pack too much on my first attempt! Packing cubes are the best, but sometimes, it’s a struggle to account for difficult types of outfits. Are you going for cute? Comfort? Athleisure? What if you eat something on day two that disagrees with you and you need an outfit that accounts for bloat?
That said, I disagree with KMK’s opinion that it’s all fine and dandy to just check a second bag. It’s $35 per checked bag on most airlines! Sometimes, the budget only allows for one checked bag per traveler, if that. I’m very jealous of my husband, who is such an efficient packer that last month, he managed to pack for 10 days in San Diego while only using a carry-on sized suitcase. I still don’t understand how he did that. Also, while we’re on the subject, I stand by my theory that there are also two types of unpackers: people who unpack immediately or those who leave the suitcase half-full until their next trip. I unpack immediately. I get anxious if an unpacked suitcase is laying around for more than a day.
Photos credit: M10s/TheNews2/Cover Images, Jennifer Bloc/Future Image/Cover Images
I pack two pairs of undies a day just in case I get caught in a mudslide, unexpectedly get my period, wind up stranded somewhere and pee my pants. Not one of these things has ever happened, but if they ever do I have extra underwear just in case.
I always pack to be prepared for every conceivable emergency. However, I was vindicated when the place we were staying had a Cat One hurricane (which taught me that if THAT was a One, OMG!) go through. I had actually packed a bunch of flashlights! Flashlights – that I might add – were mocked by my boyfriend. Who’s laughing now?
For the ADHD packers: the Microsoft To Do app is your new best friend. Just add items to your list as you are packing, and it saves them for future use. Next time you take a trip, you can just scroll through your previous items and move them to current to help you pack. And when Aunt Marge says, “can you bring the photo album to the reunion next year?” you can just add it to the list right then and it will be waiting for you when you need it. It’s so easy to customize for each trip and takes away most of ADHD “what am I forgetting?!” panic.
I am a big overpacker! People who can pack everything for a week in one roll-on impress me to no end. It’s not just about extra underwear. I am always thinking about the weather, how varying and unpredictable it is, and the itinerary (how dressy will this restaurant be? How cold will it get on that bike ride? How long will we be walking?)
It also depends on how many pictures I expect my traveling companions to take,. We went on a two-week extended family trip to the country where my husband and his siblings were born. My sister-in-law is one of those people who has to take pictures everywhere and is always perfectly posed and pulled together, even if she is just in jeans and a tee-shirt. I didn’t want to look like a schlub (that had happened enough times already) so I worried about packing for that trip for weeks. It was not in a place where you could easily go out and buy anything you might need. I needed to be READY.
It was an amazing trip but the lead-up to it was stressful AF. The 18 hour flight time didn’t help either.
This topic hits home for me. I’m the organized one in a family where everyone has ADHD. My recent recurring stress dream/nightmare is that we’ve won a dream vacation but have 15 mins to get to the airport and I can’t pack everything. I think packing became much more stressful for me when 1) i became a mom who now has to pack for more than just myself and 2) when i gained weight. I once had a colleague say to me “in Asia you cannot simply walk into a store and buy new clothes. They don’t sell sizes for people like you and me”. I was a 14 at the time. That has haunted me, and also being in perimenopause makes me super sensitive to temperature. I’m always considering if I’m going to be overheating or freezing. I like to have layers and options, so I just pack half of my wardrobe to have my bases covered! 😆
As I’ve gotten older, there are more and more times where my self image, who I think I am runs smack into who I actually am IRL.
For example, I’ve always thought of myself as low maintenance, a light packer who had simple needs. But on my last trip I had nearly an entire bag of toiletries, hair styling tools, hats and extra tops – so I had options AND because if there is a rogue drop of salad dressing or coffee flying around it WILL land plunk on the middle of my chest and that stuff isn’t washing out with Soak in the bathroom sink. I try to rationalize it with “oh, it’s just because I need a range of sunscreen options” but no, I’m a can’t leave anything out packer.
And if I’m flying, I’ve got like 37 different things I need to have with me on the plane – most of them drops, facial sprays, moisturizers and balms because I hate the feeling of having every inch of me feeling parched at 35,000 feet. A friend I travel with a lot always laughs at me rummaging through my carry on to find the one thing I want, that somehow always had slipped to the bottom. But she also is grateful when she needs a Tums, or a Tylenol or cough drop or cortizone cream because I’ve got her covered.
I pack two different ways depending on whether it’s a car trip or a plane trip. When I fly, I pack the absolute minimum. I don’t think I’ve ever anticipated everything, I always end up at Target (before they ended DEI). I love car trips. I plan cute outfits for every day and a bunch of shoe options.
One thing I don’t get about myself is how fixated I get on whether my toiletry bag is fully stocked with Benadryl, Advil, toothpaste etc. when I travel to major American cities. I am aware that there will be a national chain drugstore anywhere that I’m traveling but somehow I feel like I haven’t finished packing unless I have a toilet kit prepared for the wilderness.
I’m the same. For years I traveled by plane for work and got very efficient in packing for personal and professional travel (and always the night before, no matter what time the flight). Then I transitioned to a job where I drove for 99% of trips and also did more road trips for vacations so got very lax, packing a LOT of what ifs…
Now, I only travel a few times a year, usually by plane. I also only have 2 travel bags, one carry on and the other a large checked. Hate to admit but I usually end up taking the bigger bag if it’s longer than an overnight.
And while I’m one who takes forever to unpack, my best travel hack is to replenish the toiletries as soon as you’re back home. I also have low maintenance hair and can manage with one product and the hotel hair dryer. Can’t imagine traveling with a hair dryer/flat iron or curling iron, plus all the other stuff.
Excellent tip @DaveW! I am going to try assessing my toilet kit needs right after I return. New annoying thing about travel sized toothpaste is that Colgate and Crest have figured out that you only need to put a little schmear into the tube, which now runs out after 5 days. It’s outrageous and the new normal.
I live in a small apartment. When I return home I put on music and unpack immediately and it’s easy because I am not running all over a house up and down stairs.
I am so ambivalent about my greatest packing triumph: a black cashmere sweater. It does so much it’s actually depressing. You can take it every damn where, throw a statement necklace on with a black stretchy skirt and you’re dressed up, put it with jeans and you’re casual. I have slept in mine when the room was too cold, used it as a scarf, used it as a pillow+sleep mask trains, planes, and buses. I get so psyched to go somewhere and I open my closet imagining novelty and new adventure and it’s there like, hello darkness my old friend.
The worst is when an under packer travels with a prepared person. The trip starts with smugness and whining about their sole carry-on and having to wait for your 2 checked bags. Inevitably, they are DEEP DEEP into your preparations before day 2, borrowing scarves, jackets, hats, layers (I only travel in the colder months). And then they are handing you A TON of things to bring back in your suitcase ‘because you have room’.
I keep editing my packing and keep cutting stuff out. I tell myself “you dont need that, you dont need that, dont need that” i end up with many multipurpose things and a backpack with a big purse. But that is it. And no wrinkly fabrics for me.
We recently had a one night stay and I was determined not to overpack. Minimal toiletries, a swim suit, cover up, 2 dresses ( one more than I really needed but…) and I decided to just wear one pair of sandals even though I have sandals that are perfect for each of the dresses. Twice as many undies just in case.
And then we got to the hotel and I realized that I left my suitcase home!
I left it inside by the cellar door when I turned back to shut off the water pump! (Mr. R. usually packs the car, but we were leaving the second he got home for an appointment along the way. )
So no pool, I wore his tee shirt in the room (good thing he’s tall) and washed my undies after we got back from dinner, got a toothbrush from the front desk, and used his deodorant in the morning after I put on my not quite dry undies. I survived!
I found out about this bag from a family member who works for an airline… it is the Tumi – Just in case.
It is a tote bag that folds up and stows in a pouch the size of a quart ziplock bag. It has the signature sleeve on back so it can slide over luggage pull.
I never leave home without it. Either dirty laundry or stuff I pick up at my destination, it saves my butt each time.
I have a quilted, monogramed, kelly green tote bag that zips at the top- my mom bought it for me ages ago- and i remember thinking- i’ll never use it.
I use it everywhere i go, including 9 days on the other side of the atlantic ocean.
I refuse to check bags at this point in my life. It can squish up into the overhead bin easily.
But i must concur, even i bring extra socks and underwear, that is just common sense, right?
Other than that, i re-wore the outfits. I promise in one in Scotland was offended i wore the same outfit i had worn in London several days prior.
Note: a bit of an odd thing, to make the bag lighter as the trip continued, i brought really old socks and underwear and threw them away after being worn on the trip.
I was happy the bag was lighter, the socks were getting holes in them anyway, and a rich lady taught me that trick.
Now i want to travel- if we are able to beat back fascism, i’m going to start buying plane tickets again. (no way one of the real world mtv kids should be in charge of the dept of transportation.)
I used to be an overpacker, but after a trip where I had to hike through the Atlanta airport with two checked bags, all the carry-ons possible, a winter coat, AND a dog, I vowed never again. 😅
Now I’m pretty good about packing light, but there are a few sorta-rules I go by: 30% extra undies, at least; don’t forget the comfies (yoga pants, sleep shorts, a hoodie — some kind of lounge-around outfit); a big tote bag (usually starts empty/folded up, ends the trip full, with my purse tucked into it); and a pashmina-type wrap (SO handy for the plane!).
Love reading everyone else’s experiences and tips!