Once again, I’m on the road for volleyball. This week, I’ve been in Bellingham, Washington for the NCAA Regional Quarterfinals Tournament. I’ve truly enjoyed traveling with my team for the past two weeks but I haven’t enjoyed missing over a week of school. But luckily I have friends in every class that will tell me everything that I’ve missed.
Since I’ve been traveling as much as ever, I’ve come across some great traveling tips that I just have to share with everyone! With holidays and visiting family coming up, I know there are some tips and tracks everyone will need.
Travel-Sized Versions of Your Favorite Products
While this might seem like an obvious one, a lot of people end up forgetting one or two things when they have to travel and have to either purchase a full-sized product or have to make do with something else that isn’t their first choice. I’m lucky, because when I travel for volleyball I always end up staying in hotels. Every hotel has shampoo or conditioner available in small portions, but they’re usually generic and don’t combine well with my hair type.
An easy solution to this problem is to purchase reusable travel-sized containers (pro tip:get different colors so you can tell apart shampoo and conditioner) and fill them with your favorite hair care products. You can find some from Target.com right here!
Some brands offer travel sized items already, which makes the process a lot easier! All you have to do is look up your favorite product on Amazon.com or head to the nearest Target and see what’s up for grabs.
A List for When You’re Packing
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten a phone charger or a hairbrush (fun fact: I forgot my hairbrush for my trip to Bellingham so I had to buy one in the airport). I hadn’t put my hairbrush on my packing list. But everything else, I remembered to pack! There’s also something about checking things off on a list that makes me happy.
If you know exactly where you’re going to be traveling, when, and what you’ll need, it’s super easy to prepare a list. Take as much or little time as you need to prepare before your departure date. I don’t make mine super detailed (as proved by the forgetting of my hairbrush) but I definitely write down all of the clothes and items I might need. I highly suggest this to anyone traveling in any way, shape, or form!
A Snack for Traveling or Downtime
This is one of the best tips I’ve ever followed. Every time I travel, for volleyball or for leisure, I end up hungry on some part of the journey. When I had to drive five and a half hours to Turlock, CA last week for our conference championships, I had to eat some Luna Bars and Brookside acai chocolate blueberries to tide me over. For any flight, you’re usually allowed to bring any food you choose as long as it makes it past security or was purchased inside the airport. Not to mention anything inside the airport is ridiculously expensive.
Some great snacks include chocolate covered pretzels, pre-packaged sandwiches or anything of the like, chips, protein bars, or Brookside berries (they should sponsor me already!). Over the years I’ve brought all of these items with me when traveling and it helped immensely. Traveling is already hard enough, you should make it easier on yourself and bring a snack along for the ride!
One Nice Shirt/Dress/Outfit
You’ll never know when you’ll need a nice outfit! Even if I’m traveling for volleyball, I make sure to include a nice shirt that can be paired with black leggings in case we go to a nice dinner or have a team event outside of the gym. Sometimes we visit a touristy location in the city where we’re playing and it’s always nice to have nice clothes should I need them.
If you’re traveling to visit family for the holidays, then you definitely need to include two or three nicer outfits. You might go out to dinner or have a nice meal together at your family’s house. If you’re traveling for work or for pleasure, then you honestly might not need if you need it or not. When it comes to traveling, I find that it’s always better to have something in case you need it rather than not packing it.
Roll Your Clothes
This is one of the tips that can be used every time you need to travel. Packing is always such a hassle (even though it doesn’t have to be, check out #2) because people have to find out what they need and then how to fit it into the suitcase/bag they’re using. The most effective thing I’ve found is to roll your clothes instead of folding them. It takes up less space, and prevents wrinkles more so than when folding!
Also, stuff things inside your shoes. Socks, small items, or jewelry to keep it safe during travel. When I travel for skiing, this is the best thing for making the most of the space available. I really think everyone should do this when they need to travel!
After all of the traveling I’ve found all of these tricks to be useful. I use all of them when I have to go from place and place and I really wanted to share it with all of you! As always, thank you so much for reading! If you have any ideas to share, please leave a comment down below.
Love,
Kaitlin
Kaitlin H Powell 