HOW TO PLAN OUTFITS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

Are you a light packer? Or are you the person who tries to stuff as much as possible within the contents of your luggage? 🙂

I’m definitely the stuffer-type! [oops! ;-)] I’ve always been the one to max out on my weight limits. I’m pretty sure that I’ll always be the one to pack more than I need. However, this time around with a little effort & organization, I was actually under my weight limit and brought only what I really needed.

I was shocked yet I felt proud of myself that my simple system worked so well! It saved me from unnecessary frustrations and I thought it would be fun to share with you guys how I was able to pack 16 pairs of shoes, 32 tops, 18 dresses, 13 bottoms, 5 handbags, 5 swimsuits, accessories, toiletries, smalls gifts and more into just 2 luggages of 22 kg each. This may sound insane, but when you need to change outfits several times a day for work, it pencils out.

I won’t lie, this took some planning. But because of the steps I took, I was able to pack faster and more efficiently than ever before. Whether you’re a style blogger or someone who just loves fashion or travel, the concept of planning outfits for travel is essentially the same.

HOW I GOT PREPARED

• Start Early – I was leaving for 5 weeks abroad and I knew I wanted to have 60+ outfits available to shoot during this time. Plus, I really wanted to take advantage of having my husband with me 24/7 while he’s on vacation for 2 weeks to get more content created when we’re out and about having fun exploring. So I translated that into starting to plan my outfits about 1 month in advance.
• Create a Shopping List – What do you really need? I began with my online shopping first. I browsed through my favorite large retailers; Revolve, Nordstrom, Amazon, Sephora; selected my must-haves and placed orders.
• Get Organized – With boxes and clothing piling up things got a bit messy, and fast!! So I designated a desk to lay out my bottoms, accessories and lingerie items. Keeping a visual nearby your luggage, of what you want to pack, actually helps a ton so you don’t overpack or pack the same thing. If you don’t have a desk or elevated flat surface available, the floor works great too.
• Categorize & Filter – Ever pack something and then forgot you even had it in there? Then you can’t wear it because it doesn’t match with anything else you brought? Ya, because this happens to me more times than I can count, I decided to use a clothing rack and separate my clothes into 3 categories: dresses, jackets and tops. Categorizing really allows you to visually see (and count) how many of each items you’re thinking of packing. You can easily catch when you’ve prepared too many black tops, or too many pairs of blue jeans. When you carefully go through each category, and you see what you have, it allows you to eliminate what you don’t need easily.
• Rinse & Repeat – Follow the same process for your jewelry, toiletries and accessories.
• Keep It Simple – I focused on summer styles only. Outfits for everyday, dinner dates and beachwear.

I hope you guys found this post helpful! 🙂

Wishing you a great time and safe travels!

xx Adelina