Packing for Europe: 5 Costly Mistakes to Avoid

I've traveled to Europe dozens of times and these are the most common packing mistakes that leave Travelers unprepared and unable to enjoy their trip to the fullest I've made all of these mistakes myself including a few of them on a recent trip to Malta and Portugal the first Common packing mistake is forgetting to bring a packable day bag a day pack is a small lightweight backpack sling or fanny pack that you can use to carry essential items for the day such as your wallet phone snacks water bottle and photocopies of important travel documents like your passport forgetting to bring a day pack means that you'll need to carry all of these items in your pockets or empty out your personal item backpack for day trips both of these options are inconvenient and uncomfortable if your personal item is a backpack like mine keep in mind that Europe can be very hot and back sweat is a real thing I like to use a travel sling or Fanny Pack since it keeps my belongings safe and secure against my body but a simple inexpensive lightweight backpack from Walmart or a local dollar store that you wear on the front of your body is going to be perfect for theft prevention and convenience a major packing mistake that can seriously impact your your experience in Europe would be not taking a moment to check the up-to-date weather forecast the night before your trip I made this mistake on a recent trip to Malta let me know if you can relate I had it in my mind that Malta was a warm and sunny destination and then I pre-planned the things that I would wear well in advance of the trip I made this mistake when I did not take the time to check the up-to-date weather forecast the night before my trip and ended up in Malta during a cold front with five days of wind and rain I thought that I was being responsible by planning all of my outfits in advance but then the shorts and the skirts and the dresses that I brought with me ended up being quite impractical I spent my first day in them just feeling cold and miserable and wet while out and about before I caved and purchased a rain jacket as well as some warmer layers something as simple as checking the up-to-date weather forecast would have prompted me to pack some extra layers A windbreaker and a waterproof shell which would have definitely saved me some money during this trip good thing about forgetting a day pack or a rain jacket is that these items are likely pretty easy to find at your destination it can be frustrating since you're putting out additional money especially when you have these items at home already but it's often going to be worth it you've spent a lot of time and money to make this trip happen and if you're not going to enjoy it because you are cold and wet it's really going to take away from the experience there are also certain things that you will want to research about the specific countries that you will be visiting and this is going to impact what you decide to bring with you a common packing mistake when planning a trip to Europe is assuming that all European countries are similar when there are so many nuances to take into consideration and honestly any assumption is going to get you into trouble for example on my recent trip to Malta I wanted to save some space by packing my tiny Europe two-prong type c plug adapter instead of bringing my bulkier universal adapter and while this type c adapter is what I need for for many European countries when it comes to Malta they actually use a type G they actually use a type G adapter that has three prongs so the adapter I brought with me was useless I have a checklist in the description that you can use for free that's going to have things that you should look up about your destination before you go sometimes the toughest part of packing for travel is not even knowing what you should be researching or the questions you should be asking in order to best prepare so hopefully this will give you some peace of mind that all of your bases are covered I obviously did not use my checklist before Malto oops an easy mistake to make is packing clothing that you think you need as opposed to being realistic and taking your own style and preferences into consideration perhaps you have heard that Europeans dress up on the day-to-day more than Americans do but if you are not a dress person or a Thai person or a heels person you aren't suddenly going to become one when you travel be sure to pack the clothing that you like that you have worn before and that you know you will be comfortable in on a long day trip dress to maximize your experience as opposed to dressing how you think you should because honestly as long as you are following cultural norms and being respectful no one cares except maybe you when was the last time that you remembered what a stranger was wearing or even what a friend was wearing like many American and Canadian women I love to wear leggings and find that I am most comfortable in athletic wear but then the internet tells me that it's not common for European women to wear leggings or athletic wear while they are out and about keep in mind that those women also do not have jam-packed itineraries hopping from site to site and they also do not care if you wear leggings it's fun to dress nicely and to feel good but keep in mind that the new pair of shoes that's giving you blisters and takes you away from the present moment or the fact that you end up with a bad sunburn because you didn't want to wear a cap with your outfit those are the things that are going to take away from your travel experience a packing rule that I live by is that I only need as many outfits or as many pairs of underwear as days that I do not have access to laundry you will likely have access to a washing machine during your trip maybe not a dryer if you are in Europe but definitely a washing machine you do not need a new set of clothing for each day that you will be away a strategy that I like to use to avoid over packing is to lay everything out several days or even a week before my trip and then to slowly remove things before finally packing them into to my suitcase the day before travel after checking the weather forecast of course there are so many uncertainties with travel that I tend to get anxious about upcoming trips this anxiety almost always leads me to over pack on my first packing attempt since I want to prepare for every possible scenario I'm often in a better headspace and able to wean things down to the essentials as the trip approaches and I feel more prepared in general I'll link to a video in the description with some other packing strategies and tips that you can follow for any trip but I'm always learning and would love to know if you have any packing strategies or tips that you can share down in the comments thank you so much for watching my name is Megan and I hope you'll subscribe to join us back here for more travel tips and hacks next week safe travels and have a great trip bye

Channel: Portable Professional

Views: 17,583

Keywords: travel tips, pack a carry-on suitcase, packing tips, packing mistakes, packing mistakes to avoid, travel packing mistakes, travel mistakes, packing hacks, travel packing, what not to pack, how to pack, carry on packing, how to pack a suitcase, europe packing, europe packing tips, packing for europe, europe packing list, what to pack for europe, europe packing guide, how to pack for europe, pack for europe, europe backpacking packing, europe packing trip, europe 2023

Id: TUiaIw8-pAA

Length: 6min 45sec (405 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 16 2023