Great Packing Tips From Flight Attendants

There are many ways that air travel has become easier over the years, with technology innovating the way that we buy tickets and check in, reducing the time we have to spend in line, on the phone, dealing with travel agents, and other inconveniences. Some things, of course, have gotten worse, such as going through security. Then there are other things that have stayed the same, such as packing our bags, and their technology cannot help us.

However, when in doubt, you should ask a professional, and in case of packing your bags, nobody is as close to being a pro at it as flight attendants are. There are many tips that flight attendants have for packing bags more efficiently and effectively. Read on to learn four tips from the experts.

Use Straws To Pack Jewelry

This is a tip that sounds nonsensical at first, but once you learn how it works you won’t believe you never thought of it before. Jewelry is often something that gets neglected when packing, being that they are rarely a priority item and that they can often get tangled up when packed away hastily. There isn’t enough space to pack individual boxes for different jewelry items, and it ultimately results in a big mess when you pack them.

The solution is straws. Straws? That’s right, you can use straws of any sturdy material to thread your necklaces in. Just open it up, put it through, and then close the clasp. This will keep your necklaces straight so that you won’t have to deal with them tangling, bending, or folding. 

An Easy Way To Keep your Collars Crisp

One of the most frustrating things for travel, particularly business travel, is keeping your collars from getting all crumpled up after you pack. When you are dealing with flights and meetings, you don’t also want the extra hassle of having to iron your clothes or, worse, being embarrassed at wearing wrinkled business attire because of an unreliable hotel iron.

If you pack properly, though, then you can get around these concerns. The best way to pack collared shirts is to iron them and then put them inside out, and then take a wound-up belt around the openings at the neck. You can use this trick for all sorts of shirts where you want the collar to be stiff, and in all likelihood the belt will also come into use on your trip as well, so you don’t have to worry about it taking up extra space.

Use An Oven Mitt To Pack A Warm Curling Iron

One difficulty with packing is packing things that you will use in the morning, right before you run out the door. It not only rushes the packing process, but it means that you have to make some tough calls, such as whether or not you can pack the curling iron that you want to bring even though it is still steaming hot. 

While putting a hot curling iron right into your bag is not such a great idea, you can still pack it, you just want to wrap it up first in an everyday kitchen item. If you had an oven mit, you will keep the tongs from the iron from interacting with your other packed items. Just make sure that your curling iron is not a cordless one. Those use butane, which is flammable and therefore not allowed on airplanes.

Pack Small Items In A Pill Box

Even if you don’t take any pills, it is a good idea to travel with a pill box. That is because they make for an excellent, well organized storage space for small items. It is especially great for jewelry, and is in many ways even better than a jewelry box, being smaller and less fussy. You can also use pill boxes for various other small items, and of course pills, keeping it all well segregated.

PillboxesPill boxes let you put your pills into different boxes for each day, and sometimes have morning and night sections, which is very convenient for people with complex oral medication and supplement regimens. However, this also applies itself well to jewelry. You can plan your trip in advance regarding what you will wear on which days, and then put it into the selected day on your pill box. However, if you do this you may want to ask yourself if jewelry is your drug of choice.