Taking long trips is becoming more and more trendy. Are you lucky enough to have an employer that will allow you to live the digital nomad life, simply doing your job from a beach rather than an office? Or are you going all in and embracing the expat lifestyle?
Maybe you’re not working at all, beyond the odd jobs you intend to do as you travel around. The point is to see as much as possible and don’t keep still for long. It makes sense, with a generation that values experiences over material goods.
But it will take some planning. Even the most basic thing, packing, will take some planning. If you’re finding yourself a little lost in that department, take a look at our top tips to help you get your packing in order.
Pack right
There are a lot of little things you can do to make packing as efficient as possible. You want to keep costs down but keep all your stuff from getting damaged, and there is a wealth of ways that can happen.
Toss as you go. If it’s not of use and doesn’t make you happy, get rid of it. If it makes you happy but it’s damaged, toss it anyway. You don’t need a laptop that won’t turn on.
Pack the least useful things first. Your DVDs and CDs or vinyl, for example, aren’t going to be necessary the way your toothbrush is for the time being. You can work up to the most important stuff and when it comes time to unpack again you will find all your important stuff at the front and all the rest deeper in the pile.
Combine breakables and your clothes. A good tip is to wrap your glasses in your socks, so that you keep your socks together and your glasses protected. Take it a step further and wrap your ornaments and other breakables in your clothes so that you save space and keep everything together. After all, you’re going to be taking all the clothes you need.
Store your stuff
And then there is the question of what to do with it while you are gone. It’s a big burden to dump an entire home’s worth of stuff on a friend or family member’s doorstep, so the best idea would be to put it into storage. Contact Safestore for a quote on their storage units dotted around the country.
Their units start at 10 square feet, or the ideal size for storing student luggage, and keep going to 500 square feet and over, as big as a large family home move.
You will be the only person with a key so you will be able to travel and be safe in the knowledge that everything you own back home is safe and undisturbed.
What are you doing with your car?
If you are planning to go out of the country, you will have to think about your car. You can take your own car and simply get used to only driving on the wrong side of the road, rather than the wrong side of the car too. Or there is the option of getting a car once you’re there and getting used to doing everything with the other hand. You’d be surprised how quickly you can get used to it.
There is the option of putting your car into storage, but the longer it sits idle with no use the more problems it will gain.
If you are lucky enough to know of someone who can use a car, do them a deal where you add them to your insurance and allow them to use your car for the time you are away. It’s a good option if your trip is only going to last a few months.