Differences in planning for a long trip vs a short one

If you’re used to constantly going on short holidays, maybe a week or two, then planning for a long holiday, or even a major move, can be stressful. If you’re not sure what to expect, the whole experience can be fraught with pitfalls.

The main difference is that you have a luggage allowance to take into account, which will never be enough for however long you’re going for. In this case, you need to plan, write lists, and then adjust your expectations accordingly.

I have recently moved to Turkey, and this is the first time I have had to plan my packing and other bits and bobs for a holiday that spans for longer than around 16 days.

1)     Be realistic

When I first needed to pack for a holiday longer than 6 days,I wanted to bring all sorts of homely things with me; I planned to bring bedding, pictures, teddy bears, all sorts of things, but they simply wouldn’t fit in my case with my clothes and other necessities. Remember that you can buy things whilst you’re out there, and they’ll often be cheaper anyway.

2)     Buy toiletries at the airport

Toiletries, such as shampoo, conditioner etc, can be very heavy and eat up a lot of your luggage allowance before you’ve even left the house. I weighed my toiletries and they came to a massive 5kg almost! That was 5kg of extra clothing I could have taken with me, so in the future I will be buying my initial toiletries in travel sizes, enough to keep me going for a short while, and buying the rest out there. I’ve also asked my friends to leave me their half used deodorant, shampoo etc when they come to visit me. Every little helps!

3)     Mix and match

I had this crazy idea that I wanted masses of outfit choices, and when it came to actually seeing what would fit in that box they call a suitcase, I realised that I couldn’t take half of what I wanted. Because of this, think mix and match items, and dress them up or down accordingly. This is a good option for day and night outfits, because throwing on some costume jewellery or a scarf will make an outfit look unrecognisable from the last time you wore it!

4)     Book extra luggage

There’s no way around it, for a long holiday you are going to have to take more than you normally would for two weeks, and you’re going to have to be very clever about it. Search when you book your flight for airlines that give you more in the way of baggage allowance, and then book some more on top. Remember that UK airlines won’t let you take more than 32kg, because the airline staff are unable to lift it. It’s cheaper and less stressful to book your extra luggage, rather than pay for excess.

5)     Ship items over if you can

If you know people in the place you’re moving to, or visiting for that extra long time, look into the cost of having some of your belongings shipped over before you go. This can sometimes be cheaper and easier than lugging huge suitcases around.