The 12 most common packing mistakes (and how to fix them)

1. Packing too many clothes

The most common packing mistake is also the most predictable. Most travellers bring roughly twice as many clothes as they wear. The evening dress that "might" be needed, the four pairs of shoes for a 5-day trip, the fourth pair of jeans. All of it adds weight and takes up space that other things — or nothing at all — could fill.

The fix: Lay out everything you plan to pack. Then put half the clothes back.

2. New shoes for a walking holiday

Bringing shoes you've never worn on a trip that involves walking is almost guaranteed to cause blisters. New shoes need breaking in — ideally over weeks, not days. Yet every year millions of travellers buy new shoes specifically for a holiday and wear them on day one.

The fix: Only travel in shoes you've worn for at least 10+ hours of walking. No exceptions.

3. Forgetting the travel adapter

The single most commonly forgotten item in international travel. It's not in your bag because it's been sitting on the desk since your last trip. You remember it when you're in a hotel room with a dead phone at 11pm.

The fix: Keep a travel adapter permanently in your travel bag. Never unpack it. Buy a spare — they're €8–15.

4. Buying sunscreen at the resort

Sunscreen at airports, resort shops, and hotel pools costs 3–4× the normal price. A 200ml bottle of SPF50 that costs €8 at home costs €25–30 on the beach. Yet people consistently forget to pack it and end up paying resort prices.

The fix: Put sunscreen on your checklist under "essentials" — not "optionals." Buy it before you leave.

5. Packing liquids you can buy anywhere

Shampoo, shower gel, conditioner, and similar products are available in every city, every resort, and every village in the world. Packing large bottles of these items — especially when flying carry-on — wastes space and weight for something easily replaced for a few euros.

The fix: Use travel-size bottles or solid alternatives for toiletries. Or buy full-size products on arrival and leave them when you check out.

6. No copies of important documents

Losing your passport abroad is already stressful. Not having any copy of it makes it significantly worse. A photo of your passport, insurance documents, and booking confirmations stored in your email or cloud takes five minutes to organise before a trip and can save hours of misery.

The fix: Email yourself photos of all key documents before every trip. Or use a cloud storage app.

7. Checking the weather the day before (not two weeks before)

Packing decisions should be made based on the destination's typical weather for the season, not the 24-hour forecast. Weather forecasts beyond 5 days are unreliable. What's reliable is historical climate data — "it's usually 28°C and sunny in Mallorca in July" is far more useful for packing decisions than any forecast.

The fix: Research the destination's typical weather for your travel dates. Pack for the season, not the specific forecast.

8. Overpacking the medicine kit

A well-stocked travel medicine kit is a good idea. A medicine kit that weighs 2kg and includes every possible remedy for every possible illness is not. Pharmacies exist in every country. Most common medications are available over the counter internationally.

The fix: Pack your personal prescriptions (essential), basic pain relief, plasters, and diarrhoea tablets. Trust pharmacies for everything else.

9. Packing the 'just in case' formal outfit

Unless you have a specific event that requires formal clothing — a wedding, a formal dinner, a business presentation — that suit or evening gown is almost certainly not getting worn. It adds significant weight and takes up a large amount of space for a zero-probability use case.

The fix: Only pack formal clothing if you have a specific event planned. If you end up somewhere unexpectedly formal, most hotels have ironing facilities and most destinations have shops.

10. Ignoring the weight limit until the airport

Discovering your bag is 4kg over the limit at the check-in desk is one of the most stressful and expensive packing mistakes. Excess baggage fees can reach €20–50 per kg on some airlines. Repacking at the airport — removing items and either posting them home, leaving them, or cramming them into carry-on — is chaotic and time-consuming.

The fix: Weigh your bag at home before you leave. A luggage scale costs €8–15 and saves this scenario entirely.

11. Not using packing cubes

Packing cubes don't compress clothing — that's a common misconception. What they do is organise your bag so you can find things without unpacking everything, and they make repacking dramatically faster at every hotel. Once you use them, it's hard to go back.

The fix: Use three or four packing cubes. One for tops, one for bottoms, one for underwear/socks, one for miscellaneous.

12. Leaving packing to the night before

Packing the night before a flight — especially an early morning flight — leads to forgotten items, poor decisions, and stressful departures. The mental load of trying to remember everything at 11pm after a day of work is too high.

The fix: Start a packing list two weeks before departure. Add items as you think of them. Pack two days before. Leave out only the things you're using up to departure day and add them last.