When do you start packing for a trip?

If the departure-from-house is in the afternoon, I pack in the morning. If it’s in the morning, I pack the evening before.
I’m pretty casual about this stuff.

No more than 24 hours before. On the off chance that I actually need to purchase something for travel, I may think about that a week or two ahead of time, but actually laying stuff out and packing just the day before.

I should also say that before I was retired I used to have to travel a fair amount for my job. So packing is very systematic to me. Shirts in one pile underwear. Another pile slacks in another pile and that’s it. I don’t have to make too many decisions. It’s almost packing by memory.

I have a travel toiletry kit that is a double of everything I use on a daily basis, mousse, shampoo, deodorant, makeup, the whole works. It’s always on the ready for an emergency trip or just ready for travel without me having to remember to pack it all.

The night before leaving. When I get home, I unpack as soon as I arrive so that when I wake the next morning nothing at all is amiss.

In the week before I am leaving, I go over (in my head) that I have everything I need and then a few days prior, I will make sure my laundry is all done (although I have been known to take damp clean clothes on a trip and just hang them in the hotel room).

I usually pack the morning I’m leaving, unless of course I am leaving early, then I’ll pack the night before. I have a general list of all the things I need to take, from toiletries to types of clothing, so I just glance at the list while I am packing.

Sometimes I have forgotten to bring something to sleep in, and I just purchase it on the way or at the destination.

I have a general attitude that anything other than prescription glasses or medication can be purchased at a Walmart or CVS or other store, at the destination, if it’s forgotten at home. I have little quirks like I like to have nice liquid soap for my hands when I am in a hotel, not the little soap bars, so I will bring those things too, for my quirks.

@jca2 opposite for me – I hate liquid soap, and I generally have a bunch of the small travel solid soaps at home for when I travel. To each one’s own.

@elbanditoroso I use bar soap in the shower, and I bring a big bar in a plastic container for my travel. It’s funny, I asked a question about it here a few months ago. I use liquid soap for next to the sinks at home, for hands.

I bring the little hotel bars home if they’re good quality. I don’t know why, because I never use them lol. I saw a documentary about Gilbert Gottfried, and his wife showed he had huge containers under the bed for the soaps and toiletries he took home from hotels haha.

@jca2 I think it was about 7–8 years ago that a lot of hotels moved to liquid soaps. I complained to the front desk and they usually had some mini bar soaps to hand out. European hotels (at least the ones I stayed at) had classy soap and shampoos in each froom.

In the US, the chains just handed out generic crap.

Usually, I gather what I plan to take in a spare room a week or so before the trip and do a trial pack to see if it fits. I then pack it a day or two before the trip; somethings come out and others go in. A life coach once told me that packing is the most stressful part of travel for her so she packs fairly early.

@elbanditoroso Some chains have nice soap (both bars and liquid), like J.R. Watkins and Pharmacopia. Marriott (now Bonvoy) used to give out Thanh, which was a really gorgeous smelling woodsy scented brand from Thailand. (I’m into my soap). I take the little bottles of shampoo and keep to carry around in my pocketbook, to use as hand soap.

I make a very detailed list, even including my phone charger and meds. I absolutely hate packing and will stress about what to take for a week or more. Way too many unknowns!

“This outfit looks better on me but this one is more comfortable.” “Sweater or jacket?” “Pants or shorts…if both, how many of each?” “I wonder if there will be a hair dryer available.” “Bring makeup or go without? bring just a few items?” “Be sure to buy some small bottles to transfer shampoo etc into or buy the travel size so I don’t have to bring my big ones.” Don’t even get me started on shoes because they’re dependant on the clothes!

I’m like @JLeslie when it comes to toiletries – if I have to wait to pack them in the morning I’m afraid I’ll forget something.

<sigh> I’m an anxious person. I wish I cared less about many, many things.

@smudges being a male seems SO much easier… fewer decisions of the type you described.

@smudges With the toiletries, I go back to if you forget anything, you can just buy it when you’re there.

I am on a flight at 11:15 a.m. tomorrow. I will pack in the morning. I will do laundry this evening,

I have been traveling a lot this year. Packing earlier than the day before seems silly, you end up with a suitcase in the middle of your bedroom that you get to walk around for days.

I am going to Iceland later this year, the only “prep” I am doing is to mentally list what out of the ordinary clothes I need to pack (like a down hoodie).

@elbanditoroso Orlando was a big recycler of leftover hotel soap, and now with the liquid soap it’s harming that industry. Here’s a video. https://youtu.be/6qJV34pcOaw?si=7rFf9JHSZBc-K6Bw I didn’t watch it all the way through, but I’ve seen reports on it before. It’s interesting. Some countries are considering banning bar soap in hotels. Maybe some have already.

@elbanditoroso Oh I know…and we’re not even talking about showers with the long hair washing and conditioning! LOL

@jca2 I know but I still stress and sometimes criticize myself for forgetting, depending on my mood. I have issues. :(

@zenvelo If I had an 11 in the morning flight, just to get to JFK and be in line for the TSA, I’d have to allow at least two hours for the ride and about three hours for the TSA, so I’d be leaving probably 5 in the morning.

@JLeslie Now a lot of hotels do the pump shampoo/conditioner/liquid soap in the shower to eliminate all the tiny bottles of product that end up in landfills.

@smudges I get it. My issue is I like an opportunity to shop, so if I need something, there’s my opportunity haha.

^^ Well there ya go…one of my issues is getting out of my home. I’m trying to make myself go to therapy and did go once in June to a new therapist, but now I’m back in the habit of not going out. Unfortunately, the longer you stay home, the easier it is if you tend toward that anyway. I have back issues so it hurts to go anywhere.

I begin packing a couple of days before the flight. I have a master checklist listing everything I need to pack to ensure nothing is forgotten. I travel light and try not to have any hold luggage if possible.

Day of, or day before, usually. Sometimes I start gathering some specific things days or maybe weeks before, or making sure I have them, but I don’t generally actually pack anything early.

I have a standardized packing list that I start customizing soon after buying airline tickets for a trip. A few nights before departure I start collecting stuff to pack. Pack it all into my luggage the night before.

As soon as I’ve made my travel plans.

I begin by scribbling a list of necessities (toiletries, makeup bag, sunglasses, cellphone charger, compact umbrella, etc.) and what I’d like to bring (plan some outfits, including shoes and jewelry). When the departure day gets closer, I gather the items and place them into luggage.

I don’t really travel much anymore but when I used to go away for 4 or 5 days, I really waited until the evening before to pack. I would make sure all my laundry was caught up but then I had a simple method where I wouldn’t even make a list. Instead, I start from the bottom up and work my way up my body.

Shoes, what shoes do I need to bring? Socks, how many pairs, different sorts. Slacks, jeans, fleece pants to sleep in. I won’t go on but you get the idea. I never missed an item by doing that. And of course then I did my toiletries. And then books to read, etc.