Former SQ girls let us in on their best travel packing tips

Can we all admit one thing? Holidays are fun, but packing is not.

Firstly, there’s the nightmare of having to hope and pray everything fits into your suitcase while coming in under the baggage limit. Then, when you’ve reached your destination, searching for that specific floral skirt becomes a monumental task of overturning your entire luggage.

Perhaps you underestimated the weather in Rome, and you’re running low on clean, sweat-free tops. Or maybe at the end of that dream Maldives trip, you’re kicking yourself because you could’ve saved three kilos of luggage space for your souvenirs, because you brought one too many shoes that never saw the light of day.

Here’s the good news, it’s not just a ‘you’ problem. As this writer will attest, having travelled several times in a year for the better half of my adult life, I still struggle with packing smart. So, who better to turn to for advice than the frequently-flying cabin crew?

Ahead, three ex-Singapore Airlines stewardesses—Cheryl, Alicia and Olivia*—share their top packing tips, so you can skip to the good part (read: enjoy your holiday in bliss).

*Names have been changed

1. Roll your clothing

While most people tend to fold (and stuff) their clothing, Cheryl opts to roll her clothing instead. “It helps to keep each article of clothing as compact as it possibly can be,” she says. “Also, when you open up your luggage, it’s nice when everything is rolled up and neatly stowed, because you can easily find your items.”

2. Use packing cubes

In theory, packing cubes may seem counterintuitive to some, because we’re so used to stuffing the free spaces with socks and intimatewear. But for Alicia, she swears by them because “they just help to keep everything neatly compartmentalised, easy to locate and it really helps to optimise the space”. Sure, she admits that often, this involves some amount of Tetris-ing your cubes, but she assures us that it’s easy once you’re accustomed to them.

3. Swap your Ziploc bags for a clear wash bag

How many times have your sandwich bags given way due to being overstuffed with toiletries? If your answer is “one too many”, then swapping to a see-through wash bag might help, as told to us by Cheryl.

The first pro of this is that a wash bag is far more durable and less likely to split. Secondly, it restricts you with space so you’re forced to be more disciplined in choosing what to bring on the plane. Lastly, having it see-through ensures that you won’t get stopped by border security.

4. Plan your outfits in advance

One thing that both Alicia and Olivia agree on is that planning saves you so much hassle when packing.

“I usually try to have a loose idea of what I want to do, so I can pack the outfits I want to wear to these things,” says Alicia. “This way, there’s no guesswork needed.”

Olivia goes a step beyond, as she directs me to the hundreds of packing planner templates available on Google. “Find one that works for you,” she shares. “Essentially, it lets you jot down the activities and itinerary, and then allocate clothing to them in a systematic way so you’re not over or under-packing.”

5. Try the ‘333’ method

“This was something TikTok taught me,” Olivia reveals, “and it was super helpful, especially for short weekend trips where you don’t have plenty of baggage allowance!”

Essentially, the ‘333’ Method asks you to bring 3 items from the 3 main categories: tops, bottoms and shoes. From there, you can find a multitude of different ways to mix and match these items—think of it as a capsule wardrobe.

6. Opt for non-liquid toiletries

Often, toiletries take up plenty of weight even though they may look deceptively small. Thankfully, there are plenty of brands in the market today that offer liquidless alternatives, and these can shave off some baggage weight.

“I try to use bar soaps rather than liquid body wash, and I’ll use a powder exfoliator or even a silicone exfoliating glove rather than lug around a tub of face scrub. I’ve also seen some brands create powdered serums that emulsify when you add water, and these can be very effective in trimming down the suitcase weight,” Cheryl tells us.

7. Have a grab-and-go toiletries kit

One of the things that many cabin crew are familiar with is the case of last-minute schedule changes. In these instances, they have to be ready to up and hit the airport to fill in for another colleague, and it always helps to have a toiletries kit you can already throw into your luggage when you’re in a rush.

“Basically, I keep miniatures of the skincare and makeup products I love in this kit, and post-flight, it just goes straight into the vanity drawer,” Olivia says. “I don’t even unpack anything in it unless there’s something that needs to be thrown out. It just helps having one less bag to pack, especially when you’ve got a last-minute plane to catch.”

8. Skip the guessing of your luggage weight

How many times have you tried to guess-timate the weight of your luggage while in the hotel and tell yourself it’s fine, only to get a nasty surprise when you’ve placed it on the weighing scale at the airport? Alicia recommends keeping a small luggage scale on you at all times, so “you already know if you need to repack your suitcase to bring down the weight.”

“Also, you can then make better plans to buy extra baggage allowance ahead of time, so you don’t have to worry about the nasty overweight charges you’d typically get when you’re at the airport counter,” she points out.

This article was originally published in Harper’s Bazaar Singapore.