Packing for the Holidays in 15 Easy GIF Steps

Amanda Mull

7 Comments

Nov 22, 2013

Holiday travel has a way of turning even the most composed person into a last-minute packer. I was not alive for the days when air travel was a glamorous and refined experience, but based on the vaguely bus station-like feel it has now, I have a hard time believing that those days ever even existed. You may start with good intentions—checking the forecast, laying out outfits, and telling yourself this year will be different—but the suitcase still tends to fill up in a rush. For anyone heading home for the season or squeezing in a getaway between family obligations, packing becomes its own small ritual: part planning, part denial, part improvisation.

[All GIFs via Tumblr]

1. Checking the weather at your destination a few days before your flight.

2. The weather is terrible

3. Pretending the trip is not happening so you can delay packing for as long as possible.

4. Spending the evening before you leave frantically doing laundry, picking up dry cleaning and pulling your suitcase out of storage.

5. Getting distracted while choosing things to pack by trying on clothes you forgot you had.

6. Rewarding yourself for your hard work with a Netflix movie.

7. Remembering that you actually, in fact, need to pack because the plane will leave without you.

8. Ok, let’s just get it over with.

9. Trying to figure out what you forgot.

10. Realizing that your bag is too big to carry on.

11. Letting your bag go and convincing yourself that nothing will get stolen out of it and you will, in fact, see it again.

12. Realizing what you forgot while your plane is in the air.

13. Waiting for your bag to come around the baggage carousel.

14. There it is! Your bag!

15. Buying too much stuff while you’re away and having to shove it all in your already-full suitcase to do the whole process again on the way back.

LOVE it!!

#5 is me! Every time.

The trick is not to make packing perfect, but to make it less painful. Build around the essentials first, then add extras only after you know you have the practical pieces covered.

Love #8 and #12!

Love number 12!

12 is me. ALWAYS.

Weather-appropriate layers, versatile shoes, toiletries, chargers, and any must-have medications should go in before the nonessentials. If you can keep your items organized and resist overpacking “just in case” pieces, you’ll save yourself stress both at departure and when it’s time to repack for the return trip. There’s also something to be said for choosing luggage and a carry-on strategy that work with the realities of holiday travel.

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