Moving around a lot and packing!

[jobelly]

We’re a family of 5 so a lot of luggage (and since I changed our car to drop off at Anaheim we no longer have a 7 seater so not as much boot space!). We’re staying in 6 hotels once in California and I’m already stressing about the time I will spend packing and unpacking, for those that have done this holiday with kids what made it easier?
Packing cubes? We normally mix our luggage between all the cases just in case a suitcase goes missing but I’m thinking this time that would make things more difficult unless we plan our outfits out in advance.
Any help would be appreciated!

[Willeve]

We’re doing 7 hotels in 14 days, my kids are young adults, just doing hand luggage so everyone is responsible for their own stuff and there’s not loads of luggage. I always do a wash halfway through though.

[Mexy02]

Originally Posted by jobelly

We’re a family of 5 so a lot of luggage (and since I changed our car to drop off at Anaheim we no longer have a 7 seater so not as much boot space!). We’re staying in 6 hotels once in California and I’m already stressing about the time I will spend packing and unpacking, for those that have done this holiday with kids what made it easier?
Packing cubes? We normally mix our luggage between all the cases just in case a suitcase goes missing but I’m thinking this time that would make things more difficult unless we plan our outfits out in advance.
Any help would be appreciated!

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I still mix clothing but just use smaller packing cubes so they are still individual but spread across the cases. The other way with smaller kids is use ziplock bags for days outfits ( so pants sock, t shirt , shorts in one ziplock and labelled by day .

[Bad Pink Tink]

On this trip I had 3 locations plus travel days. I used packing cubes for each location and planned outfits. Much easier just to pull out a cube for a location and know that everything you need, including underwear is in it.

[Mrs Red C]

Originally Posted by Bad Pink Tink

On this trip I had 3 locations plus travel days. I used packing cubes for each location and planned outfits. Much easier just to pull out a cube for a location and know that everything you need, including underwear is in it.

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Agree with this idea! It's so easy for each member to have a set of clothing per day to pull out of case the evening before so everyone is ready to go in the morning. You can easily pop a set into someone else's bag if worried about missing luggage.

[AlexE]

There are only 2 of us but we are on the road for 42 days with 14 locations including Premier Inn at Heathrow, 3 internal flights - one of which is overnight

DH not too keen on packing cubes as he says they are too bulky but thats not working for me. Therefore we have 1 case betwen us and enough clothes for 7 days and checked we can do laundry in various locations. Cubes will be used - 3 each = 1 for tops, 1 for shorts and 1 for undies and everything else and things like toiletries, suncreams, medicines etc will be in plastic bags and fit in either cubes that are not full or seperate cubes.

We will travel out in jeans and hoodies and do not plan to wear these again until we return home. We do plan to buy a couple of hoodies but there is room in the case for them or we will use a holdall for our return flights.

I think packing cubes would work for you, Ive never split clothes across cases as we only take 1 case - and I havent been brave. Perhaps by packing by location would work? ie 3 night in a location = 3 sets of clothes for each person in 1 or 2 cubes?

[jobelly]

Thank you all, I do worry that packing cubes are too bulky but think they will make it easiest, unless of course my 14yo then decides the only thing she can wear is the outfit in another cube!

[Mrs Red C]

I don't find the cubes bulky, I feel I can get more into my case. I tend to roll up the outfits too.
I saw someone else post, that they weigh some 1kg cubes for flying home, enabling the cases to be correct weight as they can adjust the weights accordingly.

[Ourdaybydesign]

We just went at Easter with 4 of us for 17 nights, we stayed in 7 hotels so it was a lot of moving; we had a case each and inside packing cubes divided everything so like the kids had one for underwear / socks, one for tees & one for shorts / bottoms so they just took one thing out of each each day, I never do planned day outfits as you have no idea what you will want to wear etc. Then we had hoodies / jumpers on top. Worked well as we didnt take anything out of the cases at each stop and knew where to find stuff.

[Bellasmummy]

I bought our packing cubes originally for our California/Hawaii trip as we had 7 hotels in 3 weeks.

Worked a treat and have been using them since.

For that trip I made up some cubes for specific parts of the stay whereas other trips I split them by clothes type.

They’re great as we just throw them in the drawers when we get there making unpacking really quick. As they start emptying out I take the rest out and start to fill with the dirty clothes instead so that when we pack to leave it just needs popping into the cases.

They don’t take up any extra room in your case as they’re only thin. In fact I think they save space as you can squash down what’s in them to fit more in, so the clothes are more compacted in the case.