Years of organizing and attending international meetings taught me a lot about preparedness. I’d spend hours making sure my team had all the background materials and analyses we’d need, trying to anticipate any challenges we might face. Somewhere along the way, I picked up the nickname “Swiss Army Knife” – not because I was particularly clever, but because I’d learned through trial and error to pack light while still having solutions for just about every unexpected problem we encountered.
Like most parents, I never leave home without the basics – bandages, hand sanitizer, wet wipes (you know the drill). But traveling internationally with my husband, Calvin, and our teen (K, 14) and tween (E, 10) has pushed me to take that preparation mindset to a whole new level. And we can never forget about “trial” and “error,” which are also constantly refining our family packing system.
We aim for a carry-on only strategy, while still keeping our bags light enough that everyone can manage their own luggage. We’ve been successful most of the time, though some budget airlines, particularly in South America, have such low weight and size parameters — even for personal items — that we have ended up paying for checked luggage on occasion.
What You’ll Find in this Guide
I’m sharing our family’s real-world tested packing strategies, including:
The “What Could Kill Our Trip” packing philosophy
Our Family’s “Useful Things” Kit
“Unexpected Heroes”– Our creative solutions to common family travel challenges
Organizing hacks that actually work (including our accidental fishing backpack discovery!)
How each of us packs for school and work while traveling light
The “What Could Kill Our Trip?” Philosophy
Let me be clear – I’m not suggesting that stepping onto an international flight means leaving civilization behind. You can find most things you need almost anywhere. But after enough “I wish we had…” moments, I’ve learned there are certain items that can make the difference between a minor hiccup and a day-ruining problem. This is especially true when traveling with kids who are just learning to manage their own travel needs.
So, when we pack, we try to make sure we bring the things that 1) can be difficult or extremely expensive to buy internationally and 2) could put a real damper on our trip if we don’t have them.
Our Family’s “Useful Things Kit”
This is the kit that’s kept my “Swiss Army Knife” reputation alive with my own family. It lives in a dedicated packing cube and has saved us countless times.
Medical and First Aid
☑ Hydrocolloidal bandages. Every so often, there are injuries that could benefit from a long-lasting, waterproof, complete-seal hydrocolloidal bandage. When K developed a massive blister during our walking tour of Bratislava, and I couldn’t find any plasters that would stay put, I learned that some medical supplies are worth their weight in gold.
☑ One Moleskin square (for when those new walking shoes aren’t as comfortable as promised)
Laundry Lifesavers
☑ Ultralight clothesline (we’ve used this everywhere from hotel bathrooms to balconies)
☑ Laundry soap strips (these have been clutch for when we’re not in a space with laundry). During our last trip, E managed to spill mango juice all over her favorite jumpsuit during a 3-day excursion away from our home base. Our portable laundry setup meant we could wash it in the hotel sink and have it dry by morning, avoiding her wearing the same outfit several days in a row.
Tech Command Center
Everyone is expected to pack, and keep track of, all of their chargers and charging cables. But I’m still asked at least weekly if I know where this cable is, or have an extra of that cable. So, I always pack:
☑ one cord holder case that is roughly the size of a CD case. In it, I make sure we have one extra USB-C, micro-USB, and lightning cable. I also have one “all-in-one” cable, though we have limited success with each connector holding securely.
☑ I also keep a 65 W charging cable and wall adapter in the cord holder. These are powerful enough to charge laptops, and the wall adapter also has a feature to quick-charge phones. (This setup charges 3 out of 4 of our laptops – sadly, Calvin’s gaming laptop requires its own beast of a charger. But neither girl can claim they have to miss a class because they can’t charge their computer.)
☑ Power converter (different from adapters – we don’t need to use it often, but these are also much harder to find than adapters, so it’s been good to have one with us)
Unexpected Heroes
These items might seem random, each has earned its spot by being both incredibly useful and surprisingly compact:
☑ K, E and I all bring 4 pairs of the same white socks. We all wear the same sock (and shoe) size, so it doesn’t really matter who one pair of clean socks goes to, so long as we all have 4 at any time. No trying to remember who had which type of sock; no frustration carrying around mis-matched socks when one inevitably goes missing; no fighting.
☑ A packable shopping bag that condenses to the size of a Tic Tac box. I found this gem in a mountain biking festival goodie bag years ago, and it’s been a permanent fixture in my travel kit since. In Buenos Aires, where grocery stores don’t provide bags, it saved us countless times during water runs to the local store or spontaneous stops at a butcher store for some must-have Argentine beef.
☑ Two travel-sized spray bottles, each small enough to slip into any bag pocket. One inevitably becomes our communal bug spray, ready to deploy the moment someone slaps their leg and asks “Does anyone have bug spray?”
☑ A portable CO2 monitor that’s about the size of a deck of cards. In countries where few accommodations have built-in detectors, this tiny device gives us peace of mind without taking up valuable space.
☑ Small card games that pack a big entertainment punch. Our current favorites are “Crop Circles” and “Dungeon Mayhem” – each barely bigger than a standard deck of cards, but capable of entertaining everyone during unexpected delays or quiet evenings.
☑ Packable day packs that scrunch down to about the size of a fist. These have been game-changers for city exploration – we can keep our main backpacks organized at our accommodation while having a lightweight option for daily adventures. No more unpacking an entire backpack just to have something for walking around!
K’s Teen Packing System (Age 13+)
The Clothing Strategy
☑ 3 pairs of shorts
☑ 1 pair of pants cool enough for concerts, but durable enough for hikes
☑ 4 shirts
☑ 2 dresses (one for rock concerts, one for nice restaurants)
☑ 4 pairs of white socks
☑ 1 pair of fishnet tights for concerts
☑ 5 pairs underwear
☑ 1 pair sandals
☑ 1 pair comfortable sneakers
Tech and School Setup
☑ iPad and digital pen for digital art and browsing
☑ School laptop
☑ Noise-cancelling headphones with microphone (essential for Zoom classes)
☑ All necessary chargers for her electronics
☑ Rocketbook Notebook and Pilot Frixion pens.
Rocketbook is something I’d been using for years at work before introducing it to K. It’s a clever reusable notebook system that works with special erasable Pilot Frixion pens. Frixion pens are erasable on regular paper (genuinely – not like the horrible things that passed for erasable pens in the 1990s). But they work magic when paired with a Rocketbook.
You can write notes, do homework, or sketch ideas, then use the Rocketbook app to quickly scan and save anything important to the cloud. Once you’re done, you just wipe the pages clean with a damp cloth, and they’re ready to use again. For a traveling student, it’s perfect – K can take as many notes as she needs without ever running out of paper or carrying multiple notebooks.
K’s Personal Care and Accessories
☑ Jewelry storage in a pill box.
Yes, I know how odd that sounds! We actually started with a traditional jewelry organizer from Amazon, specifically designed for travel, with dedicated spots for necklaces, rings, and earrings. But after a few trips, K was still frustrated with tangled necklaces and rings getting mixed up. The organizer was bulky, and despite its specialized compartments, things still ended up in a jumble. I had some spare pill boxes from a recent surgery, and K decided to experiment with one for her jewelry. To our surprise, it worked perfectly – the separate compartments kept everything organized, nothing got tangled, and it took up far less space than the dedicated jewelry case. She’s never looked back.
☑ Aquaphor (we learned the hard way that her eczema flares in dry climates, and this isn’t easily found internationally)
☑ Toothbrush, floss, deoderant, palm-sized brush, 4 hair ties
☑ Lightweight, small-profile towel
☑ Her preferred feminine products (because some things you just don’t want to experiment with abroad)
E’s Tween Packing List (Age 10)
The Clothing Strategy
☑ 4 pairs of shorts (E always wears shorts under her dresses)
☑ 1 pair of quick-dry pants
☑ 2 shirts
☑ 2 dresses
☑ 2 jumpsuits (her absolute favorite for any occasion)
☑ 4 pairs of white socks
☑ 5 pairs underwear
☑ 1 pair sandals with ankle straps (these have become her go-to for everything from beaches to city walks)
☑ 1 pair comfortable sneakers
Heading 4
Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus.
Heading 4
Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus.
Heading 3
deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus.
Viverra aliquet eget sit amet. At ultrices mi tempus imperdiet nulla. Arcu dui vivamus arcu felis bibendum ut. Arcu cursus euismod quis viverra nibh. Cursus vitae congue mauris rhoncus. Faucibus ornare suspendisse sed nisi lacus sed viverra.
John Doe
Heading 2
Arcu odio ut sem nulla pharetra diam sit. Sit amet nisl suscipit adipiscing bibendum est ultricies. Habitasse platea dictumst vestibulum rhoncus est pellentesque elit. Ornare aenean euismod elementum nisi quis eleifend quam adipiscing.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
