EN 
ES 
FR 
DE [h4a]“He who would travel happily must travel light.” – Antoine de St. Exupery[/h4a]
Once you sign up for your volunteering adventure with INLEXCA you will be given an extensive packing list to help you prepare for your particular project, location and service. However, when preparing to travel it can be tempting to get all the latest gadgets and fill your bag with travel essentials that once you get traveling, you end up just stuffing into the bottom of your bag and forgetting! The best advice we can give you is pack light, here are some top tips to help you pack light!
1. Keep all your important documents in one place
You will be carrying a lot of important documents with you when you travel. Passport, visa, residency, travel insurance, flight information and more. So, make sure you have one bag or folder for all this information and keep it together. No one wants to be in the airport pulling everything out of their bag looking for their passport!
Keep only your travel essentials in your carry on, the things to entertain you on the plane.2. Prepare your carry-on
Your carry-on needs to hold the essential things you need for the flight and nothing more! Don’t use it as a place to carry extra things for your travels, if it doesn’t fit in your backpack, don’t take it! Use your carry on for your travel documents plus your entertainment, a book, an e-reader, your iPad, whatever you need to pass the long-haul flight you are taking!
3. Lay out all your clothes, then leave half behind
Lay out your clothing then chuck half of it away, it’s extra weight you will never useWe always pack too many clothes whenever we go on holiday! If you are just going to a resort or hotel it doesn’t really matter but, when you have to carry all your clothes on your back, every item will matter! The strict rule is lay out all the clothes you want to take then throw half of them away. Do it. You will thank me later.
Take a good sized toiletry bag that fits all your essentials4. Toiletry bag
You will need a toiletry bag and this will probably be the heaviest single item you have to carry. Don’t bring lots of perfumes when deodorant will do. Be strict with yourself and only bring really essential items that you can’t live without. If there are two similar things in there, take one out.
Don’t take either.4. Hair dryer or straighteners?
Neither is the right answer of course. At home, drying and straightening your hair seems so important. But, when traveling, it loses all importance and is replaced with experiences, people you meet, places you go. You don’t need to style your hair, just buy a headscarf! And don’t even talk about make-up. Ever.
5. Shoes or boots?
Never take boots with you traveling, they are heavy and you won’t use themShoes. Always. Unfortunately we are not all hobbits so we can’t get away with no shoes at all, otherwise we would! But, boots are just too heavy to even consider traveling with so don’t! And keep to a minimum number of shoes as well, most travelers live in one pair of flip flops so don’t bother taking much more than that!
6. Which camera?
Just one. Just one camera is enough. Trust me. Take one good camera that takes good enough photos for you to show to friends and family when you get home and keep as memories but no more. If your phone has a camera then that is the one you use, any more than that and you are wasting weight.