MINIMALIST PACK WITH ME | 1 Month In A Carry-On

Well, hey everyone and welcome back. Today, I want to share with you what I packed for a month of travel to Europe. And starting off, the first thing that I like to do when I'm packing is to figure out what I'm going to wear on the trip. I like to create kind of a mini capsule wardrobe of items of clothing that I can mix and match together well while I'm traveling. And because of that, I typically end up packing a lot of basics and neutrals. What I love about that though, is that it gives me a lot of flexibility and versatility while I'm traveling, so I don't feel like I'm always wearing the same outfit over and over and over again. Then once I've laid everything out, I next like to take some time to neatly fold all of my clothes. And I'm not really a packing cubes type of person. Instead, I like to fold all my clothes into kind of a brick shape. It's kind of a hybrid I've developed between rolling your clothes and the KonMari method of folding, but I find that it works really well just to make sure that I can easily see all of my clothes when traveling, and it helps to reduce wrinkles so I don't need to worry about ironing or steaming things. And then as I finish folding a group of tops or bottoms, I'll just put them into my suitcase. And the great thing about this folding method is not only does it help to prevent wrinkles, but it also makes it so that the clothes can stand up by themselves, so that if you take a couple items out of your suitcase, it doesn't automatically become a disorganized mess. Which is great because when you're living out of your suitcase for a month, things can tend to get a bit messy. This is actually a pretty difficult trip to pack for because we experienced a lot of different types of weather on the trip. And so because of that, I really tried to focus on packing items that would layer up well. So on the trip, I brought three short-sleeved t-shirts and blouses, three thinner long-sleeved shirts, three sweaters, all of which I could dress up, a hoodie, one skirt, one dress, a pair of biker shorts, a pair of leggings, a pair of trousers, two pairs of jeans, one blue and one black, and a raincoat. And all of that clothing, minus one sweater that I saved for later, fit nicely into one half of my suitcase. Then I turned my attention to my undergarments. I packed eight pairs of socks and underwear, three bras, one bathing suit, a thermal layerer, and a bandana. And I just stuffed all of that into this zippered bag from Girlfriend Collective. And keeping everything in one bag like this is a solution that I find to be really practical when I'm on the go. And then apart from my Allbird sneakers, which I plan to wear on the plane, I also wanted to pack a pair of sandals for while we were in Greece, and an additional pair of sneakers that would look nice but be practical for walking around lots while we were doing sightseeing. And I just packed both of those shoes into cotton produce bags so that they wouldn't make anything else in the suitcase dirty. Then for toiletries, I just brought my makeup bag, which if you want to see what's inside, I'll link to my makeup collection in the description box below. But on top of that, I also brought a travel size razor, a comb, some deodorant, and my menstrual cup. And it was a little bit snug, not helped by the fact that I packed a full size deodorant, but everything fit inside just fine. Then I started putting together the liquids I'd be bringing, so I packed a travel size shampoo and conditioner, a heat protectant spray, an anti-snap treatment, some hairspray, a moisturizer, some toothpaste, some perfume, and body cream. This was definitely a bit more than I would pack if I was just going to be gone for say a week, but since it was going to be a whole month that I was going to be gone for, I did want to pack all of the items that I use regularly, so I wasn't going a month without hairspray or something like that. Fortunately though, all of those items fit honestly with room to spare in the little TSA bag that I bought before the trip. And it was nice to have a new bag because my old one had just completely given out on me. Oh, and of course, I also brought my toothbrush. And then for jewelry, I just put everything into this drawstring pouch, and I brought a combination of a few different pairs of earrings, a necklace, and some rings. And especially when you're working with a lot of basics like I was on this trip, I find it really nice just to add a little bit of jewelry to add some interest to otherwise pretty basic outfits. And then next, I laid out the electronics that I wanted to pack in my suitcase. So I got out my camera, my microphone, and two battery packs. And again, I just used another cloth produce bag to put everything in. And keeping like items together like this is just one of those small, easy things that you can do to keep your suitcase organized. And then with all of my little bags and bundles ready to go, I started laying them out so I could begin packing the other side of my suitcase. To that, I added my little portable steamer, my final sweater, my jewelry pouch, a hat, and then my curling iron. And then with everything laid out in front of me, I started putting the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. And I feel like when you're packing, that is really what it feels like sometimes is putting a puzzle together, figuring out which items fit best where. And then one trick that I like to use for more delicate things like electronics is to kind of fold them into a sweater so that they have an extra layer of protection in your suitcase. That way, hopefully nothing gets damaged. And then I just finish this off by putting all of the smaller pieces into the remaining crevices and putting my liquids bag on top. Then I zipped up my suitcase and put it aside so I could begin packing my personal item. And I pretty much always travel with this backpack. It's a great size and fits everything that I need perfectly. And so starting off, I'll just slide my laptop into the laptop sleeve and then close that up and focus on the main portion of the bag. And in my backpack, I try to put pretty much anything that I need for the flight. So I'll pack my wallet with my card holder, my passport, and a chapstick. And this is something that I'll usually just get out and carry on my wrist once I'm through security so that if I need to pay for anything or show ID, I can just easily have that on hand. And it's something I'll use basically as a purse while traveling too. It's super handy. And then I'll also pack a bag with the cords for my laptop, my phone, an external battery, and my AirPods. These are all really helpful to have with me while I'm flying, so I like to keep them in my backpack. And then because I do a lot of photography and videography for my job, I also pretty much always need to travel with an external hard drive. So in its own hard drive case, I'll pack that, my MacBook Pro adapter, and an extra SD card. And then just like with my suitcase, I like to lay out everything that I want to pack in my backpack. And on top of some of the bags that we've already packed, I also like to bring an empty water bottle that I can refill once I'm at the airport, a reusable bag because those things always just end up coming in handy for me, an eye mask so I can get some sleep on the plane, a scrunchie for putting my hair up, some power adapters because Europe, a little bottle with medicine for the trip, some snacks, I chose to bring some dried mangoes and apple chips, an eye mask for during the flight, a backup face mask for the trip, some lactaid pills because I am very lactose intolerant, and some shout wipes in case I stain anything. And then it's time to start packing the bag. I like to begin just by putting in some of the bigger items first so that they can kind of settle near the bottom. And then in the inner zippered compartment, I like to put my wallet just so that I have an extra added layer of security. Plus that way when I'm going through the TSA, I don't need to dig around for my ID. Then I'll start adding in some of the lighter and smaller items like my snacks, my eye mask, and my scrunchie. And I really try to make sure that I don't overstuff the backpack so that as I need things throughout the flight, I don't need to dig through a mess of things to get to what I need and everything's easily within reach. And then finally, I'll put some of the smaller loose items in the front pouch of the backpack. So this includes things like my dairy pills, my extra face mask, and the shout wipes I talked about. That way they're in their own area and not creating a mess in the rest of my backpack. And then with those final few items, my backpack is packed and so I just put it beside my suitcase so that I'd be ready for my flight in a couple hours. And right next to them, I just put my airport outfit and the shoes that I was planning to wear on the flight. But that's really it. That's what I packed in my carry-on suitcase and backpack for a month in Europe. I really hope you guys enjoyed this video though, and if you did, make sure to hit that like button, subscribe if you haven't already, follow me on Instagram so you can join in on all our adventures in Europe, and thank you guys all so much for watching. I hope you have an amazing day, and I'll see you in the next one.