Travel Writer’s Essential Last-Minute Packing Hack

Even though I’m a type-A travel writer who loves to plan in advance and lives for a detailed itinerary, I somehow always find myself on last-minute scrambles to pack for unplanned trips. (I blame my spontaneous, type-B, go-with-the-flow husband.)

Instead of starting to plan ahead, which would be the obvious solution here, I’ve come up with a way to cope: the grab-and-go toiletry bag. It won’t solve all your problems, but it crosses one major packing headache off the list — because forgetting a toiletry-bag item or having to throw it away because it’s oversized can leave you without the most crucial travel items (from prescriptions to sunscreen). And it’s easy to forget essentials, even those that should be obvious, when you’re quickly throwing your bags together for a last-minute trip.

To pack like a travel writer, keep a ready-to-go toiletry bag forever stocked with travel-size minis of all your usual toiletries, plus an item like a special in-flight mask (or a tiny bottle of a super expensive perfume) to look forward to every time you travel.

Make sure everything in this bag is TSA-approved and in-flight ready, and instead of buying drugstore travel toiletries, invest in travel-size versions of your usual at-home items. It should be packed with travel-size, TSA-approved items only, so you never have to worry about whether your bag is good to go for any and every situation.

Don’t touch this toiletry bag at home and you won’t have to remember what to pack each time you jet off, because it’s all in there already! There’s an added perk if you’re one of those people who takes weeks to unpack after a trip: the entire point of the grab-and-go toiletry bag is that you never have to unpack it.

Keep your travel toiletry bag packed and ready to jet at any given time, and it crosses one more worry off your last-minute travel to-do list.