What are your packing essentials for a train travel trip? 🎒
Hi,
I tend to travel with bags in bags. I use Ziplocks bags for hygienic products, and I have some small bags in fabric to put stuff when I don’t want to make noise, for example in night trains.
On Ziplock, you can write what should be in them. It makes it a lot easier to pack and unpack everything when you want to check that you have everything. For example, one ziplock for toothbrushes and toothpaste, one for small soaps and perfume, one for medications (like paracetamol), one for stuff to shave.
I have my blue fabric bag for electronics : chargers, a powerbank, and a multiple socket.
I have another blue fabric bag for “diy” : a lock which can be also used to attach things, a Swiss army knife, and I even pack carabiners with some rope. Some people would even recommand chatterton.
I have a green bag for things when I want to be calm: some earplugs and a sleeping mask, and a book. I also put in this bag a small headlamp which can be turned on red, which is useful in night trains, but the lamp itself is useful when I want to check that I have not forgotten anything.
For night trains, I have spare fabric bags which can be suspended. I take slippers with me (very much recommanded !), a towel, and a small cushion.
In a small pink fabric bag, I have a few stuff for immediate hygiene : tissues, hydroalcoholic gel, and some small trash bags. I recommand to have somewhere a lot of paper towels, you never know what can get spilled over.
Apart from that, I have my clothes, and other really standard stuff like my laptop, my mobile phone, or books. I recommand travelling in trousers with big pockets, like a hiking pants. You may also want to have snacks, and most importantly, water. If you want to save money, a tupperware with your food and some cuttlery can be nice.
You probably know the advice to have your documents and tickets scanned and sent to you per email. If you are alone, it can also be a good idea to have 50€ stached somewhere else than in you wallet, in case your credit card gets swallowed or stolen.
If you need to pack and unpack several times, you will need to memorize what you have in order not to forget it. It is important to have priorities: you do not want to forget your valuables, so have a short list of them in your head or even written somewhere. Forgetting your phone charger is inconvenient, but it will not be as inconvenient as forgetting your phone. My technique to put bags in bags is a way for me to facilitate this memorization and to make it easy to find everything. If you want to remember a list of 16 things, it is always easier to have 4 categories with 4 things in each than to have the plain list. I try to have a rule of putting only four things in every category to facilitate this memorization.
I tend to travel with a lot of stuff. All that I have said is probably not that useful. My girlfriend’s mother say that to travel, you need your tickets, your documents, and a credit card, as the rest can be bought. I prefer to be prepared for any situation, but as a consequence I do not travel lightly. I think the correct way to understand what you need to pack is to know for what kind of situations you want to be ready. But remember that we travel also to discover the unknown !
+5- Community Moderator
- 97 replies
Karchoc wrote:
Hi,
I tend to travel with bags in bags. I use Ziplocks bags for hygienic products, and I have some small bags in fabric to put stuff when I don’t want to make noise, for example in night trains.
On Ziplock, you can write what should be in them. It makes it a lot easier to pack and unpack everything when you want to check that you have everything. For example, one ziplock for toothbrushes and toothpaste, one for small soaps and perfume, one for medications (like paracetamol), one for stuff to shave.
I have my blue fabric bag for electronics : chargers, a powerbank, and a multiple socket.
I have another blue fabric bag for “diy” : a lock which can be also used to attach things, a Swiss army knife, and I even pack carabiners with some rope. Some people would even recommand chatterton.
I have a green bag for things when I want to be calm: some earplugs and a sleeping mask, and a book. I also put in this bag a small headlamp which can be turned on red, which is useful in night trains, but the lamp itself is useful when I want to check that I have not forgotten anything.
For night trains, I have spare fabric bags which can be suspended. I take slippers with me (very much recommanded !), a towel, and a small cushion.
In a small pink fabric bag, I have a few stuff for immediate hygiene : tissues, hydroalcoholic gel, and some small trash bags. I recommand to have somewhere a lot of paper towels, you never know what can get spilled over.
Apart from that, I have my clothes, and other really standard stuff like my laptop, my mobile phone, or books. I recommand travelling in trousers with big pockets, like a hiking pants. You may also want to have snacks, and most importantly, water. If you want to save money, a tupperware with your food and some cuttlery can be nice.
You probably know the advice to have your documents and tickets scanned and sent to you per email. If you are alone, it can also be a good idea to have 50€ stached somewhere else than in you wallet, in case your credit card gets swallowed or stolen.
If you need to pack and unpack several times, you will need to memorize what you have in order not to forget it. It is important to have priorities: you do not want to forget your valuables, so have a short list of them in your head or even written somewhere. Forgetting your phone charger is inconvenient, but it will not be as inconvenient as forgetting your phone. My technique to put bags in bags is a way for me to facilitate this memorization and to make it easy to find everything. If you want to remember a list of 16 things, it is always easier to have 4 categories with 4 things in each than to have the plain list. I try to have a rule of putting only four things in every category to facilitate this memorization.
I tend to travel with a lot of stuff. All that I have said is probably not that useful. My girlfriend’s mother say that to travel, you need your tickets, your documents, and a credit card, as the rest can be bought. I prefer to be prepared for any situation, but as a consequence I do not travel lightly. I think the correct way to understand what you need to pack is to know for what kind of situations you want to be ready. But remember that we travel also to discover the unknown !
Hey ​
Your approach to organizing your travel essentials is incredibly thoughtful and practical—thank you for sharing your insights! Using bags within bags to categorize items and ensure quick access is a smart way to stay organized, especially on longer trips with multiple stops. Your system also makes it easier to keep track of everything and reduce stress while on the move.
I particularly like your idea of a fabric bag for electronics and a separate one for calm essentials—a red-light headlamp is such a great tip for night trains! Given your experience with different types of travel, do you ever adjust your packing strategy based on the length of your trip or the destinations you visit?
Eurail Community Moderator wrote:
Karchoc wrote:
Hi,
I tend to travel with bags in bags. I use Ziplocks bags for hygienic products, and I have some small bags in fabric to put stuff when I don’t want to make noise, for example in night trains.
On Ziplock, you can write what should be in them. It makes it a lot easier to pack and unpack everything when you want to check that you have everything. For example, one ziplock for toothbrushes and toothpaste, one for small soaps and perfume, one for medications (like paracetamol), one for stuff to shave.
I have my blue fabric bag for electronics : chargers, a powerbank, and a multiple socket.
I have another blue fabric bag for “diy” : a lock which can be also used to attach things, a Swiss army knife, and I even pack carabiners with some rope. Some people would even recommand chatterton.
I have a green bag for things when I want to be calm: some earplugs and a sleeping mask, and a book. I also put in this bag a small headlamp which can be turned on red, which is useful in night trains, but the lamp itself is useful when I want to check that I have not forgotten anything.
For night trains, I have spare fabric bags which can be suspended. I take slippers with me (very much recommanded !), a towel, and a small cushion.
In a small pink fabric bag, I have a few stuff for immediate hygiene : tissues, hydroalcoholic gel, and some small trash bags. I recommand to have somewhere a lot of paper towels, you never know what can get spilled over.
Apart from that, I have my clothes, and other really standard stuff like my laptop, my mobile phone, or books. I recommand travelling in trousers with big pockets, like a hiking pants. You may also want to have snacks, and most importantly, water. If you want to save money, a tupperware with your food and some cuttlery can be nice.
You probably know the advice to have your documents and tickets scanned and sent to you per email. If you are alone, it can also be a good idea to have 50€ stached somewhere else than in you wallet, in case your credit card gets swallowed or stolen.
If you need to pack and unpack several times, you will need to memorize what you have in order not to forget it. It is important to have priorities: you do not want to forget your valuables, so have a short list of them in your head or even written somewhere. Forgetting your phone charger is inconvenient, but it will not be as inconvenient as forgetting your phone. My technique to put bags in bags is a way for me to facilitate this memorization and to make it easy to find everything. If you want to remember a list of 16 things, it is always easier to have 4 categories with 4 things in each than to have the plain list. I try to have a rule of putting only four things in every category to facilitate this memorization.
I tend to travel with a lot of stuff. All that I have said is probably not that useful. My girlfriend’s mother say that to travel, you need your tickets, your documents, and a credit card, as the rest can be bought. I prefer to be prepared for any situation, but as a consequence I do not travel lightly. I think the correct way to understand what you need to pack is to know for what kind of situations you want to be ready. But remember that we travel also to discover the unknown !
Hey ​
Your approach to organizing your travel essentials is incredibly thoughtful and practical—thank you for sharing your insights! Using bags within bags to categorize items and ensure quick access is a smart way to stay organized, especially on longer trips with multiple stops. Your system also makes it easier to keep track of everything and reduce stress while on the move.
I particularly like your idea of a fabric bag for electronics and a separate one for calm essentials—a red-light headlamp is such a great tip for night trains! Given your experience with different types of travel, do you ever adjust your packing strategy based on the length of your trip or the destinations you visit?
Thank you for the compliment :)
The only downside with this approach is that it takes a lot of space. Pockets inside the luggage can also be used. The main idea is to have your categores physically separated, but you should be aware that it takes more space.
To be honnest, this is a system I have come up with as I had a trip to make regularly in Europe which would take at least one day. I tend to be pretty rigid; it has the downside to make me pack a lot of things that I will not use, but it has the advantage of helping me remember what I have and to reduce the stress, as I become more and more familiar with what I have in my luggage as the number of trips goes on.
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