Jun072019June 7, 2019June 7, 20190Commentby L.

Travel tips about clothing

Posted in Uncategorized

Inspired by the twitter thread above. Here are some travel tips about clothing. Hopefully one or more will be useful to you.

  • Minimize the amount of time the clothes are packed up. Don’t pack too early, and unpack as soon as you get to the room. Hang up your clothes immediately.
  • People in the thread mentioned how the steam from the shower can help get some wrinkles out. True. It works well. But don’t be afraid of an ironing board.
  • Hotels will dry clean or launder and press your clothes for you, and often offer same-day turnaround. It’s not that expensive and it’s reliable. Shoe shine service is also often available.
  • Pack with structure. Layers, rolls, whatever works for you. Just don’t cram stuff in at random. Using small packing bags and rigid folding things are helpful. These things work for dress shirts. But don’t expect them to be completely free of wrinkles.
  • Not all “non-iron” clothes are created equal. Usually some synthetic blend will resist wrinkles better than 100% cotton.
  • Don’t worry about wearing the same clothes multiple times in a visit. No one cares as long as you’re clean and look nice (sometimes they don’t even care about that). For a long visit, let the hotel do your cleaning (see the third item).
  • Dress for the right level of formality. If you’re the main talk, e.g. giving a job talk or you’re the weekly speaker in a seminar series, err on the side of formality. It’s okay if you’re dressed better than your hosts. It shows that you’re taking the visit seriously and respect their time. If it’s meeting where you’re just part of the team (meetings, grant reviews, etc.), be more careful to match the customary level of formality as you know it in your field. If it’s just your style to be barefoot and in t-shirts all the time, that’s cool. But then why are you reading this blog post?
  • Have a checklist. You probably travel with basically the same stuff each time. Instead of forgetting one thing every once in a while, just make a list and refer to it when packing. This also decreases the cognitive load and planning time when packing. It’s a small thing, but it can help.
  • Dress in layers. For example, plan outfits that work with or without a sweater NO MATTER WHAT. Sure, you’re going to Miami in July, but the meeting room will be air conditioned to 3 degrees C.

    • Additional travel tips:

  • Using a soft-side duffle bag (e.g., “weekender” size) is convenient because it never needs to be checked. Not even gate-checked. Even on very small planes, it will fit under the seat or in small overhead compartments. Sometimes waiting for a gate-checked bag is just the delay that will make for a missed connection.
  • Travel with a mini sewing kit. You won’t need it often, but when you do, you’ll be thankful. Extra shoe laces also come in handy.
  • Get some sort of expedited security screening status (Global Entry, Clear, or whatever works for you). Again, it saves valuable time.