There’s an ancient adage that when you travel you should take half as much as you need but double the amount of money you bring. After traveling around the world twice, I couldn’t agree with that statement more. Its very important to pack little on your holiday. Packing light helps you avoid fees on airlines, saves space, and gives you less weight to carry, and allows you more freedom.

It is often said that the stuff we own, ends up owning us. When we travel, we plan a lot. We typically take lots of clothes and stuff because we think you never know what might occur. So we leave for a two week holiday with a backpack filled with half our wardrobe. However, the secret to travel is to pack light. We often go on holiday and only end up using half of what we packed, upset we took so much in the first place.

The things you can’t go on a trip without are the most important things to pack while you are on vacation. These items include medicine, id, passports, tickets, copies of everything, credit cards, and emergency contact information. People don’t usually forget these and these are the most important thing to check you have before you leave. Remember to make copies so that if something goes wrong, you have backup.

Next in line are the necessities: these would be items that you will definitely need along the way and would probably find most helpful to have on hand but are items that, nonetheless, could be replaced relatively easily if need be. For example, tooth brushes, toothpaste, a rain jacket umbrella, or a razor or shampoo are all everyday items that you will definitely need over the course of your vacation. However they are items that should be able to find with relative ease. This is especially true of the toiletries, which most hotels or motels will supply for no charge if you have forgotten or simply not packed them.

This is particularly true if you are on vacation with your family. All too often, we forget that one of the best features of the family vacation is its ability to let the family unit spend time together discovering new places and experiences together. When some of these niceties are left behind people traveling together are forced to spend more time interacting with one another and, often, these groups and families report these to be the most memorable vacations.

Packing for your trip can be an easy task if you focus on bring the essentials. Remember you are just going away for a short period of time and if you focus on taking the important things with you, you’ll take only what you need and avoid carrying around lots of useless stuff. Take only what you need and pack light.