Minimalist Packing Tips for Cold Weather Travel! (Keep Warm With Less for Fall/Winter)

In today's video, I'm going to be teaching you some packing tips for cold weather travel. Over the last couple of years, Meg and I have learned a lot about what it takes to be efficient when packing for cold weather. Being that we have done some extended travel before, in the same trip we've had to not only pack for cold weather, but warm weather as well. So we feel we have learned some tips and tricks, as well as find some products that are not only going to keep you super warm while traveling, they're also going to be super efficient when it comes to space, so you can still travel with that carry on or personal item. Make sure you stick around to the end of the video, as I'm going to share four things that we are always thinking about when packing for cold weather travel. Let me know down in the comments if you have any tips or tricks or products that you like to travel with for cold weather. Meg and I honestly learn so much from the comment section on our videos. We really love engaging with those of you that provide valuable travel insight, as well as advice, as well as products. There's some products that I've been turned on to that I never even knew existed. All right, let's get into the video. We're going to start this video talking about a concept called layering. Layering is crucial when it comes to packing for cold weather. There are so many reasons why layering is important, but the main one being it's going to allow you to be comfortable in a large range of temperatures because that way you can add clothing or take off clothing to regulate better, as well as it's also going to give you a lot of options for outfits, which is always kind of nice when traveling. There's really three layers that we're talking about when packing. It's your base layer, your mid layer, and your outer layer. Let's dive into what those layers look like for me. Okay, let's talk about some products that I've really liked for my base layer. And I should also probably mention to pay close attention to the reasoning behind why I choose each individual product, not necessarily the product itself. There's a lot of great products out there, but the reasoning behind why I choose these products is probably the more important thing, and might persuade you in deciding what products you want to buy for your next cold weather trip. With that also being said, all these products that I mentioned in this video will be linked in the description if you want to check them out. Starting with tops. These are two long sleeve t-shirts that I've traveled with for quite some time when it comes to cold weather travel, and they're both from a company called Smartwool, which you've maybe heard of them before. They make really high quality products. I've had no issues with their products. And these two long sleeve t-shirts are in kind of the same line. And the first one is called the Merino 150, and the second one is called the Merino 250. Both of which are Merino wool products, which you're going to notice is a very common theme throughout all of my cold weather gear, which I'll talk about more in a second. The only difference between these two is the thickness, so the warmth. This one's a little bit more lightweight, while this one is a little bit heavier weight. Both of which are great for cold weather travel, being that they are Merino wool, which Merino wool is great for moisture wicking. You might think would be more important for hot weather travel, but it's actually more important for cold weather travel, being that you can keep the moisture off your skin so you can actually stay warm. There's nothing worse than being wet and cold. Another base layer item is going to be some long underwear. Now, this is not something I necessarily bring on every trip, but if I am going to be spending some extended period of time outside, I will bring a pair of these. I have a couple different brands. This pair is from Under Armor. Really, you just want to find a pair that's warm and comfortable. The last item for the base layer is going to be socks, which is super important for cold weather travel, being that the toes are super far away from the heart. They tend to get cold super quickly. I have a bunch of different brands here, Smartwool, REI, Burton, Stance. All of these are different brands, but they do have one thing in common, and that is the Merino wool. As we know, it's great for moisture wicking, which you can probably imagine is great for your feet, but as well as Merino wool doesn't stink quite as quickly as some of the other fabrics like cotton. That way, you can maybe wear these once or twice, or just in general, you're not going to stink as much, which is super, super nice. All right, now we're going to move to the mid-layer, which obviously goes on top of the base layer, and we're going to start with this product here. This is actually a running hoodie from Lululemon, and I usually bring this product specifically if I'm trying to conserve space, being that it is very tight and not super bulky, so it packs down really nice. It's a half zip. It's great for hiking and things like that, but in general, I pack this one if I'm trying to conserve space, but to be completely honest with you, my favorite base layer to pack is actually a full zip, and I have two options that I've really liked over the last few years, and that is this one from North Face and this one from Patagonia. They're essentially the same, just different brands, but the reason I like the full zip is because you can wear it as a full zip, or you can unzip it if you start to get hot, and that way, you don't have to take it off completely, whereas the half zip, you have to kind of struggle your way out. Say you're on a hike or something, and you have to struggle your way out, whereas a full zip, you can easily transition between temperatures, and then as far as mid-layer on the bottom, in my opinion, it's not quite as important, but you still want to find a product that you really like, and this product, I have really, really enjoyed over the last couple of years, and it's from a company called Prana, which they make some cool products, and this is actually like a rock climbing pant, but the reason I like it is because you can dress it up, or you can wear it hiking, because it's got kind of that rougher material. I've really liked these for both cold weather traveling as well as just normal traveling. They're just a great pant in general. Last but not least, we have our outer layer, and this is where things can get a little carried away if you're not careful, being that jackets tend to get really big and bulky, and they tend to take up a ton of space in your suitcase, but Meg and I feel like we found a system that works super, super well at keeping you very, very warm, and this is the exact same system that we used when hiking to Everest Base Camp when it was below freezing, so this setup can keep you very, very warm, and the setup includes two different products, the first one being a puffy jacket, and this one is a Micro Puff from Patagonia. It packs down really nicely. It packs down right into the pocket, super easy to pack with you. In my opinion, everyone should have a puffy jacket. They're so versatile. You can wear them in like fall weather, and you can wear them in the dead of winter, and they don't take up barely any space, and they keep you super, super warm, and we always pair this with a rain jacket, and a rain jacket is great not only for rain, but also keeping you super, super warm. First of all, it's going to keep you dry as well as it provides a good break from wind, so it really cuts down the effects from the cold if you pair a puffy jacket with a rain jacket. We have found a lot of success in this, I'll call it dynamic duo with a puffy jacket and rain jacket. It keeps you super, super warm. This rain jacket I've talked about in other videos, but this one is from Black Diamond. It's kind of a middle-of-the-road rain jacket, but as I've talked about in other videos, you don't want to go super cheap on a rain jacket. I would recommend saving up and getting a high-quality rain jacket, so that way it lasts you a long time as well as it does the job it needs to do. Okay, there's still some things we need to talk about, and one of those things is footwear, and I'm going to be honest with you, footwear when it comes to packing for cold weather is super difficult, being that most of our options are heavy and bulky, and in reality, we really only want to try to bring one pair of shoes when cold weather traveling, being that they usually are big and bulky. So, I'm not going to say that I have this all figured out. It's something that I'm still kind of working on and working towards, so if you do have any suggestions, let me know down in the comments if you have specific products and things like that that you want me to try because I'm still kind of improving in this category, but in general, you should really try to limit yourself to one pair. Ideally, that one pair will not only be super functional, but it'll also provide you with the style that you're looking for in all situations. For me personally, whenever I'm doing cold weather traveling, I'm usually bringing my hiking boots, which I know is not much of a fashion statement, but for me, the functionality overrides fashion, and these hiking shoes from Salomon, I've had these for many years, I'll make sure to link them below, are so comfortable, they're waterproof, and I can pretty much survive in most situations, whether I'm out on a hike or just walking around the city in the snow. So, these are usually what I bring when it comes to cold weather travel, but I figured I'd also mention what Meg brings too, and these boots, whenever she wears these around town for some reason, people just love these things. So, if you're a female watching this video and you're looking for a new pair of cold weather boots, I would highly recommend these. These are from a company called, I think it's called Pajar, something like that, I might be saying that wrong, my apologies. It's a company from Canada, but these boots are super, super warm and they're also stylish, so the best of both worlds. One of my favorite things about these boots though, I honestly wish I had a pair, the bottom here, super cool feature, they have this flip out little contraption here with spikes on it, so you can comfortably walk on snow and ice, which we live here in Minnesota, and these come in super, super handy in the dead of winter, and also just kind of a cool feature for when you're traveling, and you can also take them out as well if you don't want to use them, but these boots are super, super nice and people seem to love them. Let's not forget accessories. Accessories for cold weather travel are super important that we have what we need, but also don't overpack, and the first accessory I'm going to talk about is a buff. I love talking about buffs because they are so functional, there's so many different uses, whether you're putting it around your neck to keep your neck warm, over your mouth, over your ears, you can wear it as a hat, there's so many different options for a buff, and we always travel with one, even in warm weather, honestly, just because they have so many uses, but for sure in cold weather, they're super nice. We have a bunch of different kinds, we have this kind of more lighter weight kind, we also have this one from a company called Boulder Band, which is more of kind of like a super warm weather one. Honestly, I prefer the lightweight ones a little bit more, but in general, there's so many options, I would highly recommend a buff. Okay, next is going to be gloves. I travel with two kinds of gloves, one just kind of more of your traditional mittens, I've really liked these, these are from REI, they're pretty stylish, water repellent, super warm, like them a lot, and then actually probably my favorite pair of gloves that I pack are these kind of smaller, basically they're like, they're just running gloves essentially, but the reason I like these is because I typically always have my hands in my pockets or on my camera, and I can do both with these, so I can use my camera as well as I can put my hands in my pockets to stay warm, it just provides a little bit of an additional layer, so that way my hands aren't getting quite as cold, and to be honest with you, sometimes if you're really cold like I was on Everest, I will combine the two, so I'll put my gloves on, these smaller gloves, and then I'll put my hands in the mitten, so again, just find something that's going to keep you warm as well as probably something not too bulky, and then last but not least, I have this travel light towel, or it's called the air light towel from Sea to Summit, a little towel, little travel towel, can be really great in cold weather, because if you've ever traveled in cold weather before, you'll know that your nose tends to run, so having something to wipe your nose on is great, as well as like wipe moisture off your feet if you're hiking and you want to change socks or something like that, you never know when a towel can come in handy, especially for cold weather travel, you might use it more than you think, and this one's super nice because it's like insanely lightweight and small, packs down really small, but it's actually quite big in size, so I really like the Sea to Summit air light towel, and with this setup right here, I can pretty much be comfortable in temperatures ranging from 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit all the way down to below freezing, now to finish out the video today, I'm going to leave you with four things that you should be thinking about every single time you pack for cold weather, and if you're going to take anything away from this video, it's going to be these four things, number one, prioritize weight, think light, if you can find a lighter option of whatever you plan to bring, bring it, if you can cut down on weight, it's just going to make your packing a lot easier, especially these days with airlines, every airline is a little bit different with their carry-on and personal item weight, and especially these days, it's even getting less and less and less every year, so always think light, you can also assume that the lighter something is, usually the more compactable it's going to be, as well as maybe the smaller it is, so whenever I'm picking items to pack for cold weather, I'm always prioritizing the weight, number two, know where to put your priorities when it comes to quantity of clothing, meaning you should prioritize your base layers, like socks, underwear, and long-sleeve t-shirts or t-shirts, I would highly recommend not over packing when it comes to your mid layers and outer layers, most of the time you're only going to need one rain jacket, one puffy jacket, and one sweatshirt, you're not going to need multiple of those big items, because they're just going to take up too much space, most likely you're only going to wear one sweatshirt anyway, so prioritize quantity in your base layers, number three, waterproof everything, staying dry while traveling in cold weather is key to having a great experience, and so I would prioritize finding a great backpack that is weather resistant, maybe a nice carry-on suitcase that's going to keep water out, a rain jacket, a pair of boots that are water resistant, all that stuff is going to make your cold weather travel a lot more comfortable, and number four, minimize elsewhere, the reality of packing for cold weather travel is that the volume of stuff is going to increase, so if you can minimize in places like your toiletries or electronics or things that you normally pack for just ordinary travels, if you can minimize that stuff down, it's going to make taking what you need for cold weather travel a lot easier, so try to find ways you can cut down elsewhere, so that way you can be prepared for every situation in cold weather, all right I am burning up in all this stuff, I got to get it off, so that is going to be the end of today's video, if you enjoyed this one I would highly suggest watching the video we made about how to effectively pack a personal item on a plane, it goes through some other packing efficiencies that you might be interested in, if you enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up as well as subscribe to our channel for more content like this, I'm going to leave you with one last message and that is remember layers are everything, we will see you in the next video