Winter Travel Packing Guide

Just because it's wintertime doesn't mean your travel plans need to stop. Actually, traveling in the wintertime can be quite an enjoyable experience if you know how to pack and prep accordingly. So this is my winter travel guide on tips and advice on how to prep and prepare for winter travel. First things first, check the weather. Traveling in winter is all about being prepared, way more so than the other three seasons. Before we even know how and what to pack, we need to know what we're getting ourselves into. Now the assumptions are that traveling in the wintertime, it is going to be cold and it is going to be wet. But how wet and how cold can vary quite a bit depending on where we're going. I use the Weather Channel app not only before I go, but also during my travels as well. This is where I like to put in all my destinations. So I'm going to be heading to London. I'm also going to be going to New York. And I can click on those and kind of plan my trip around that. So this is kind of my daily forecast that I can get a really good readout of how cold it's going to be and what the... Is it going to be sunny? Is it going to be cloudy? Plus an hourly breakdown. It's going to start raining at about 10, but it'll clear up in the afternoon. So I can kind of plan my activities and day accordingly indoor in the morning, outdoor in the evening. In here, I can set up my alerts. So it tells me I have my winter weather alerts on. So ice forecast, snowfall, high wind, any kind of extreme winter conditions. I have that alerted, so I'll get notifications. The more you know about what you're going to be stepping out into, the better you can prepare. And then the more you're going to enjoy your travel experience and traveling in wintertime in general. Good footwear in the wintertime. I cannot stress the importance of good footwear enough because if your feet aren't warm and dry, you aren't going to want to go anywhere. Here's where we can kind of splurge a bit on the footwear that we are bringing. I bring a boot. It is a slightly heavier boot, but I'm going to be wearing it all the time. It's got amazing traction, insulated, and it's just super durable. And it's going to keep my feet super warm and super dry for any kind of conditions I'm going to find in my winter travels. For going out in evening wear, I like to bring some kind of nicer footwear because while boots are great for most of the travel that we're going to do, sometimes you do want to have a nice dinner, or you want to go to a show, or you want to go out. So again, this isn't a crazy heel. Just something small, something practical. Also boot, also lined, but just a different option. So that's generally what I'll bring. Plus, if you are staying in a hostel though, pair of flip-flops are always good if you are showering in public showers. Socks for our boots. Now, there are a lot of different varieties of socks that you can get, but I love athletic socks. So like really good outdoor warm winter socks. Bulkier socks. It's good to have like one pair or so. So you can like, when you want to take your boots off and just walk around in warm socks, I bring one pair. But generally, these are really bulky. Thermals, the quintessential winter packing staple. These are basically an under layer that you put under everything. That you're going to be wearing if you are venturing into the outdoors because they keep your body so, so warm. So this is an under layer I'll put underneath my tops and an under layer that I'll put underneath my pants. And it just gives you that extra layer. They're super thin. Usually get a really, like invest some money into a good pair of thermals because these will be a lifesaver in the winter time. Plus, a good thermal vest. Keeping that body heat as close as possible to you. It's so important when we're going outside. Pack in layers. No one's going to be seeing your thermals. They're going to be seeing your top layers. And the benefit of wearing thermals is that the top layers are not going to get dirty that quickly. So you don't need to pack as many of them. Now because of that, you want to make sure that all of the pieces of clothing that you bring can go on top of your thermals. The thermals itself are pretty thin layer. But you don't want to bring anything like super skin tight for your other regular clothing because they won't be able to be layered on top of the thermals. And layering is so important. Your stuff is already going to be bulkier. Just having winter gear versus when you're traveling in the other seasons. So you kind of need to be able to use each item and each piece of clothing that you bring multiple times and in different situations. And then when it comes to pants, some thicker leggings that can be layered on top of the thermals are always so comfortable and very versatile. I do bring a pair of jeans just because they're just jeans. They're very versatile. Darker color items are also really good because snow and rain won't show up as much as on lighter color items. Sweaters, as warm and comfortable as they are, are really bulky items to pack, unfortunately. So only bringing a couple good sweaters, slightly thinner because you can layer them with your thermals, are a better option. Of course, if you have one really warm, bulkier sweater, if you have the space, you can sacrifice other things for it. But a few good sweaters, I like to bring like some sort of fashionable sweater, some more practical sweaters, and then one really, really warm sweater that I know is going to be like my golden child of indoor warmth. Now, how many sweaters and stuff that you bring with you is going to be heavily determined by the size of luggage. You are bringing and the type of luggage that you are bringing. So knowing your destination, knowing the type of winter travel you're going to be doing, it's going to help you pick what bag or what type of bag better suits your needs. Obviously, if you are going to be in very, very snowy conditions, you're going to be transporting, traveling a lot. Backpacking is probably going to be your better option. If there's snow on the ground, you're not going to want to be wheeling a hard piece of luggage through the snow. If you're not going to be taking that many transfers, you're just going to be taking a car from the airport to the hotel, then you can very much bring a hard case luggage with you. Again, depending on the type of travel, I don't think there's a right or wrong answer for this. When it comes to winter, you just really have to think of where you're going and how you're going to get from A to B, and that will determine the bag that you bring. Jackets, winter jackets, literally the most important piece of your winter travel gear. The type of jacket that you bring is so, so important to your success in winter travel and keeping yourself warm and keeping yourself dry and keeping yourself wanting to still venture out and do all the crazy and amazing things that you're planning on doing in these destinations. So we need to think really hard about the jacket that we are bringing or jackets. You can bring two winter jackets if you have the space and you know there's a reason for bringing two winter jackets, but generally you're going to be wearing one winter jacket and that's going to be your winter jacket. This one is a very heavy winter jacket. This is a heavy, heavy duty parka. It is not an ideal packing jacket because it is not going to fit into anything. It's just really big. It's just really bulky, but it is so, so, so warm and it goes to my knees and I know that when I wear this, I'm going to be comfortable in anything that mother nature throws out at me. So depending on the type of travel that I do, this might be a very worthwhile jacket to bring. If I bring this jacket, I know that I will be wearing it on the plane. I know that I'll be wearing it every time I transport myself from A to B. This jacket is going to be a commitment. However, the alternative is an outdoor lightweight packing jacket. If I am backpacking, I would not bring this big jacket. I would bring a smaller, more compactable jacket because backpacking with a big winter jacket is just really not an ideal situation. I do a two layer system. You could have a single layer if that's what it is. Again, depends on the type of jacket that you have. I have a waterproof outer shell and then I have an insulated inner puffier jacket that I could separate. So if I want something waterproof or I want something warm, I kind of just combine them. This is more of like my spring and fall travel. Like if I know it's not going to be crazy winter weather, I'll bring this jacket because I can mix and match. And it compacts so nice and easily. This is such a compactable jacket. These kind of like puffy synthetic downfills are so easy to travel with and pack and they keep you so warm. And then the outer shell keeps you dry. Two very different style jackets, two very different style purposes. Both will keep you warm and dry and comfortable for all of your travel needs. Accessories and various other winter items you should bring. Like a good pair of waterproof gloves. Oh my goodness. Warm, waterproof gloves. Yes. Bags. These are just waterproof bags that you could put your wet items of clothing in because sometimes you got to pack up your wet items and clothing and go to your next destination. Having a place to put your wet stuff so all of your clean stuff doesn't get wet. It's very important. Waterproof casings for your luggage. So your backpacks or your hard case luggage, making sure that they're waterproof because they're going to be experiencing the elements just like you. So they got to be prepared and covered as well. Polarized sunglasses because although it's winter, when the sun comes out, oh my goodness, is it ever going to be bright and sunny and hurt your eyes if you do not have sunglasses. Lotions because it is dry, dry, dry, dry, dry in the wintertime. So making sure we are all lotioned up. And then packing cubes to compress all of the various items we're bringing because they're bulkier items. Winter items are just generally bulkier clothing. So compression sacks is going to be a lifesaver. Accessorize with hats and scarves because you can't bring a million jackets so to look like you're not wearing the same thing every single day when you're outside. Tooks and scarves are a great way to not only keep you warm, but keep you fashionable as well. And last, a little travel hack for you is to wear your heaviest items in transit, meaning that you're wearing your jacket and boots on the plane and in any other type of transit that you're going to be taking. Yes, a little bit cumbersome, but it's a great way to save space and chances are it's going to be cold and you'll need those items anyway. Thank you so much for watching this video. I really hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please give it a thumbs up and let me know about any other types of winter travel that you've done before. I'm very curious to see what kind of winter travel adventures you guys and gals have gotten up to. So let me know down below in the comments and don't forget to subscribe to my channel. I'll see you again soon with another video. Bye!