No matter how much you try, it is difficult to get everything that you think you will need into your suitcase. Here are a few smart packing hacks to avoid this hassle and help you travel with ease.

The suitcase

Lets start at the beginning. The importance to having a good suitcase is beyond words, especially if you plan to do more travels in the future. Suitcase is one of the most important investments for travelers. I choose quality and something unique. Raibum.com is a website where you can design your own high quality suitcase – upload an image that you want to see on your suitcase or choose one of more than 60 ready designs. Suitcase will be delivered to you in any place in Europe. To encourage your creativity, visit raibum.com and apply a discount code TRAVELFREE to get a 15% discount at the checkout. Sounds too good to be true?

Clothes

Pack clothes – especially pants and shorts – that you can wear with different things, so you don’t have to pack as much. Also, pack clothes that are lighter, if possible, and that are easier to wash.Bring clothing pieces that can be mixed and matched for multiple outfits. This will keep you from having to pack as many clothing items. Its true that rolling your clothes will save space and prevent your clothes from wrinkling, but is it worth the extra time? The choice to roll or fold is totally up to you and depends on your preferences, but a great trick is to do both. Roll the clothes you wish to keep wrinkle-free and fold the thicker items like sweaters.

Documents

Be sure to make copies of your passport, ID card, birth certificate, driver’s licence and any other government or school-issued identifying documents. When you enter some countries, they may keep some of your original documents for a short time for verification purposes, so be sure you’ve got copies at hand in case you need them for any reason.

Insurance

Sometimes, it’s a good idea to purchase travel health insurance, or insurance that you can use abroad. If you keep the records and receipts from your medical visits abroad, a lot of travel health insurance companies will reimburse you when you turn in the documents.

Toiletries

Unless it’s really an absolute necessity, leave large bottles of soaps and styling products at home. Buy what you need when you get there. Large bottles of shampoo, conditioner, styling gel, mousse and other products waste extremely valuable space. For short trips put your toiletries in a transparent bag. Keep your toiletries and makeup in a see-through pouch. It will not only keep things confined in case of a leak, but you’ll be able to see everything in one place, without digging through/mussing up your suitcase. Read detailed guide on liquid packing for trips here.