Light packing for solo cruises: top tips and essential gadgets to simplify travel
An expert and frequent cruiser shares her 12 must-pack items for any voyage at sea.
As a regular cruiser who often sails solo, I have become a light-packing pro. Carry-on is the best option because I need to haul my own bags around the world and sometimes arrive on the day of a ship’s departure. Even when I check in a suitcase for trips to polar regions or good shopping destinations, there are still many ways to lighten the load. The key is to swap single-use items for multipurpose products. Nifty gadgets and accessories can also simplify travelling. Over the decades, I have tested hundreds of toiletries, clothes, shoes and clever innovations. Here’s my pick of what to pack.
1. Attach a packing clip
If something can’t fit in your hand luggage, attach it to the outside. Klipsta Flex clips ($24.95-$34.95) have strong magnets that can fasten a smaller bag, jacket or noise-cancelling headphones to a handle, backpack, handbag, pram or belt loop. Klipsta also makes a hat clip, if you don’t want to swan around the airport wearing your fedora, or risk it getting crushed in your bag.
2. Use packing cubes
I use packing cubes to keep my belongings organised. Australian-made Sea to Summit is the most durable brand I have found. The real gamechanger is the water-resistant Ultra-Sil compression sack ($39.99, 5l), which squishes everything down to a surprisingly compact size, without the need for a vacuum.
3. Buy a cross-body strap to carry your phone
When travelling, your smartphone needs to be easily reachable for showing boarding passes, taking photos, making purchases and occasionally phone calls. There are so many reasons to attach your phone to your body, beyond the total nightmare of losing it on a trip. It helps to be hands-free when checking in, navigating a terminal with luggage, holding a drink, catching taxis (especially after drinks), or walking around a moving ship. Le Cap’s cross-body strap ($89), made from flexible fabric, comes with an iPhone case to keep it safe and accessible.
le-cap.com.au
4. Where to buy cruise clothing
Brisbane’s Blue Bungalow is the handiest one-stop-shop for travel clothing I have found in Australia. The staff have carefully curated collections for cruise wear, tropical holidays, winter holidays, and “airport-ready”. Elasticised waists have never looked so good. Loose-fitting or stretchy in all the right places, everything is reasonably priced and requires minimal to no ironing. I wear the black Lopez Pocket Pants ($59.95) everywhere, from bars and restaurants to long flights. The cotton drawstring skirts and shorts are also versatile. Online ordering is easy from the helpful website, which offers a personal stylist service.
5. Pack lots of wool clothing
Half my travel wardrobe is made from merino wool because it can be worn several times before it needs a wash. Naturally odour-resistant, it regulates your body temperature so you stay cool in summer and warm in winter, and it isn’t itchy like other wools. This non-iron nautical top ($129.99) comes on every cruise with me, as it looks great with jeans, white or navy shorts or skirts, and I can also wear it to the gym
6. Take a coatigan
When a coat is too heavy but a cardigan looks frumpy, I throw on a “coatigan”. Magically elongating, it’s the easiest way to dress up an outfit, day or night. Smitten has matching long dresses, such as the Lesley Wrap ($420), which can be worn back-to-front for a high neckline. I always get compliments when I wear this dress on formal nights on cruises or strut down the street in my coatigan. My favourite colour is the deep sea green, of course.
7. Pack ballerina flats
Tarramarra’s Tania ballerina flats ($115) can be folded in half by slipping the pointy toe inside the heel. Great for saving space, these cute shoes are only 130g and come with a free shoe bag. Available in a range of bold patterns, they’re the ideal spare footwear to fit in a handbag or beach bag, in case you want to change out of thongs or sneakers.
8. Take coconut oil
I use coconut oil as a body moisturiser, hair treatment, makeup remover (including waterproof mascara), and sometimes in place of a night cream, decanted into a leak-proof screw-cap plastic bottle. My preferred supermarket brand is Raw C ($8) as it’s cold-pressed and minimally processed, which is healthier for your skin.
9. And lip balm
When flying or heading out for the day, I take a pocket-size balm for lips, cuticles and other dry skin. Vaseline or pawpaw ointment are the cheapest saviours. For holiday glam, Gucci’s Universal Nourishing Balm ($94) is luxuriously packaged in a gold flip-top with mirror.
10. Ditch the perfume and take scented hand cream
Instead of packing a glass bottle of perfume, I slather scented hand cream up to my wrists. My current obsession is Atelier des Fleurs by Chloe. A travel-friendly 50g tube ($65) is sold at David Jones and Myer.
11. Take a wireless charging station
Anker MagGo wireless charging station ($249.95) replaces the tangle of multiple chargers and cables. The built-in stand displays your iPhone upright, while simultaneously charging an Apple Watch and Airpods, and it neatly folds into the size of a deck of cards.
12. Take a tote bag that you can flatten
I flatten this lightweight tote bag ($45) inside my suitcase, ready to use at my destination. The two-in-one design means it can be carried as a backpack or on your shoulder. At the end of a trip, it serves as an extra carry-on bag to stuff with souvenirs or shopping splurges.
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