This is the tale of two trips. The first is a speaking engagement at a trade show in Tallahassee. The second is a long weekend to Key West with some of your best friends from college.
How will you pack for each trip? What will you wear? How much money will you need? (Do you need to throw in some Advil and dark sunglasses?) And what kind of luggage will you need?
If you never considered that last question, you aren’t alone. But there are plenty of reasons to think about the differences in your luggage needs for different types of travel.
Details, details
Many of those details involve the state your items will need to be in when you arrive. For business travel, you’ll likely be wearing suits and other clothes that should be pressed and neat, ready to hit the conference room or trade show floor as soon as you arrive. Luggage that comes with a suiter can be handy in these cases.
Where leisure travel is concerned, you’re probably less worried about wrinkles than you would be on a business trip, but you may want to be sure your luggage has special pockets that seal in moisture. (You never know; you may need to spend the morning at the beach or water park before boarding that final flight home…)
Size matters
In many cases, business travelers just need to pack more in their suitcases. Business clothes are often bulkier than everyday items, not to mention the bulk and weight of high-heeled ladies’ shoes and those incredibly heavy men’s business shoes. Business travelers, depending on the length of their trips, will sometimes need two suitcases and a smaller carry-on or ladies’ tote for the items they need to keep better protected.
Leisure travelers can probably get away with one larger suitcase and a duffel bag to carry on. With that being said, if you’re traveling for fun, you may be returning home with more than you came with. Souvenirs can take up a lot of extra space, so you may want to bring an extra bag — something collapsible, maybe, to save space when you’re traveling — for all those gifts and sundries you picked up during your getaway. Or just make sure you leave enough space on the trip out so you can fill it up on the trip back.
If it seems a bit extravagant to have different bags for those two very different trips, consider all the other differences between your business and personal travels, and it might not seem so silly to think a little more carefully about your packing and luggage needs.
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