The travel packlist

The travel packlist, don’t leave for a holiday without it!

Some years ago, I remember laughing at a friends parents who were finicky when it came to travelling. Taking everything under the sun, they required Mary Poppins luggage case, just to transport it all, so as to avoid the weight restrictions.

You know the type. They arrive 4 hours early to the airport, in case of traffic. They have luggage straps boldly emblazoned with the family crest or surname and an itinerary neatly printed on Basildon bond paper. If that still doesn’t ring any bells, you can spot them a mile away at the airport, checking and rechecking, repeating the same old travelling mantra, passport, tickets, money, passport, tickets, money…….

One invention that was created just for this type of person is the travel packlist and even if I do say so myself, it’s a marvellous innovation, especially for those of us who experience a little less organisation in their lives.

These packlists are tear off sheets with little tick boxes next to specific items, all neatly arranged in order of menus i.e.: clothing, toiletries, footwear etc. The great part is that they feature absolutely every single thing you could ever possible want from any “villa holiday”, ensuring that you won’t set foot in another country without some good ole British back up. Tea bags, toilet rolls, mosquito spray and diarrhoea tablets. Laugh now, but don’t blame me if you get palmed off with dodgy Lipton tea leaves and a slice of lemon in replace of milk!

All joking aside, this is one of the great reasons to hire a “holiday villa” especially one of the luxury variety. Take a quick look at “Select holiday villas” and you cannot help but be bowled over by the choice of “holiday villa rentals” available. Some come with maids, butlers, the works, yes…. Even toilet roll!

Anyway, whichever kind of holiday suits you best, long or short haul, beach or activity, “holiday villa” or hotel, these packlists certainly make an excellent little gift for those people in your life a little more muddled and unsystematic. Praise be to the makers of the holiday checklist and bringing it into my higgledy-piggledy world!

Written by Joanna Saywell-Lee