How  I  Packed  My  Luggage  For  My  LA  Move

Happy Wednesday! To conclude my last travel post I thought I would show you how I packed my luggage for my LA move. I didn’t take pictures of my actual packing process when I was initially doing it as I didn’t have time and was stressed out trying to gather everything together. I did however had time when I got to LA to show how exactly I packed all my luggage and before I unpacked I wanted to show you how I got everything together because I was really proud of getting everything in and staying under the weight limit. I thought I would show you what’s inside and some tips and how I did my packing. Remember I moved to LA so I packed a lot more than what I would have if I was only going on a trip. I was taking a lot of my belongings so it does seem like a lot because it was a lot. So here is how I packed my luggage for my LA move!

I took 4 suitcases with me. I had originally had my 3 piece set and was going to take those but shortly I realized my whole life wouldn’t fit in those three sizes so I had to go out and buy a new large suitcase so that’s why the one at the back doesn’t match. I did buy it in hot pink to match my set and be very noticeable when coming out of the baggage claim. Trust me you will see it right away in a sea of black luggage. I did also have matching luggage tags and hot pink padlocks. I was so amazed to find matching padlocks and luggage tags and it made everything so coordinate. I wrote about my travel essentials here to see more of the matching stuff I got to match my luggage.

Carry  On 

I’m going to start with my carry on. I took two with me and yes they allowed me. I took the small size from my luggage set and a tote bag. I’m really surprised I could take two but if I needed to then the tote bag could easily fit into my small suitcase. It was a little tough lugging both of them around the airport and especially handling all of my luggage by myself. As you can see I technically had five bags on me. A 3 piece set, a tote bag with a lot of my tech in it weighing a ton and another large size suitcase. I think you can imagine what I looked like when I got to LAX with all my pink suitcases on the trolley cart thing. I did manage all of it myself and I can’t believe I did it.

Tote  Bag

As I said, inside my tote bag was all my tech and gadgets. Yes it did weigh a lot (no the airlines didn’t question it) and I had my laptop and charger in it which is a little heavy but my laptop is supposed to be one of those lightweight ones but carrying it all day does start to feel heavy. Other than that I had my iPad and both my iPhones, a pair of headphones, a power bank to charge my gadgets and a pocket wifi. Then I had a mini cross body bag inside the tote bag to carry more stuff like my travel wallet that had my passport and travel documents in it, my keys to my new apartment and all the luggage padlocks and my wallet and other stuff. The tote bag held a lot of stuff and was the perfect size. It is definitely a good travel bag and held up.

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Small  Luggage

In the smallest size of my 3 piece luggage set, I took everything that was too important to add in my checked in baggage. This went up in the overhead compartment so I made sure whatever I needed was in my tote bag to keep me entertained the whole flight. Speaking of entertainment I wrote about all the shows and gadgets I used to entertain me here. I think that is such a good tip to keep your tote bag next to you with all your essentials and you don’t have to worry about opening the overhead compartment to keep getting stuff out of it. It sure came in handy for me. Now inside was a lot of random but important stuff. I put in all kinds of travel products like my passport holder carrying my old passports just in case, eye mask, hair ties and a notebook to keep all my notes and in case I needed to write anything down. I kept a folder with all my documents like my college diploma and birth certificate. Of course I wasn’t risking putting it in my luggage and then losing my luggage so it had to go in here.

I put both my cameras and they were in protective cases during the flight but for the purpose of pictures I kept it out so you can see and I was using the DSLR to take these pictures but you see a little spot left where it was. I then had an extra pair of socks to keep me warm and lastly a pouch from my packing cubes set to carry all chargers to my devices. I had my lightning cable to charge my phone in the tote bag but the rest of the cords went in the pouch. Lastly I bought brand new Bluetooth headphones and also took my old ones. In the zipper pouch I had my travel pillow and extra pillows inside a compression bag to flatten them down. I have two travel pillows because I bought one a few months before my trip and the day before I leave my cousin gives me the Hello Kitty travel pillow as a going away present and demanded me to use it so I put my travel pillow I bought in the zipper compartment with all the other pillows. At the end of the flight I put the HK pillow in there too and yes all the pillows fit.

It is pretty small but holds a lot of stuff. I’ve taken this size on many trips as you can see from all my packing posts it holds not only random stuff but a lot of clothes too.

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Medium  Suitcase

Moving on to the medium one or what I like to call the middle child. It was very difficult to pack and would always give me problems. I used my hot pink packing cube set and bought a set for each suitcase. It is very helpful and keeping stuff organized. This mostly consisted of my winter clothes. All my sweaters and jackets that I wore in Baguio and any other thick item of clothing went in here so that is why this suitcase got a bit out of shape. I packed it very tightly and it was still very under the weight limit. This was the first suitcase I packed as I didn’t need any of my winter clothes in the middle of a very hot summer in Manila so in they went. I fit in all the packing cubes and then put another set of unused packing cubes on top to flatten it down. In the end I squeezed even more stuff into this as it wasn’t fitting in my other suitcases so I had to open this one up several times to make last minute things fit and smash it down again. It took forever to zip and I had to sit on it multiple times before finally securing it. I added bubble wrapped eyeshadow palettes, a pair of wedges, a few of my bags in their dust bags, my swimsuit pouch carried about 3 of my most worn swimsuits, a compressed bag filled with more sweaters and dresses and my jewelry organizer. Then I forgot my most favorite cardigan so I had nowhere else to put it so I laid it on top and zipped everything back up.

A lot fit in here and was under so if more things could fit I probably could have added more but there was no more space even though I maximized it and filled everything neatly into a packing cube. I tried my hardest and managed to squeeze just what I wanted in. I had all my winter hats and berets fit nicely in the zipper compartment with some party supplies I could use to decorate with. I know weird but they could be used all year round and would look cute in my new bedroom.

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First   Large   Suitcase 

Lastly is the large size in my 3 piece set. It was the hardest to pack because it had all my everyday clothes and shoes to go in. I packed this one over time as I still needed to dress myself while I was still there. Instead of the packing cubes I just rolled all my clothes and put them in the bottom compartment. I put all my tops, dresses, skirts and jeans into this and just pretty much squeezed most of my wardorbe into this suitcase. It would have fit more but I was already over the weight limit at times so I had to transfer them to the medium size. If I didn’t have a weight limit then a lot more could fit in. Then on top of it to hide my clothes I just added a bath towel my cousin gave me for Christmas and another cardigan since it couldn’t fit in with any of the other winter clothes. On the zipper compartment I didn’t add anything but the cover for the suitcase which came with it so I can just put it on and store it away when I’m finished with the suitcase.

The other side held a lot of my shoes and bags. Inside the backpack it looks like I just brought one bag but the secret is there was four bags inside of that. Also in the medium I did the same thing. Stuffing other bags inside each other helps them keep shape and you can get a lot more in. I could hide so much stuff in them and it looked like I didn’t take to much. Honestly I think I took almost my whole bag collection with me because they just went inside of each other. Then I put my pajama packing cube in here as again it was supposed to go in the medium but couldn’t fit so I had no choice but to put it here. Under the beach towel I had more clothes and shoes so they are covered and lastly one of my underwear pouches.

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Second   Large  Suitcase

Now the last piece. I bought this a week before I left because I had no more room and I had so much stuff to go. Again a reminder, I was moving not going on a trip so I needed to take a lot more stuff. I decided to buy another large suitcase and pay an additional fee which was totally worth it. It is a lot bigger so I could fit a lot more into it. I wish it didn’t have a weight limit because you can see I have a lot of space left that I could have added more to. In the front pocket this had a pockets for shoes so I added a pair of heels on one side and some of my bow collection on the other. The zipper pouch had another compression bag I didn’t get to use and bows I got for Christmas that were to big for the pocket. Underneath that section held my last minute clothes like my lounge wear that I just had washed and dried so it went in the night before my flight. On the bottom was a large compression bag that flattened my tulle and occasion skirts so I managed to bring them. Then I have my high end makeup bag which was bubble wrapped and packed nicely inside and next to it my skincare bag.

Then on the other side it is just more of a mis-mash that couldn’t fit anywhere else. I had all my key chains, magnets and souvenirs from my travels around the Philippines to keep and display in my new apartment. I was going to fill the travel bottles but I decided not to and just took it as is. The big pink carry on bag I got specifically for the trip but I ordered it online and it was much bigger than what I thought so I still wanted to take it so I put it in here instead. Two more pairs of shoes and another makeup and wash bag that held face wash and stuff like that. And of course even more bows I scattered onto the bottom. I took pretty much my whole bow collection as well.

So that is how I packed my luggage for my LA move! That was just an overview of everything I brought with me. I hope you found some travel tips in there from my experience of traveling a long haul flight and what you need to take. Maybe you’re moving to a new country and need some packing tips so there you go. I was pretty happy with everything and all of my suitcases were under the weight limit which I am pretty proud of. I made sure of it and had a luggage scale and a bathroom scale to weigh them every time I put something in. I hope you liked this and loved all my hot pink luggage. I was sure noticeable at the airport. Let me know any of your packing tips or essentials and what method do you use rolling or folding. In my case the rolling worked better and compression bags to flatten the bulky clothes sure helped. So there you have it, that is how I packed my luggage for my LA move.