Traveling to Italy Like a Pro With My Baby and My Packing Cubes

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If there is one major difference between how I travel now that I’m a mom compared to how I used to travel, it’s how absolutely critical it is to be organized.  Like, imperative to my sanity critical.

For some reason, I’d never tried packing cubes before we took our baby to Seattle in August.  Since that trip, I’m happy to report that I’ll never travel without packing cubes again, and that the way I pack is profoundly changed for the better - just in time for our baby’s first trip to Italy!

Check out our itinerary

Venice, one of the cities we’ll be staying in one our trip

Before I talk you through the two main strategies I use for packing now that I have my packing cubes (these are the ones that I use), I think it’s important that you’re aware of my typical packing pain points.

1. Overpacking

2. Feeling like I have nothing to wear in destination

3. Stressing out because there are always clothes everywhere

4. Waiting until the last minute to pack and inevitably forgetting things

Now that I’m a mature adult with packing cubes and a plan, all of these stressors are gone - which means I can spend more time enjoying our trip, making memories with my family, and relaxing. Win, win, win.

Now, I’m sure there are a million methods for using packing cubes, but there are two main ways I like to use ours.

Siena, one of the cities we’ll be visiting on our day trip into the Tuscan countryside

First, the day by day packing cube method

We absolutely crushed it on our Seattle trip by packing like this. It worked really well because we were gone for a relatively short amount of time, and our daily activities required drastically different clothing and gear - for example, whale watching, visiting Olympic National Park, and spending the day in Pike’s Place with lunch at our favorite restaurant, The Pink Door.

Here’s what we did to use this packing cube method to our full advantage:

1. We preplanned all of our outfits

2. We put a lot of thought into what we’d need each day to make sure that we had all the right supplies

3. We put all three of our outfits into one packing cube so we only had to open one each day

Additionally, we had an extra packing cube for our rain and cold weather gear so we could access it as needed, and we kept our shoes separate from our outfits (I like to pack them in plastic grocery store bags)

Especially with a baby to prep each day and lots of our time spent on the go, this made getting dressed every day soooooo much easier than it normally would have been.

the Chianti wine region, which we’ll be visiting on our trip

Second, the clothing type packing cube method

For our upcoming three week trip to Italy, I’m going to pack by clothing type. Because we’re going to be gone for so much longer, I don’t want to have a million packing cubes for each day to sort through. Instead, I’m going to organize clothing for myself and our baby (Jake will be meeting us in Venice later in the trip) by clothing type.

I’m planning to have a packing cube for each of the following:

1. My shirts and sweaters

2. My dresses and skirts

3. My pants

4. My socks, underwear and bras

5. My accessories

6. Our baby’s onesies

7. Our baby’s dressier outfits

8. Our baby’s accessories - sunglasses, hats, socks, extra shoes

Separately from our packing cubes, I’m bringing:

1. My travel jewelry organizer

2. Our diaper bag

3. Our jackets

4. Our shoes

5. Our stroller and stroller bag

6. My work backpack to organize my electronics and chargers

Because we won’t be moving as much as we did on our Seattle trip, using the clothing type method for this trip makes more sense for us so we can utilize our hotel closets and dressers.

a view of the Colosseum, which we’ll be visiting during our time in Rome

BONUS packing method for flights to Europe

I’ll have a change of clothes for myself and our baby for our arrival to FCO. Changing out of the clothes we wore to sleep in, brushing my teeth, putting on deoderant, using my moisturizer and sunscreen, and freshening up a bit help me start the day in a new time zone on the right foot. This really helps me with jet lag so I don’t spend as much (if any) time recovering from the flight.

Read more about my advice for beating jet lag on your next flight to Europe

the Uffizi, which we’ll be visiting during our time in Florence

Long story short, I am loving this new season of life as I organize our travels with our packing cubes. I am positive that what works best for us will change as we travel together more as a family of three and learn better ways to use them.

Staying organized while we travel is a HUGE stress reducer for me, and when traveling with babies and kiddos this is priceless.

I’d love to help you reduce your travel stress for your next trip! Share your details with me below and we’ll start working together on designing your next adventure.

I’m Erin, your new travel bestie. Based in Michigan with plans to see the entire globe, I am passionate about empowering my travel clients to create and experience your very best adventure. After studying abroad in Rome during college, marrying the love of my life in 2020 (COVID wedding!), and becoming a mom, I know that we all want to spend less time stressing on the internet and more time enjoying the people we love. Let me help you achieve this by taking on the work of your next vacation so you can spend more time enjoying your people.

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