Tips & Tricks For Light Traveling

Summer is right around the corner and the holiday season is about to begin. Although our habits are very different, we all want to travel carefree, lightly and with ease. Some people get excited when unexpected things happen to them when travelling, other people feel safe when everything goes as planned. Our inherent differences and established habits also make us choose destinations and decide on the accommodation options – some like AirBNB, others enjoy hotels, a coach at a friend’s place or a tent. When travelling, cleverness and the ability to stay calm come in handy in addition to lightweight luggage. When the unexpected happens, the things we have experienced, learned and heard get activated. I hope that this story about tips and tricks that come in handy when travelling, help you before packing your suitcase and also when everything hasn’t gone according to the plan and you need SOS solutions.

PACKING – LESS IS MORE

My favourite new knowledge: you can pack half of your items into your man’s suitcase. It is quite clever and may actually work when your male family member or travelling companion takes just 2 t-shirts and a pair of trousers for a week-long trip and wears his flip-flops straight away. I am being told at home that clothes can be washed, and that is absolutely correct, but I prefer to just enjoy myself and not worry about that part.

TOP tips for packing:

• Leave full-size products at home. Put your favourites into smaller bottles, eye lens cups or, if you want to try something new when travelling, ask for samples from shops.
• Another benefit of samples is the difference in the destination’s climate compared to home. For example, when you go to Iceland in summer, a light and extra moisturizing facial emulsion is not sufficient to battle the local winds.
• When travelling, you need to show bling, and as not to spend the entire first day of your holiday untangling your jewellery bundles, take an empty content roll, either a toilet or household paper, cut a notch into both ends and attach the jewellery around the roll.
• I suggest rolling your clothes, and not folding them – you will have more space in the bag and less of annoying wrinkles.
• Altogether, you can also come to un understanding that the two most important items are a travelling document and a bank card, everything else can be arranged onsite.

YOU HAVE ARRIVED

• Enjoy, breathe in new fragrances, and feel the new energy.
• If you left your cream at home, find olive, coconut or argan oil. I don’t recommend using them for too long but when travelling, you can use them to nourish your facial skin, body as well as hair.
• Your hair is greasy but an adventure awaits and you have no time to wash your hair. In the case of light sebum, pure water helps, with a heavier mess, try water with Rosemary, and when in even greater distress, use dry shampoo or starch or flour. Rosemary water recipe: boil the herb in water, cool it down, take out the leaves and either pour or sprinkle it in your hair. It is a Greek trick that works fine!
• You want to exfoliate your body to be a goddess at the beach. Body scrubs are products that you can leave at home, no worries, for you can get what you need from a kitchen cupboard or a hotel kitchen: coffee grounds+oil+honey on your body that smoothes, tones and softens.
• For your face, I recommend taking half a lemon, putting sugar on it and scrubbing the areas that tend to get dark and pigmentation – the upper lip, cheekbones, around the eyes and the forehead. I let you do this ONLY IN THE EVENING as the combination of acids and the sun may strike as a bad surprise.

I have heard that this may help lose blackheads but you need to test this as there are different opinions around.

MAKEUP AS THERE’S A PARTY TONIGHT

• You don’t need brushes as you can effectively use your warm hands to diffuse the foundation and concealer (blow on your fingers to get them warm or use warm water), it works also with eyeshadow if you are not applying a very dark shade.
• Eyebrow pencil or eyebrow powder can be used for both eyebrows and eyes – use them also as eyeliner or eyeshadow.
• There is no powder and the skin is shiny. My favourite trick when travelling, and not only when travelling, is to press a tissue on a shiny area, toilet paper also works.
• Lipstick=blush. Apply with your fingers and enjoy the shine and glow.
• Apply nail polish just before the trip. Try to fit in your luggage the polish you did your manicure with, and if you’re not a nail polish guru, use a neutral shade and apply a coat of clear polish to freshen it up.

THE SKIN IS BURNING AFTER A DAY AT THE BEACH

I don’t recommend sunburn even to an enemy. Every burn remains in the skin’s memory and that is not something to take lightly. You must apply sunscreen often, a lot and when in a warm climate, SPF 50 is a must during the first days on the beach! It remains mandatory on the face, shoulders, cleavage, upper back and feet tops during the entire trip. For a beach holiday, buy actual sunscreen, not a day cream with an SPF factor. It doesn’t work for several reasons but that is an entirely new article.

The skin needs 5-15 minutes to synthesize Vitamin D, therefore, after having spent a couple of days at the beach, you can start putting the cream on at the beach and not „at home“. If your 200 ml bottle or tube of sunscreen is not empty after a week, you are using too little cream.

If the sun „gets you“ and it sends the message using the language of redness and pain, you must:

• Cool yourself down. Please, don’t put ice straight on your skin, put a t-shirt or a towel in between. A cool shower and a cold compress are good.
• You cannot buy Aloe Vera gel as the shops are closed. Fresh cucumber, potato, oatmeal soak or chilled chamomile tea come to the rescue.
• Take a painkiller to feel better. You need to spend the days after sunburn in airy and wide clothes and under the shade anyway, looking at your friends getting a golden tan and having fun. So, you just mustn’t get a sunburn!

A TIP FOR THE FEET DURING A CITY TRIP

If you have a powder along, you can put it into your shoes to avoid rubbing. If you don’t have powder, there are samples in beauty shops and flour in the kitchen cupboard. Vaseline might also work but it doesn’t make any sense to me and I haven’t tested it either.

To end the article, here’s a thought that I picked up from an interview with my absolute favourite Merle Palmiste: „Forget about time and time forgets about you!“ Have a wonderful holiday!

A COUPLE OF D’DIFFERENCE PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS:

I suggest small and light packages that don’t add weight to the suitcase ·

• (4D Care & Fix Face Mist 30 ml – D’DIFFERENCE (ddifference.com) A light facial mist that is refreshing and soothing to the skin. Provides moisture and helps makeup stay longer.
• 5D Golden Beauty Mask – D’DIFFERENCE (ddifference.com) A mask with golden glitter powder that makes the face fresh and glow. Moisturizes, firms and smoothes.
• Golden Jojoba Balm – D’DIFFERENCE (ddifference.com) A cold-pressed jojoba oil skin balm that is nice to apply on the lips on a beach day, and if a troubled spot needs quick relief, it’s good to apply a layer of the balm to that spot in the evening and enjoy smooth skin in the morning!