I was thinking about traveling recently because I dropped two of my friends off recently at the airport. I am actually dropping another friend off tomorrow so I thought it would be cool to let you all know about how to save room in your suitcase when traveling abroad or for a long period of time.

I am pretty simple with my shoes nowadays. I love flip flops/sandals more than anything else and when I went to Italy and London this past summer, I knew that I had to wear closed toed shoes if I wanted to survive. With climbing a mountain and walking all around the city, it was time to really bring closed toed shoes. I had to really think about what I would really wear every single day and get the most use out of what I was bringing, clothing wise, and how much space that I had.

1. Shower shoes – I grew up with a mother who didn’t trust communal areas when bathing. I had to share a bathroom with three other girls in Italy in a house and up to twelve over girls in London at the hostel. I purchased my pair from Vera Bradley Outlet. They were $24.00 but were on sale for $12.00. I debated on buying overpriced flip flops but they are well made and much better than the cheap Old Navy pair that I wear to death. Vera Bradley Flip Flops
2. Sneakers – I needed shoes that weren’t the shoes I had to wear during opera tech. They are gone forever now because I wore them consistently from June to October/November. The shoes were from the 90’s and had a zip up front, a great pair of sneakers I adored. Anyway, these shoes were my everyday shoes that I wore out and about and having fun essentially.
3. Tennis shoes – I wore tennis shoes when we had tech and performances, essentially the last two weeks of Italy. I did not wear these in London because I honestly can’t stand tennis shoes. I wore this pair of shoes hiking up a mountain and trekking up and down cobblestone streets.
4. Sandals – My gladiator sandals were the most important pair of shoes because when I wasn’t working, I had a nice pair of shoes that made me feel like me. My sandals, because they zipped up, I didn’t have to worry if they would fall off my feet or not.

So, how does one exactly pack four shoes successfully?

1. Make sure they can compress or are thin. I wore my sneakers on the plane. My sandals and flip flops were easy to compress in my suitcase. The tennis shoes were the hardest to pack because they were quite bulky but necessary. If you don’t need sneakers for any reason, tennis shoes work great so then you can take one pair less.
2. Outfits go with shoes. I didn’t actually plan it out and wore my sneakers with looks that didn’t look exactly right. It may not matter to everyone but I felt a little self-conscious.

What pair of shoes is your must have?

Find me:
Facebook: The Mermaid Network
Twitter: @MermaidNetwork
Instagram: @themermaidnetwork
Snapchat: @mermaidnetwork