Packing List Template
Everything to pack, grouped by category, ticked off as it goes in.
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| Traveller | [name] |
| Destination | [destination] |
| Leaving | [date] |
| Returning | [date] |
| Category | Item | Qty | Packed |
|---|---|---|---|
| [add one item per line] |
What is a Packing List?
A packing list is the difference between arriving with your chargers and passport and arriving without them. It works because packing is not a memory problem but an interruption problem: you get halfway through, the taxi arrives, and the things still in the bathroom stay in the bathroom. A written list, grouped by category and ticked as items go in, survives the interruption — and reused each trip, it gets better.
Travellers use them for holidays, business trips and long-haul journeys with connections. They also matter well beyond travel: hospital admissions, festivals and camping, school trips and residential courses, house moves, sports fixtures with kit, and events where a team is loading a van. Anyone packing for someone else — a child, an elderly parent, a group — needs one, because you cannot rely on the person you are packing for to notice what is missing until they need it.
What may be packed, and where, is governed by rules you should check rather than assume: airline cabin and hold baggage allowances and liquid limits, restrictions on lithium batteries and power banks, rules on carrying medicines and controlled drugs into a destination country, customs allowances on alcohol and tobacco, and biosecurity rules on food, seeds, plants and wooden items, which are strict in Australia and New Zealand in particular. Check the airline's current baggage rules and the destination's customs and biosecurity guidance shortly before you travel, since both change.
A packing list is not a customs declaration, a shipping manifest or a proof of ownership. It does not satisfy a carrier's requirement to declare goods, and it has no standing in an insurance claim on its own — for that you need receipts, photographs and serial numbers. It also cannot decide what your allowance permits: a list of everything you want to take does not become permissible because you wrote it down. Weigh the bag and check the rules separately.
What to put in a Packing List
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Issued to (full name) | For example: James Whitfield |
| Destination | For example: Cleveland |
| Travel from | Free text |
| Returning | Free text |
| Items to pack | One per line: Category | Item | Qty |
| Do not forget optional | One per line |
How to write a Packing List
Group items by where they live
Build the list room by room — bathroom, bedside, desk, kitchen, hallway — rather than by abstract category. Packing follows your feet, and a list organised the way your house is organised means you sweep each room once. Category lists send you back to the bathroom four times, and something always gets left on the shelf on the fourth trip.
Put documents and medicines at the top
Passport, visa or entry authorisation, tickets, insurance details, driving licence or international permit, currency, and every medicine in its labelled packaging with a copy of the prescription. These are the items that cannot be replaced at the destination on a Sunday. Everything else on the list is an inconvenience if forgotten; these are a cancelled trip.
Count by nights, not by feeling
Write quantities against each clothing item — five days, five pairs of socks, two shirts if there is laundry — instead of writing ‘clothes’. Named quantities are what stop both overpacking and the missing second jumper. Add the one outfit the trip actually requires: interview clothes, walking boots, a swimsuit, something warm for an over-air-conditioned office.
Split cabin bag from hold bag
Decide before you pack which items travel with you: medicines, documents, chargers, a change of clothes, valuables, and anything that cannot go in the hold, such as spare lithium batteries and power banks. Then check the current liquid and battery rules for your airline and route. A bag that has to be repacked at security loses you the time you thought you had saved.
Tick as you pack, review afterwards
Tick each item as it physically enters the bag, not as you decide to take it — the decision is not the packing. When you get home, cross off everything you never used and add anything you wished you had brought. Two or three trips of that and the list becomes genuinely yours rather than a generic one off the internet.
Common mistakes
- Packing chargers last means they are the item still plugged into the wall when the taxi arrives.
- Ticking items as you plan them rather than as they go in the bag produces a fully ticked list and a half-empty case.
- Putting medicines in the hold risks being without them for the days a delayed bag takes to arrive.
- Ignoring the airline's current liquid and battery rules gets things confiscated at security along with the time you allowed for coffee.
- Writing ‘clothes’ instead of counted items is how you end up with six shirts and no socks.
Frequently asked questions
What should I pack in my carry-on?
Documents, money and cards, medicines in labelled packaging, phone and chargers, a change of clothes, glasses, and anything valuable or fragile. Add spare lithium batteries and power banks, which airlines generally require in the cabin rather than the hold. Assume the hold bag may arrive a day late, and pack the cabin bag so that this would be survivable rather than ruinous.
How do I stop overpacking?
Write quantities against every clothing line and lay everything out before it goes in the bag. Plan around laundry rather than around days: one wash halfway through a fortnight halves the clothing. Then remove one thing from each category. Weighing the case at home is more useful than weighing it at the airport, where your options are considerably worse.
What can I not take in hand luggage?
Rules are set by the airline and by the security authority for each airport and change from time to time — liquids over the permitted volume, sharp items and certain tools are commonly restricted, while spare lithium batteries usually may not go in the hold. Check the current published rules for your departure airport and airline shortly before flying rather than relying on what was true last year.
How should I pack medicines for a flight?
In hand luggage, in the original labelled packaging, with a copy of the prescription and enough for the trip plus a few days. Some countries restrict specific drugs, including some that are ordinary at home, so check the destination country's official guidance before travelling and ask your prescriber for a supporting letter if you are carrying anything controlled.
Should I use the same packing list every time?
Yes, with a core list you reuse and a short trip-specific section on top — kit for a sports fixture, formal clothes for a wedding, a laptop and adapters for work. The core list improves each time you cross off what you never used. That is the whole advantage over starting from scratch and forgetting the same thing you forgot last year.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.