Be honest with yourself: does it often happen that you pack too much for a trip, and end up using only half of your things?

You certainly aren’t alone in this. Packing can be stressful, especially if you’re going away for more than a week and want to be prepared. So, if you have an upcoming trip or want to be ready for whenever one comes up on your calendar, this blog is for you. Here are five essential packing tips that will make your travels much more optimized.

1. Use Packing Bags or Cubes

Packing 101: you have limited space, so everything needs to go into your suitcase as compressed as possible. Compression bags and cubes are ideal for storing bulky gear and puffer jackets as they can easily remove the excess air that usually takes up too much space.

2. Rolling vs. Folding

In packing, it is essential to know which clothes to roll and which ones to fold. The general rule is to roll synthetic materials since they won’t wrinkle, and to keep cotton fabrics folded flat.

3. No More Than Three Pairs of Shoes

According to packing expert Anne McAlpin, people have a tendency to overpack shoes. So, set yourself a limit of a maximum of three pairs you can easily match with your outfits. Doing this will save space in your suitcase, and it will help you plan your entire wardrobe for the trip.

4. Pack for a Week and Wash Your Clothes

Don’t go overboard with packing too many clothes. Anne suggests you pack only a week’s worth of outfits and wash the necessary clothes along the way. You can hand wash or laundry them depending on your travel plans.

5. Pack Clothes Around a Single Basic Color

Many times, people pack clothes based on their type (e.g., pants, shirts, skirts) and then struggle to create outfits because the separate items don’t match in color and/or fabric. Keep your outfits in mind and make sure you stick to a basic color so you can easily change up outfits as you go.

The British Royals are on everyone’s lips these days following the birth of the new baby Prince and with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s impending wedding. While the world has a lot of love for these Royals and are celebrating their new family members, there are some secrets from the British monarchy that people may not be aware of.

Prince Phillip was reportedly late to his own wedding to Queen Elizabeth II. Reason being, he was too busy chatting with the famed author Daphne du Maurier.

The Royal family may have to follow specific laws and rules, but that doesn’t mean there are no scandals in this family. In 1972, Princess Margaret proved this when she had an extramarital affair with her 25-year-old gardener. The then 43-year-old started her affair with Sir Roderic Victor Llewellyn, who is a gardener as well as a British Baronet. When the affair ended, the Princess was not in a good place and attempted to take her own life by taking too many sleeping pills.

While it is well-known that Prince Charles married Diana, the couple’s relationship was quite scandalous from the start. Diana first met the Prince of Wales in 1977, when she was just 16 years old and he was dating her older sister, Lady Sarah! It was in 1980, however, after things with Sarah did not work out, that Prince Charles took an interest in Diana, seeing her as his potential bride. He invited his future wife for a sailing weekend to Cowes on the Royal Yacht, Britannia, and proposed secretly in February 1981.

It seems as though Kate knew all along that Prince William was the man for her and went as far as choosing to attend the same university as the future King. Kate Middleton was all set to attend Edinburgh University but changed her mind last minute when she discovered that the Prince was attending St. Andrews. She then chose to do the same, and the two later met while studying at the same university. Kate got her Prince charming, and we all know what happened next.

In 1992, phone conversations between Prince Charles and Camilla Shand were released, and it became public that the Royal was embarking on an affair. Since he was still married to Diana when the tapes leaked, it was made apparent that the Prince had been unfaithful to his wife during their marriage. It’s no secret that the relationship between Prince Charles and Diana was not the fairytale romance the world was rooting for, and even Diana had a few secrets up her sleeve.

Transcripts of phone conversations between Princess Diana and her close friend, James Gilbey, were published, and Gilbey was heard referring to the Princess as “Squidgy” more than 53 times. Once this became public, the whole ordeal was dubbed “Squidgygate,” since Diana was still married to Prince Charles at the time. In their conversations, Diana referred to herself as a character out of Eastenders and expressed concern that she could possibly be pregnant. More controversy surrounded Squidgygate, with questions posed as to how these conversations were recorded to begin with.

The Royal family, unsurprisingly, has a zero tolerance for the use of illicit substances. Prince Harry took his chances, but faced the consequences when he was caught smoking a recreational substance at the age of 17. The young Prince was sent to spend a day at Featherstone Lodge by the family to “learn about the possible consequences” of substance abuse. It seems he learned his lesson after spending time in this London rehab, since there was never a mention of him having to return.

It is the Royal law that the Queen must be the first to know of any royal engagement or wedding. However, Prince William seemed to miss this royal protocol since he only told his grandmother that he was engaged to Kate Middleton two hours before it became public knowledge. Since the Queen must approve of all engagements beforehand, she couldn’t have taken the late news well. However, it does not seem to have hindered the couple’s relationship with the Queen, especially since welcoming their three children.

Prince Phillip has kept the media entertained with his dry humor and quick wit, and his former Navy colleague recently went into detail about the Prince in his military days. Commander Keith Evans explained that former Lieutenant, Prince Phillip, “was a bit randy but you had better not put that down,” before correcting himself to say, “Not a ‘bit.’ Very.” Prince Phillip married the then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947, supposedly putting his old naval ways behind him, but has been the subject of more than a few rumors.

Prince William and Kate may look like the perfect couple, but it didn’t always look like they were going to get their fairytale ending. In fact, the couple broke up in 2005 soon after they started dating, and it was believed that Will tried to pursue aristocrat Isabella Calthorpe soon after. It was also said that Prince William’s friends were happy with the break-up since they found Kate to be boring, cold, and common. However, the two soon reconciled and eventually walked hand-in-hand down the aisle.

The topic of Prince Harry’s father has and will always be a question on everyone’s lips. There have continuously been rumors around whether or not Prince Harry is Prince Charles’ son, with reasons to suggest otherwise. Many claim that James Hewitt, one of Diana’s love interests, could be the real father of Prince Harry, since the resemblance between the two is uncanny. However, it was reported that a DNA test was carried out in 2003, and the results proved that Hewitt was not the Prince’s biological father.

Princess Margaret was not the only one to participate in extramarital relations, and what seemed to be a happy marriage to most was riddled with a life of infidelity for some. In 1994, during a TV interview with journalist Jonathan Dimbleby, Prince Charles publicly admitted and confessed that he was unfaithful to Princess Diana during their marriage. Hoping to defend his actions in some way during the interview, Charles said, “It happens to half the country, and it happened to me.”

Back in the day, Princess Margaret was the real party girl of the Royal family. She would attend parties with The Rolling Stones frontman, Mick Jagger, who was known to have romances with many ladies. Princess Margaret was rumored to be one of his ladies at one point in time, and this was while she was married to Lord Snowdon. This may explain why the Queen had refused to knight the rock-and-roll superstar after the several attempts.

Gary may not be a member of the Royal family, but since his niece married Prince William, he has become associated with the British monarchy. Kate Middleton’s uncle, Gary Goldsmith, is the black sheep of their family due to his questionable behavior. Referred to as Uncle G by Kate and her sister, Gary brought his second wife to the wedding of Will and Kate, and it is safe to say the Queen was not best pleased with this extended invite.

Sarah Ferguson, also commonly known as “Fergie” to the public, may no longer be a member of the family since her divorce from Prince Andrew, but she certainly has had her fair share of royal scandals. Fergie became the Duchess of York when she married Prince Andrew in 1986, but life for the new royal was not made easy. Things took a turn when Fergie was caught sunbathing topless with American financial manager John Bryan. The photo spoke a thousand words, and a few years later Fergie and Prince Andrew divorced.

The tragic car accident which resulted in Princess Diana’s death has led to many conspiracy theories. The theories have been largely fueled by the fact that there was no video footage of the crash, even though there were ten cameras on the road down which the Princess was being driven. For that reason, Operation Paget was a Metropolitan Police inquiry set up to focus on the rumors surrounding the conspiracy theories, but none of the findings were concrete.

Another conspiracy theory involves the famous photographer, James Anderson. It was known that Anderson had photos of the Princess with her lover at the time, Egyptian billionaire Dodi Fayed, in his possession. M16 wanted to spare the family the scandal if these photos were released and hired her driver to crash and kill Anderson. After the crash, white paint chips were found on the car Princess Diana was in, and the paint was traced to the car that photographer Anderson was in. The photographer was then found dead in a forest.

When visiting Sin City, you’d often go with the saying ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.’ Unfortunately for Prince Harry, this was not the case following his trip to the US in August 2012. Rather, his wild trip was caught on camera, including the Prince enjoying a game of strip poker and eventually losing. The naked photos of Prince Harry were then leaked to the tabloids and spread across the internet, resulting in complete embarrassment for the Royal family and a lot of unwanted attention.

King Edward VIII chose to give up his crown so that he could be with his love, Wallis Simpson. The King had fallen in love with the American divorcée and, since Royals were not allowed to marry anyone who had been divorced, he was forced to abdicate when he chose to marry her. In fact, Simpson was twice-divorced and was not accepted into the Royal family, or seen as an ideal wife for the King of England. However, that did not stop Edward, and he abdicated as King.

In 1972, Queen Elizabeth II’s only daughter, Princess Anne, married equestrian Olympian Mark Phillips. It became apparent to the princess, however, that her husband was unfaithful and, to cope with his infidelity, Anne found love with British naval officer Timothy Laurence. After a DNA test confirmed that Phillips had fathered a child, a daughter named Felicity, from an affair in 1985, Phillips and the Princess divorced. In 1992, after divorcing Phillips, Anne married her true love, Timothy Laurence.

Princess Margaret was involved in her fair share of romances, and one was with Captain Peter Townsend, an officer of the Royal Force who served as King George’s extra equerry. Their love affair posed many problems, since the Captain was 15 years older than the Princess and was already married to Rosemary Pawle. However, it seems his love for Margaret was real since he left Pawle in 1952 and proposed to the Royal instead. Their relationship was not to last, however, and their engagement was called off in 1955.

After having to end her engagement with Captain Peter Townsend, supposedly at the request of the Queen, Princess Margaret went on to marry Anthony Armstrong Jones. This was no fairytale marriage, however, and the royal couple was often seen fighting in public, making it evident that they had a tumultuous marriage. The role of husband also seemed to be too strict for Tony’s woman-loving ways, and their marriage eventually ended in 1976. This was the first royal divorce since Henry VIII divorced his wife, Catherine of Aragon, in the 1500s.

It is believed that the ring Prince William used to propose to Kate was originally intended to be the ring Prince Harry would gift his future bride-to-be. The beautiful sapphire stone that is surrounded by rare diamonds was eventually given to Will when he was set to propose to Kate Middleton. It is unclear as to why the ring was given to Harry’s older brother in the end, but that isn’t to say Meghan Markle missed out on another beautiful ring.

During a holiday in the south of France, Kate Middleton was enjoying her time with Prince William by tanning topless on the balcony of their private residence. Little did she know, the paparazzi had found the royal couple and were quick to capture the nude photos. Subsequently, the photos were sold and spread across the media, having first appeared in the French celebrity tabloid magazine, Closer. The incident sparked fury from the Royal family and, in 2012, six of the photographers were caught and sentenced to trial.

In 1995, Princess Diana gave an hour-long interview with Martin Bashir, where she discussed the pressures of life in the public eye and the struggles she faced. While to the public she was the nation’s Princess and always appeared to have a smile on her face, she expressed that the struggled with bulimia, postpartum depression, and self-harm. After taking part in the BBC interview, which was after her separation from the Prince of Wales, Diana seriously damaged the Royal family’s reputation.

It is protocol that royal couples should not appear to be showing too much affection for one another when in public. However, modern royal couples have certainly broken this rule and can be seen to show their other half a little bit of love while tending to their royal duties. Meanwhile, it was reported that voicemails were found which heard Prince William giving Kate a pet name. In the voicemail, the Prince was heard referring to his wife as “babykins.”

As a member of the Royal family, you are expected to appear poised at all times. When posing for photographs, this duty can get relatively boring for Royals, and Prince William and his brother Harry have come up with a way to make this task a little more fun. The brothers have a secret ritual of giving a funny pose for a photograph whenever they get the chance. The Princes are sometimes known to break the rules, and these cheeky chaps know how to get a good shot.

The modern Royal couples perhaps show more affection to one another than their parents or grandparents did. Young Prince William and Kate are not shy when it comes to expressing their love for one another, but they were not expecting to be caught in this display of affection while on a balcony. Here, Kate was seen playfully writing “King” on Will’s chest with red lipstick while William was seen grabbing a handful of Kate’s hair – this is not so becoming of the future King of England!

In 2010, Sarah Ferguson admittedly made a serious lapse in judgment when she accepted a bribe from a journalist of $600,000. The journalist paid the former Royal to gain access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew. The entire encounter between the two was captured on video and released to the public. While sitting in a London apartment, Fergie was caught saying, “Five hundred thousand pounds when you can, to me… [to] open doors. If you want to meet him in your business, look after me, and he’ll look after you.”

From 2001 until 2011, Prince Andrew was the trade envoy for the United Kingdom. The Prince decided to resign from his post in 2011 when he faced severe criticism for his choice of friends. One of his good friends was Jeffery Epstein, who was convicted for paying teenage girls for adult entertainment. Of course, this whole ordeal did not make Prince Andrew look good, and having characters such as Epstein in your life is perhaps not the best choice when you’re the Prince of England.