How I travel starts with coming home
The secret to a good trip starts before you leave and ends before you’re back
I have a theory: the best travelers aren’t better at packing. They’re better at leaving.
Not logistically, but emotionally. There’s a version of departure that feels frantic and depleting, and a version that feels like you’re leaving for something you’ve actually prepared for. Leave in a rush, half-prepared, and you'll come home to the same energy you left with. But leave intentionally—with your space sorted, your bag ready, and yourself actually taken care of—and the whole arc of the trip changes.
I know it’s not a universal experience to not dread coming home from trips. From the pile of laundry to the overflowing inbox, the transition back to reality can feel brutal after days of pretending none of it exists. But at some point I realized that treating the day before I leave as seriously as the trip itself changed everything, including how I feel when I walk back through my own door.
I’ve refined my pre-travel ritual over years of figuring out exactly what future me needs the one who’s going to land somewhere new, and eventually come home exhausted. This is what that day looks like.
Read on for:
The exact order I do everything (and why it matters)
The travel kit I never leave home without — fully stocked list inside
The outfit planning method that got me to carry-on only
Why packing is the last thing I do, not the first