When you pack for your holiday, what is the first thing you place in your suitcase? The chances are that it is your shoes. People usually pack their shoes first because these are the heaviest and bulkiest items we take, but are also absolutely essential, unless of course you intend to spend the whole of your holiday sat on your beach.

However, shoes do take up lot of room, and a little extra thought can help to not only reduce the amount of space they take up, and the weight that they necessarily involve, but also using shoes as a storage medium themselves. Of course, depending on where you are going on your holiday you will need to take a different number and different type of shoe with you. Clearly if you are intending on spending your holiday on a hiking expedition, a good pair of sturdy walking boots will be absolutely essential, whereas a beach holiday will require little more than a comfortable pair of sandals.

The best advice for reducing the size and weight of the shoes in your luggage is to wear on the journey the heaviest pair of shoes that it will be necessary for you to take, such as your hiking boots. Although this may not be the most comfortable of shoes to wear, it may be possible during the journey to take them off completely, and it will certainly mean that your luggage is far easier to handle.

Generally, being realistic about it, a durable but comfortable pair of sturdy shoes, one pair of smart shoes and a pair of comfortable sandals or the equivalent is all that is necessary for most people going on holiday. Be realistic therefore when packing about how many shoes it is really necessary for you to take. Two pairs of trainers is not a sensible way of packing. So, with your heaviest pair of shoes on you, you might be able to get away with just two pairs of shoes in your baggage.

The next thing to think about Is how to use these shoes in your packing to help, rather than hinder, the amount of space that you have available to you. The first way of helping to improve the situation is to completely undo the shoes, possibly removing the laces entirely. This will allow the shoes to be more flexible and manoeuvrable. The next step is to find small objects and squashable objects which can be pushed right the way into the shoes. This is certainly easier if the shoe has been undone completely. Often, socks or small toiletry items are ideal, and can be slipped inside the shoe, making full use of the volume of space that would be otherwise wasted.

So, by thinking carefully about the number of shoes that you really need to take, about the type of shoes that will be necessary, and by wearing your heaviest shoes, you need only make sure you take full advantage of the packing space available in the remaining shoes to reduce the overall size and weight of the footwear nightmare.