Pack My Bag With Me! Learn Everyday Vocabulary for Travel & Clothes

Well hey there I'm Emma from mmmEnglish

and in today's lesson you're going to help me to pack my bags,

pack my suitcase because I'm travelling abroad.

I'm going on holidays.

In fact, my flight is tomorrow so this is serious.

We need to get this done.

I thought that I would pack my suitcase with you

so that I can talk about and introduce you to lots of interesting

vocabulary to do with travelling, to do with clothing and of course

packing, verbs for packing. There's lots of interesting words

to learn and to practise in this lesson.

In fact, I've created a word list and a complete transcript

of everything that I'm going  to talk about in this lesson

specifically so you can study these new words

but also so that you can see how I'm using them in context.

Maybe even try to use some of them yourself

when you're talking about your upcoming trips or travels

or adventures, wherever you're going, whatever you're doing.

Are you ready to help me pack? Let's go!

All right before we get started,

I'm going to tell you a little bit about my trip so that you can keep

all of it in mind as we're packing and I'm thinking about

the things that I'll need. Like I said, I'm flying out tomorrow.

Normally when I'm flying to Europe, I prefer to fly direct,

straight to London. There is a flight from Perth to London,

quite long. I think it takes about seventeen hours

but I'm the kind of person who likes to just get it over with.

Unfortunately that flight hasn't been reinstated since the pandemic

so I've got to go through Dubai.

So I'm flying to Lisbon

in Portugal via Dubai. I have a stopover in Dubai

just for a couple of hours, it's quite quick.

So I'll be flying through the night

hopefully getting a little bit of sleep, fingers crossed.

When I get to Lisbon I'm going to meet up with Shah

and our daughter Matilda and I'm very excited about that.

Currently, they're in London together and I'm meeting them

in Lisbon on Tuesday.

So we'll be together in Lisbon for a week.

The main reason why we are going to Lisbon is because

we have tickets to a Kings of Convenience concert

at the Coliseum in Lisbon,

something that we've been looking forward to for a long time.

We bought tickets early in the pandemic

knowing that it was going to take a little while for us

to be able to be there together and to do that.

That is happening on Wednesday,

not long after I arrive and then we're going to spend a few days

exploring Lisbon, it's an incredible city, beautiful city

but then we're also going to spend the weekend in Sintra

which is new for me. I haven't been there.

Then together we're going to fly to Italy and we'll fly into Florence.

Florence has never been super high on my bucket list

however the more that I'm looking into it, the more that I'm reading

about Florence and Tuscany and Italy, the more excited I'm getting

about the architecture, the museums, the incredible masterpieces

that you can see there in all of the galleries and museums.

So I'm looking forward to it. We're spending a couple of

days in Florence before we catch the train to Pisa.

For any of you who know that famous leaning tower of Pisa,

that is exactly where we're going but more excitingly,

the reason we are going to Pisa is because we have a fantastic

amazing event that we are hosting in Pisa for all of the members

of the Hey Lady! community.

Hey Lady! is my community for women learning English.

It's an incredible space to build confidence and speaking skills,

conversation skills and we do that all through our online platform.

So all of us are very used to meeting and hanging out

with each other online all the time, for years.

This is a very special in-person event and so there are

members from our community coming from around Italy,

from around Europe and even flying in from different continents

and different countries.

It's going to be amazing! I can't wait.

So that's why we're going to be in Pisa. Then from Pisa,

we'll catch a train down to Naples and I'm really looking forward

to that part of the trip.

Naples or Napoli is home to pizza, the home of pizza.

I don't care where you are in the world, I know we all think that  

pizza is ours. Pizza belongs to Napoli and of course,

naturally we are gonna do a pizza-making course in Napoli

just to make sure we're doing it right.

We've got the perfect technique.

There's incredible national parks that I want to go hiking in,

amazing historical sites like Pompeii.

I would love to go exploring through Pompeii.

The Amalfi coast and all of those incredibly beautiful coastal

villages so I wanted to give you all the context of that trip

to help you see what I need to pack and why.

I've been looking at the weather it's going to be about

twenty-five degrees

most of the time, so quite pleasant, a good time to travel

but also I feel like I need to be prepared for anything.

It can be a little bit rainy particularly in Italy around that time

so I need to be prepared for that. As you heard, there's

hiking and adventure activities and things like that,

lots of walking so I need comfortable clothes to do that in

but you also heard me say that this is part business trip as well.

Lots of things to think about, not a lot of space to pack things into

so it's going to be a bit of a challenge.

Let's get into it!

Okay so I'm gonna start bringing out all of the different bits of

clothing that I'm gonna put in to that side and explain them as I go.

So I've got a few pairs of pants that I'm going to take,

always take a pair of jeans or I do.

Can't go anywhere without them.

I've got a second pair as well

sort of don't look like jeans, they're jeans material

and they're sort of patterned, they're like wide-leg as well,

the other one's a skinny-leg. Good to have options.

You'll see that my method of folding is not too precise.

I think some of you might be having

heart palpitations watching me

just shoving things in my suitcase. This is how it is.

An essential in my suitcase is a jumpsuit.

So comfy, easy to throw on, easy to dress up, dress down.

The other essential piece from my wardrobe is culottes.

It looks like a skirt when you're wearing it but it's a pair of

baggy pants. I absolutely love these because I can easily

dress them up with a pair of heels or some sandals

and I can dress them down with some sneakers or some

thongs.

Australian thongs everyone, jeez.

All right and a couple of brightly coloured little pieces

so I've got a skirt that I'm gonna take.

This dress is new, it's from one of my favourite brands Gorman.

I think that I'm going to wear this at our event in Pisa.

I haven't really got shoes to wear with it though so

I'm still thinking about what to do there but I'm definitely taking it,

it's really good and I think it'll travel well because it's just cotton

so it's unlike the jumpsuit, it's not going to get too creased

even with my method of folding.

Another cute little addition that I've got to throw in is

this set of shorts with a top that goes with it.

I really like having the flexibility of being able to dress something

up or down and so you'll see that in my wardrobe,

mostly it's full of really comfortable things that you know you can

add a pair of heels or some earrings or something to dress it up.

It becomes very flexible.

What else?

Okay I've got a - what do we call this?

Skivvy.

A skivvy. What else, maybe like a turtleneck?

It might be called?

A long sleeve shirt with a neck covering and it's a little bit

cropped as well. Most of my pants are high-waisted

so most of my tops are cropped

but what I'm hoping is that just in case it gets a little cold

I should be able to wear this skivvy with

a few different things that I've got in here and I think that will

save me if there are a couple of nights that get chilly.

I've got a couple of t-shirts to throw in.

You guys know from all of my videos including this one,

that I love just wearing black. This is a singlet,

always need to have that. I've got one in beige and I've got all nude.

Perhaps we call that and I've got a black one so all bases covered.

All right I've got a few more

options for tops and things as well so I've got nude or black.

Ideally I don't want to be doing washing while I'm away so

I'm hoping that I can take... I'm probably going to have to do it.

And a little lightweight jumper as well that I can

easily throw in my bag or sort of throw around my shoulders

if it gets a little chilly.

So that's that. Getting pretty full over there.

One thing that I'm really not sure about, warmth,

because like I said earlier,

it's between seasons, it's going to be about

twenty-five which should be really comfortable but I'm sure

there's going to be a couple of days where it's

cooler and a couple of days where it's warmer

and probably a little bit of rain as well so I think it's a good idea

to throw in my rain jacket. It folds down to such a small size.

I don't want to be caught in the rain.

So then I've got to decide between my trusty leather jacket.

This I have had,

gosh it's fifteen years or more.

It is the best purchase that I've ever made

and I love it, probably the one that I should go with.

I really love this one.

At the moment in Australia, we're heading into winter

and it's starting to get a bit cold and this is a down jacket

so it's full of feathers. So warm. I don't want to be cold

but as you can see it's pretty bulky.

Either way, I'm going to wear, whatever jacket I choose

I'm going to wear it on the plane right so

technically I don't need to decide this right now.

Let me know what you think. What should I do?

The other thing that is absolutely essential is activewear

so activewear is kind of

kind of what I'm wearing now leggings and a comfortable

stretchy top. I've got my runners on as well.

All of this I think I'm going to pack and bring.

I'm also going to throw in some bike shorts

in case I want to go for a run, a sports bra

and yeah my workout clothes.

So what else do I need?

Oh socks and undies.

Undies is a really Australian word.

I think undies is short for underpants or underwear.

I want to try and take as many pairs as I can so I don't have

to do washing. I'm going to throw in a couple of pairs of socks,

some sports socks and some other socks,

probably take these on the plane, actually.

All right my togs. I just realised togs is probably a really Australian,

probably even Victorian which is the state where I'm

from, where I grew up, it's not a very commonly used word.

Togs are swimmers, bathers, bikinis,

swimming costume, there are so many words for this.

Swimmers and bathers are probably the most common

and I'm just wondering whether I need to take two pairs.

These are both almost identical. I love this brand, Fella.

They are amazing, very flattering. I know it's gonna be warm,

I don't know if it's going to be swimming every day kind of weather,

maybe not but I don't want to be stuck.

I might take both. Optimistically I'll take both.

All right and the shoes, right?

Shoes are probably the hardest thing for me to pack.

I'm going to take some street shoes.

They can go with everything which is handy.

I'm going to take my Birkies, my Birkenstocks.

In Australia, we shorten that to Birkies,

don't know if everyone else does, do you?

Anyway I wouldn't go anywhere without them.

I will probably wear those ninety per cent of the time and then

when I have to put something else on.

Okay so that's that. I do need something that's a little more dressy

right? I am going to take my runners like I said.

Either I'll wear them on the plane or I'll wear my street shoes

on the plane.

You know when I say I need something a little more dressy,

remember that a little part of this trip is

a business trip right, we're meeting my students, my clients,

we have an amazing event. I don't know if I want to take heels

or I want to take sandals. I don't wear heels that much

and it's not a super formal event

and I can't see myself wearing them at

any other point on the whole trip so I think I might

leave them and opt for the sandals instead.

They're like just slightly dressier than my Birkies

so I might wear those.

Sorry to disappoint any of you who thought I had better taste

in shoes but unfortunately not.

So some of the other things I need to take,

ladies you understand, right?

That packing a suitcase, half of it is just not even clothes

so I've got my hair straightener and

my hair dryer which are essential.

Let me just pop that off, slip that in there.

Toiletries. Toiletries are well it's the collective noun that we use for

anything that comes from the bathroom

so makeup, shampoo, toothbrush.

Let's actually just go through it.

So deodorant, very important. This is roll-on deodorant

but you can also get spray. I've got oh gosh quite a few different

moisturisers, hand moisturisers, night cream, day cream,

you know what it's like.

I've got my cleanser, a hairbrush

a comb, essential for

my fringe.

Some people are you know fifty-fifty on these,

whether or not they like them. I really love them for just

throwing your hair back, butterfly clip.

Toothbrush, toothpaste,

dental floss and a couple of other essential items like band-aids,

always try and remember these when you're doing a lot of walking

in case you get blisters,

Panadol, Nurofens, pain relief.

Hair ties or elastics, hair elastics, hair lackey.

There are so many words for these little things,

so many words I wish that there was an endless supply of them

but they always seem to go missing.

Always remember to take a few.

So that's that and now we've got my makeup case.

Now my makeup case when I travel, I try to travel as lightly

as possible so I've got

my foundation, I've got my powder, my rouge,

eyeshadow and eyeshadow brush,

mascara.

My lip liner

and a couple of lipsticks, couple of options not too many options

but honestly, I really try and keep it light if I can.

That's my makeup case, what else?

I mean this side's pretty full now.

Can you think of anything I'm missing?

I try to take one, if not two, like canvas tote bags

because they're so handy. Canvas is the material that this is

so yeah just a tote bag and I've got a thousand of them.

Maybe I'll put my shoes in it

just to protect them while I'm travelling.

Also be a beach bag you know if we end up going to the beach

or shopping so I don't have to use plastic bags.

All of that stuff so really useful, I always try to pack at least one

if not two. What else?

I haven't put my shampoo or conditioner in yet.

Do you know what? I think that's it. I think I'm done.

So I feel pretty confident that I've got most of the things that I need

in here. The things that I'm missing I'm probably going to put in

my cabin bag, my laptop, any cables and chargers, my phone,

book to read, notebook to write in.

All of that stuff will go in my cabin bag.

Can you think of anything that I'm missing?

Anything that you would pack that I haven't put in here?

If you can think of something, let me know

down in the comments. Try and do it soon

because my flight's tomorrow!

And now it's homework time. I want you to

think about an upcoming trip that you've got and if you

haven't got a trip planned, I want you to imagine one.

Tell me about it down in the comments but also

tell me about what you're going to pack.

What are you going to put in your suitcase to take?

What are the essential and the non-essential

items that you need to take along on your trip?

Practise using some of the words, the vocabulary that we've been

talking about today and that's it!

Wish me a safe journey!

I hope if you've got travel plans coming up

you'll also have a wonderful time.

Thank goodness the world is opening back up again.

I'm looking forward to heading to Portugal tomorrow

and then on to Italy.

I can't wait!