Updated January 19  /  Marisol Ferrante

Weekend city break

Two nights. One bag you can walk 25 minutes with. Arriving after dark, which changes more than people expect.

The weekend list is short because the trip is short, but it has the longest pre-departure block on the site. For two nights, the packing is trivial and the house admin is what goes wrong.

The night before

• Screenshot the booking, do not rely on the appAirport wifi, hotel wifi, and roaming all fail in that order.
• Check the arrival transport still runs at your landing timeThis is the single most common weekend-trip mistake. A 22:40 landing and a 22:30 last train.
• Charge phone, battery pack, headphones
• Cash for the first hourEnough for a bus and a coffee. Not more.
• Put the bag by the door, packed

In the bag

• One change of clothes, full
• Sleep clothes
• Two pairs of socksCities are walked. Wet socks end a Saturday.
• One warm layer more than the forecast suggestsForecasts are for 2pm. You will be out at 11pm.
• Comfortable shoes already broken inA weekend is not the trip to test new shoes.
• Toothbrush and paste
• Deodorant
• Any medication
• Small umbrella or a hoodPick one. Not both.

Pockets

• ID or passport as the destination requires
• One card, plus a second card kept in a different pocketThey do not travel together. This is the entire tip.
• Phone
• Keys, minus the ones you do not needTake your front door key. Leave the office fob, the bike lock, the shed.

Before you shut the door

• Heating down, not off
• Bin outTwo nights is exactly long enough for this to matter.
• Windows
• Perishables into the freezer or the neighbour
• Tell one person where you are going and when you are back
• Photograph the hob and the front doorTen seconds. Ends the 90-minute "did I leave the hob on" spiral on the train.

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The photograph-the-hob line came from a reader. It is on the swaps page with the rest of them.