If you are planning a summer holiday by going on a cruise to the Caribbean, an African safari, or a sunny beach in Goa, you cannot think of leaving home without a sun men hats. However, packing a hat in such a way that it would stand up well to the rigors of the travel can be a daunting task, given that a typical sun hat is unwieldy. If you want to avoid the hassle by dropping it from your list of essential holiday accessories, you may risk having severe sunburn. The pleasant reality is that packing a hat for travel does not have to be a hassle. You can very well manage without buying a hat box or any special luggage for your favorite sunhat or your safari hat, fedora, Panama hat, cloche, etc.
How to Pack a Hat for Holiday Travel
If you have never packed a hat for travel, you may think it to be nothing less than an art form, but all you need to do is to exercise common sense and use techniques to pack your hats efficiently. The most important step in packing a hat, so it arrives at the destination in prime condition is verifying the material and structure of the hat. You will appreciate that a straw hat is more liable to get damaged in transit that a hat made of a material like wool.
One of the most practical tips for keeping your hat protected in your luggage is ensuring that you do not place heavy stuff over your hat. Accordingly, you should keep the heavy things at the bottom of the suitcase and place the hat towards the top to prevent it from being crushed and damaged. If your hat has a brim made of a rigid material, it is liable to be damaged easily, so think of using soft padding materials like socks and handkerchiefs to protect it.
How to Pack a Sun Hat without Breaking into a Sweat
Sun hats being stiff and large, are unarguably the most difficult to pack when planning a vacation. Since these hats have a definite formation, you need to be careful to avoid damaging the brim and the crown as depending on the material, it can easily become crushed, creased, or develop cracks that can render it useless. As explained earlier, you should place the heavier items below the hat when arranging your luggage. Do not place men hats on top of anything hard as it is liable to damage them. Instead, make sure that you put your hat down on a layer of soft clothes so that it rests on its crown.
Bustle recommends filling the inside of the crown with soft materials like underwear, sock, handkerchiefs, and T-shirts to reduce the tendency of the crown to deform under pressure. However, you should not pack the inside of the crown too hard because you should try to ensure that the crown maintains its natural shape while maximizing the luggage space. Now pack other soft clothes around the crown and underneath the brim to give them proper support and not allow it to flex and crack under pressure. You should resist the urge to pack the clothes tightly against the crown because you could end up deforming its shape during the long hours of travel.
Other Effective Methods to Safeguard Your Hat
While packing the men hats properly in your suitcase generally takes care of most of the transit hazards that can ruin the shape of your hat, if you want to be really careful, you can drop the idea of using your suitcase and instead opt to carry your hat in a backpack or a duffel bag.
If your hat fits in comfortably inside a smaller bag, you can possibly look after it better because you are likely to have it with you all the time as part of your cabin luggage. Another advantage of carrying your hat in your backpack is you can readily use it if you like after alighting from your airplane and on your way to your hotel or resort. Another foolproof method of keeping your hat safe is to wear it on your journey. You can travel in style and not worry about your hat getting damaged in the luggage.
Conclusion
You should decide how to pack a hat for your vacation depending on the material and shape of the hat. It is best not to pack a very rigid hat like some straw hats as they may crack inside the luggage while in transit. It is also not advisable to carry a hat with a brim wider than your luggage because bending or folding the brim will surely damage it unless it is a soft hat. Be sure to use lots of soft packing material to support the brim and the crown inside the suitcase.
