Перед поездкой я собираю вещи вечером, чтобы утром не спешить.

Because the preposition перед normally requires the instrumental case when it means before / in front of.

• поездка = trip
• nominative: поездка
• instrumental: поездкой

So:

• перед поездкой = before the trip

This is a very common pattern:

• перед уроком = before the lesson
• перед встречей = before the meeting
• перед отъездом = before departure

So the form поездкой is there because of the grammar required by перед.

Yes, often you can, but the feel is a little different.

• перед поездкой = before the trip, often closer to the event itself
• до поездки = before the trip, more neutral and broad

In this sentence, перед поездкой sounds very natural because it suggests preparation shortly before leaving. It fits well with packing your things the evening before.

So both are possible in many contexts, but перед поездкой is especially natural here.

In Russian, the present tense is often used for:

1. habitual actions

   • Перед поездкой я собираю вещи вечером...
     = Before a trip, I pack in the evening...

2. general personal practice / what I usually do

So this sentence most naturally sounds like a habit or a usual strategy, not a one-time event.

If you wanted a one-time future meaning, you would more likely say:

• Перед поездкой я соберу вещи вечером...
  = I’ll pack in the evening before the trip...

So собираю here suggests I usually pack or I pack as a rule.

Yes, literally собирать can mean to gather / collect / assemble, but in many everyday contexts it also means to pack.

So:

• собирать вещи = to gather one’s things / to pack
• собрать вещи = to pack up one’s things (completed action)

This is a very common expression when talking about travel, moving, or getting ready to leave.

Examples:

• Я собираю вещи в чемодан. = I’m packing my things into a suitcase.
• Пора собирать вещи. = It’s time to pack.

Because Russian usually expresses things / belongings / clothes with the plural вещи.

• вещь = a thing, an item
• вещи = things, belongings

So собирать вещи is the normal way to say pack my things or pack my stuff.

Using singular вещь here would sound unnatural unless you meant one specific item.

Because Russian often uses the instrumental case by itself to express time, especially with parts of the day.

• утром = in the morning
• днём = in the daytime / during the day
• вечером = in the evening
• ночью = at night

So:

• я собираю вещи вечером = I pack in the evening

There is no need for a preposition like in. Russian just uses the case form directly.

Yes. вечером is the instrumental singular form of вечер.

This is one of the common uses of instrumental in Russian: expressing time when with words like:

• утро → утром
• вечер → вечером
• ночь → ночью

So in this sentence, both перед поездкой and вечером are instrumental, but for different reasons:

• перед поездкой: instrumental after the preposition перед
• вечером: instrumental used adverbially to mean in the evening

Because чтобы introduces a subordinate clause of purpose.

The structure is:

• main clause: Перед поездкой я собираю вещи вечером
• purpose clause: чтобы утром не спешить

In English, this is like:

• I pack in the evening so that I won’t have to rush in the morning.

Russian normally separates that subordinate clause with a comma.

Here чтобы means so that / in order to.

It introduces the goal or purpose of the action:

• я собираю вещи вечером = I pack in the evening
• чтобы утром не спешить = so that I don’t have to rush in the morning

So the idea is: I do X in order to achieve Y.

Very common pattern:

• Я рано ложусь спать, чтобы выспаться.
  = I go to bed early so that I can get enough sleep.
• Он пришёл раньше, чтобы помочь.
  = He came earlier in order to help.

Because after чтобы, when talking about a general purpose or avoiding a process, Russian often uses the imperfective infinitive.

• спешить = to hurry / to be in a rush
• поспешить = to hurry up once, to act hastily

Here the speaker means:

• so as not to be rushing in the morning
• so that there is no need to hurry

That idea is naturally expressed by не спешить.

If you said не поспешить, it would sound odd here, because поспешить is more like to rush once / to do something hastily, not the general state of being pressed for time.

Because Russian normally says утром for in the morning.

This is a fixed, very common time expression:

• утром = in the morning
• вечером = in the evening
• ночью = at night

Russian does not use в утро in normal speech for this meaning.

So:

• чтобы утром не спешить = so as not to rush in the morning

As written, it most naturally means a habit or usual behavior:

• Before a trip, I pack in the evening so I don’t have to rush in the morning.

If you want a clearer one-time future meaning, Russian would usually prefer the perfective future:

• Перед поездкой я соберу вещи вечером, чтобы утром не спешить.

If you want a past meaning:

• Перед поездкой я собрал вещи вечером, чтобы утром не спешить.

So the present tense here most strongly suggests what I normally do.

Russian word order is flexible, and different orders change emphasis more than basic meaning.

This version:

• Перед поездкой я собираю вещи вечером, чтобы утром не спешить.

puts the main focus first on the general situation before a trip, then on what I do, and then adds in the evening.

If you said:

• Перед поездкой вечером я собираю вещи...

that could sound a bit more tightly connected, as if the evening before the trip is being emphasized.

If you said:

• Вечером перед поездкой я собираю вещи...

that strongly highlights the timing.

So the original word order is natural and neutral, but other orders are also possible depending on what you want to stress.

Both ideas are close, and English can translate it in different ways depending on style.

Literally:

• утром не спешить = not to hurry in the morning

Natural English equivalents might be:

• so I don’t have to rush in the morning
• so I’m not in a hurry in the morning
• so I won’t be rushing in the morning

So the Russian expresses the simple idea of avoiding morning hurry.