One carry-on suitcase, one tote with my purse and entertainment needs inside. Flying, driving, two days or two weeks, I don’t care. I’m not bringing any more than that. (Except when we go home for Christmas, when we have a bunch of presents to haul.) Actually, if we’re driving, I usually skip the tote.
Wear jeans and a t-shirt with another layer if appropriate to the weather and all-purpose walking shoes. Pack another pair of jeans/shorts and some twill slacks, maybe a skirt if we plan to someplace dressy. Couple more t-shirts and 2-3 other foldable tops as appropriate to plans. Several pairs of socks/underpants and bras. One dressier pair of shoes. Swimsuit if needed. Ziploc with toiletries I don’t expect the hotel to have or typically don’t like the hotel version of like shampoo/conditioner/moisturizer/hair gel/deodorant and makeup. Another ziploc with first aid/emergency repair stuff. Brushes for teeth and hair. Charger for cell phone and mp3 player.
Put purse in bottom of tote. Add in a throw-away book (the Dollar Tree usually has something appropriate), a book of puzzles, maybe a coloring book and some crayons. Stick water bottle, flavor packs, packs of fruit snacks or nuts, and my mp3 player in the outside pockets.
Plenty to do me for a shorter trip without doing laundry. For longer trips, I kind of like stopping to do laundry one morning–I tend to feel like I need to pack as much fun-having as possible into a trip, and it’s a nice little rest to have to stop and do nothing for a couple hours. Also, we tend to move around kind of a lot on longer trips, and having multiple bags to schlep is a right pain in the arse.
Me too. I hate dragging big carry-ons through airports, and I don’t like checking bags. I once fit everything I needed for a 3 day job interview in another state in a single backpack.
I usually travel light. Especially when I go to visit my mom (who is pretty much the only person I visit overnight anymore). She’s about the same size as me, so if I spill something on myself she’d loan me a shirt. She has a pool too, and I’ve borrowed an old bathing suit of hers before. No problemo!
When I went to NYC for a week (my first time on a plane), I just took a carry-on bag to stow above (with shoulder straps to be easily carryable), plus a backpack as my “smaller carry-on” thingy. It worked out just fine, and minimized the amount of crap we had to go through–no need to check luggage, easier to travel on the subway and walk to our hotel. We shot past a line of hundreds of people checking their luggage at 4am, printed our tickets at a kiosk, and got to our terminal in quite a speedy fashion.
I **did **check luggage when I went to Nevada a couple years later, but that was because I had a guy to impress at the other end. Also, that airline allowed one free luggage-check per passenger. It didn’t get lost or anything, and I’m glad I know how to check luggage if I need to. But in general I’d prefer not to check any bags. I know how to pack to avoid the necessity.
For me, if I’m flying, a gymbag of the size that will fit in the overhead or my small case that goes under the seat. Generally, it has a pair of slacks for every other day a blouse for each day and one to spare, socks and underwear for each day with one to spare, in colder weather or when going the the Great White North (where in the summer, it’s considerably cooler in the evenings than my home in the mid-south USA), something I can layer for warmth, jammies and a swim suit. I keep a toiletry bag and a make-up bag permenantly packed that round it out. In my notebook bag, I pack meds, my notebook or company laptop, my mp3, a spare pair of glasses and a throwaway paperback.
I’m a bit freer when traveling by car, as I’m only limited by what will fit in the bed of my pick-up. I tend to pack in 18 gallon plastic totes, but since car trips are usually for pleasure, the clothing is appropriate to whatever the occasion for the trip is. Usually, one tote takes the place of what I’d normally put in the suitcase or gym bag. In the cab, since there’s no mp3 jack, is a cloth bag with a mountain of CDs, the meds, my notebook, a book and glasses.
As long as it’s not winter where I’m going, a school backpack will fit me for a 3 day weekend. 4-10 days, it’s usally a bag that will fit in an overhead bin on an airplane, plus a smaller bag/purse with entertainment type stuff.
Now, if it’s winter, all bets are off. Sweaters, long underwear, scarves, mittens, warm socks and boots all take up a huge space.
Ultra-light packer(s) here. We just got back from 3 weeks in Europe (family wedding in England, Paris, Chamonix, Verona, Venice) with only two backpacks that fit within Ryanair personal item definition- this is for two adults as well as 7 and 9 year olds. My backpack held an inflatable car seat (we had to rent a car in England), our Nikon SLR, a 15inch laptop and power cord, miniature keyboard for kids’ practice, and 7 tour books (we had others on Kindle). By the time we returned I had exchanged the travel books for 5 pounds of tea from Paris, two glass animals from Venice, a new school backpack for my 9yo, 3 items of clothing purchased at stores, and other small items along the way. As we traveled we washed clothes twice in sinks in apartments/hotels, once at a drop-off laundromat, and once in apartment’s washer. We actively threw away clothes and shoes as we went- I myself threw away 2 shirts, 1 pair of shoes, a pair of socks and an underwear.
We came back about 30% lighter than we departed- even though we were traveling through Paris, Chamonix, Milan, Verona, and Venice on each of their hottest days this summer.
Some rules for packing for our family vacations:
Medicine/First aid kit with common pain relievers etc.
Swimsuit nice enough to be worn as shorts in public (or top or sportsbra)
All underwear (4 pair) is sink washable and air dry within short time
(4 pair) Socks are nearly new and in good condition with lots of wicking ability
1 pair of shorts, 2 pairs of pants (Shorts are becoming more common in Europe, but still not allowed in a lot of religious places and restaurants)
2 nice white undershirts
4 shirts (all buttonable and wearable to restaurant)- one white long sleeved
1 tie for white shirt
1 waterproof jacket
1 pair of sandals/crocs/running shoes
and then wear:
1 pair of leather walking shoes (nearly hiking boot) and clothes fit to wear on airplane + fleece jacket
*Can you tell we idolize Rick Steves (his clothing on his show is absolutely ideal travel-wear and appearance) and have even helped him to (re)write some sections with better ideas about things to do with children in cities???
Depends on where I am going, what time of year, and mode of transportation. If I’m flying I pack pretty light. If driving, I’ll pack more because there’s room.
When going on holiday I overpack every single time and I don’t regret it at all. I don’t want to have to plan a visit to a store to pick up the things I forgot to bring, I want to do whatever comes to mind while on my trip and if that means flying home with half a suitcase of unworn clothes I’m fine with that.
Business travel is completely different. I know before I leave what I’m doing with my time and I pack exactly what I need. The only time I come home with unused clothes from a business trip is if I believe I’ll have time to get to the gym when I’m packing. Note to future self: You never have time, just give up now.
God traveling to the Texas Ren Faire was fun - one full suitcase of costumes, one for my clothes and one for my husbands. While we were there I bought a 5 piece dress with a hoop skirt. I had to buy a new suitcase to get home. Now I tend to pack a collapsible bag inside my suitcase when I’m leaving home - just in case!
None of the above. I travel carry-on only but am extremely good at packing our stuff in. This is what my teenage daughter and I brought home in carry-on luggage after three weeks in three different cities in the US:
2 laptops, a graphics tablet, two Kindles, two phones, two cameras, peripherals for all these, 10 dresses, three pairs of jeans, two pairs of jean shorts, about 14 t-shirts, 3 hoodies, two jackets, a jumper, 6 pairs of shoes, inc. one big pair of boots, the usual toiletries and underwear for two women for two weeks, a blanket, two pillows, 6 pairs of glasses and sunglasses, 3 reading books and 4 large sketchbooks, a torch, three extra bags inside the main bags, a pack of cards, the usual documents/cards/ID, an A3 painting, a poster, numerous Star Wars figures, 2 largish fairground pink flamingos, a Minnie Mouse plushy, a seal plushy, two parasols, an umbrella, two sippy cups, a metal Star Trek lunchbox, an Oscar, and 7 hats.
One the way there we had most of that plus a two-foot tall plastic Kinder Egg full of chocolate.
Are you specifically talking about air travel here? If I’m going on a plane, I travel light. For just an overnight, I can put my clothes in the laptap case.
For vacation, I have a minivan I can fill, so I carry a lot more stuff then.
Yes! Shopping (for neccessary stuff) on holiday sucks, especially if you’ve gone to a foreign country where not only is the language different but so is the way goods are categorised. Not only can you end up searching the wrong end of the shop for something but sometimes you end up in the wrong shop altogether. In the UK all chemists (pharmacies) carry cosmetics and all kinds of accessories. In Corsica I was looking for hair grips in every chemist and walking past the “parfumeries” – well I didn’t want perfume did I? Same trip I got the opening hours of shops completely wrong and had to beg the hotel staff for sanitary towels (by showing them the empty packet and they couldn’t have been nicer about it).
I checked *Any more and I’d need pack animals * but I misread it as *Any more and I’d pack the animals * as in pets. Books are my achilles heel I read a lot and I read fast, if I travelled more I’d get a kindle.
I envy small people, my clothes take up a lot more room – if I were to take the same list of clothes as ScifiSam (who I have met) there is no way they would fit into a carry on!
My packing method is similar to Anamika’s with lists. I start a box a few days before into which goes clothes as they are washed, books as I get them from the library/buy them and all the small fiddly stuff that gets forgotten. When making a list of clothes I go top to toe from hats to socks and inside to out, underwear to coats.
Having said all that my mnenomic to reassure myself that I have the essentials is PMT – passport, money, tickets.
It depends, but if I want to do any work, I need a shitload of books. No, Kindle or whatever doesn’t have the types of books I need, so since I don’t need to read the latest Dan Brown novel, or some English-language public domain, it doesn’t work. 50+ lbs of books, and I’ll sacrifice by wearing the same damn clothes every day. Lucky for me I can carry that shit, but I don’t like it one bit.
If traveling by myself, a single medium backpack is usually enough. I could put it as a carry-on if I had to. I learned to pack light and compact from hiking trips.
Traveling with a 14-month-old like we did this summer: my bag, my wife’s bag, two backpacks for carry-on, a car seat, a stroller, and a plastic bag for whatever else we needed, plus snacks and drinks. A kid doesn’t merely add baggage, he multiplies it.
It depends. When I travel around India, for instance, for weeks/months at a time I pack as little as absolutely possible, when I go for a week or less here in Europe (business or pleasure) I usually pack more, simply because I won’t have time to do laundry or spend my time buying stuff that I need.