Travelling with hand luggage only

Hope you manage to squish it all in loopy. Have a lovely time!

We often fly Ryanair to Spain with hand luggage and a small bag each. My hand bag is the biggest they allow, in it I put make up jewellery and books ( I know, but I leave the books with a relative out there. ) Then if I have my cabin case put in the hold I have the important stuff on me.

I pack a small lightweight handbag to use when there. We always buy toiletries in the supermarkets, share them and leave them. A few days without the preferred stuff doesn't matter much. The only annoying thing is leaving the remains of expensive sun cream. It always comes in bottles over 100mls.

Have a lovely holiday x

It must just be me by the look of this thread that bitterly resents the people that try to cram huge bags into the overhead lockers!! I've had carefully packed items crushed and ruined by people doing this. We just pay for a case. Its not that expensive. Actually I know its not just me. Check the looks on some of the other passengers faces as you lug your bags on board. Sorry to strike a negative note but its a sore point for me!

But when the case in the hold costs as much to travel as you do yourself it is not surprising that people take as much as they can into the cabin. It is far quicker to just walk off the plane with your luggage than to wait for it to come off the carousel, too.

Tomorrow we fly to Greece Easyjet.......... one trolley bag each.

Himself does his own packing.

I have for the last 20 ish years always used a waistcoat, not for stuffing things into, but for essentials for travelling.

Just filled up the pockets, 6 incl 2 internal ones.

Lip salve, indigestion tabs, iboprufen, pens, mobile, keys for locks, immodium too, just in case, notebooks, pencils.

Its my travelling handbag, copied by our lovely tailor in India.

Internal pockets I will put my money, passport, and so far have never had a problem.

I find airports stressful these days as they can change the rules on a whim, or depending on the scanner.

Now I will not use the same queue as O/H, he's embarased me too much.

DD manages with carry on case for all her trips, she has been in three different countries this week. She has a capsule wardrobe of three colours in silk and other light fabrics, cashmere pashmina folds small enough to go in handbag and is handy to go round shoulders when it is cool on the plane.
When I am travelling I have a folding hairdryer which is only four inches long but very efficient. I dispense all creams and liquids into tiny containers, it is surprising how long 50ml of shower gel lasts.

*Jane10" - I don't find the £50 quoted for a hold bag for each of my 3 short flights 'inexpensive' . Easyjet and Ryanair are both extremely fussy about the size of cabin bags and I have often seen passengers at the airport being made to check their oversized cabin luggage into the hold - at vast expense. My bag has the required dimensions and I can cram quite a lot into it; it is up to the airline staff to police the items taken into the cabin by passengers.

It's very annoying if you comply with the restrictions then other people come along and blatantly disregard them. I went to Tanzania last year, and because a flight on a light aircraft was involved, the tour company said ONE soft bag, no more than 15kg. That included camera equipment. On the light aircraft flight, a couple turned up each with an enormous hard suitcase and were allowed on. I was really cross, having pared my stuff right down and not bought things in the markets that I might otherwise have done.

Thank you Marmight and J52, a super surprise trip from DD!

I've never travelled with only cabin bag before and while I agree with Jane, it's expensive when you have to fork out for hold bags. If we both took hold luggage it would have been another £120, half the cost of one ticket, just for 5 nights.

We watched a couple at Venice airport last year trying to squeeze the contents of two large holdall's into their hold suitcases - they clearly hadn't read the instructions. There were a group of young women remonstrating with another official as none of their bags complied with Easyjet rules (they are very stringent at checking)

I'm not sure if any of them even got on the flight back, they were having such a ding dong.

For our forthcoming Easyjet flight it was only £29 for a hold case. Our flights were very cheap as I'd booked well in advance. Seats and bags cost a fraction of other airlines. Just hope we arrive with our cabin baggage uncrushed by others' bags.

I must admit I've got away with overstuffed hand luggage on many occasions, sometimes lugging behind me cases that were twice the allowed weight limit and more. Once having DH pipe up loudly when he saw a sign re maximum weight that he didn't know there was one, and "yours is way heavier than that!" (a deaf ear was turned). I don't feel any guilt as I figure that our not being overweight more than cancels out the few extra pounds in my case . But twice lately I have seen the person in front or behind me in the queue subjected to a random check and having to pay extra. I'm going to do my best to keep the weight down on my next break and am grateful for all the tips above.

On long haul flights between Auckland and Hong Kong, I have (no exaggeration) seen large wide screen TV sets brought on to the flight as cabin baggage.

I can believe it, annodomini
When I was at Heathrow T3 once to meet one of the DDs we saw people coming through arrivals with huge boxes of electrical goods on trolleys

I am putting off sorting through the stuff to be packed (or not packed). GN is such a distraction.

It's a faff but I list the clothes I've taken and whether I wore all or needed something I didn't take. It helps for future holidays . I was once told to lay out everything then halve it but that has not worked for me. I stick to similar colours and mix and match,keeping to linen as it always is cool and looks creased so I won't iron it on principle.

Right, I am going now to remove one several of the five pairs of sandals/shoes I have put ready to pack

That sounds so familiar! But you know you'll take out the one pair you'll really wish you had with you.

I'm having nightmares about not packing something vital, goodness knows why, it isn't until very end of June and hardly Outer Mongolia or deepest Africa.

Pathetic I know .............

A lot of tips there but even when I've managed and throw a lot away ( old pants and bras) just to bring something back. It worked but at a cost. I enjoy changing my clothes and feel really fed of wearing the same everyday. Its just not a holiday feeling anymore. I pay now and put a suitcase in the hold.

I am like you MargaretX. I cant be doing with the packing hassle so pay the extra.

I have several times popped over to Ireland with just hand baggage. Wear as much as possible as there is no limit on clothing!
Take a couple of tops that you can rinse out. Only one pair of shoes - the ones on your feet.
Some airlines do restrict on weight as well as dimensions. Virgin in Heathrow once refused my hand luggage on this basis. Retire out of sight and remove books, kindles, etc about person and return to checkin...
In the US people seem to lug huge bags into the cabin of internal flights

10kg limit but I reckon I'd struggle to fit that amount in unless packing bricks!

You can buy toiletries sun cream etc in Boots at the airport once you are airside as they let you take shopping from the airport on in a carrier bag. Rolling clothes, not flat packing them is good.if you are self catering you can wash stuff out if you need to.

I've never had my actual handbag weighed, only cabin bag. This is why I use a biggish handbag slung over my shoulder, light as air! Of course! x

My GP weighed my handbag when I had a painful shoulder........it weighed 15ibs!

Lesson learned....for a while

Maggie you take out the nice new pairs then wish you had taken your scruffy old comfy pair that don't give you blisters!
This is when I wish I had a more co-ordinated wardrobe.

Have a good time loopylou - and don't forget there are shops there but you can only bring back the same weight that you took out!