Travelling with hand luggage only

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

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

*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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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

DH is just as bad as me, he's just said he couldn't do it

I'm staggered at how much stuff he thinks he'll need for a week in Spain, the last time we went away ...he packed a big case and a small one just for him.
Perhaps over-packing is contagious

We often got four a few nights and we take one small case each as hand luggage. I am a 'just in case' person too but it's surprising how much you can cram into those small cases.

My stuff is all over the spare bed, I will have to go and prune it I think!

grannyknot I am so impressed, please come and help me

Good idea rosequartz
I need to measure my small suitcase as flying out with Monarch and back with Iberia so might have different regulations re:size.
10kgs weight allowed (DH says I usually take double that in hold luggage, he's waiting to see if I survive with one small bag!)

We'll buy toiletries etc when we get there I think.
It would be great if all the airlines agreed on the same

I thought about that jingl, DD will keep me in check

Thanks everyone, really helpful x

The only problem will coming back, with your shopping.

Make sure you have a padlock on your hand luggage. Ryanair took our hand luggage off us and put it in the hold as the overhead lockers were full so they said. We had paid for hold luggage as well; they seemed to pick people at random.
We had no padlocks on our hand luggage, I panicked as it had medication, jewellery, a kindle in mine. It was fine but it made us very anxious to start off our holiday.

We paid £60 for one piece of hold luggage!

I have just come back from Majorca after 6 days and I managed quite well with hand luggage bag only,I was't convinced at first when DS2 told me that was the allowance or pay £30.00 per suitcase
I took 1 pair of linen pants 3/4/4 floaty light tops/1 x maxi dress/a pashmina and wore my light weight jacket & 3/4 jeans,I decided I was not sunbathing so did not bother with swim suit etc,just remember to put all liquids in your case together in a see through bag,we found on the flight back Ryan Air checked in all our cabin bags at no extra charge as they had loads of space on the return flight not often you get anything for free off them.Hubby took a small flight bag but he could pack his stuff in a plastic bag and have enough he's easily pleased.

I travelled to South Africa for 3 weeks recently with hand luggage only - in a hot country you can "wash and wear" My tip is to take stuff that you can roll up.

I did also take a back pack.

Mind you, husband, who took a large bag, had to bring all my purchases back!

Have a lovely holiday Marmight
I like the idea of a jacket with big pockets too - I might look like a Michelin man but I never was a fashion guru, hey ho!