It would be really helpful to have the actual list of exactly what you packed, apart from three pairs of shoes and a bit of make-up....

I'm impressed! I've managed overnight stays with a rucksack when I've also had to take workpapers and have used a smaller suitcase for flights. DH always takes just hand luggage when he travels to the States. Not sure I could but having read these posts I would certainly give it a try.

Btw I found M&S no VPL knickers really good - comfortable and can be made really small.

I've done several longish trips in Europe by train, sometimes with a couple of changes. I find I can easily pack everything in a carry-on bag: after all, it's me that will have to do the carrying on! I wear converse pumps in the summer and flat ankle boots in the winter, with an extra pair of pumps or ballet flats. Cotton dresses in the summer roll up small, and in the winter warm dresses and leggings take me from sightseeing to dinner. The one item I don't take is nightwear: it takes up room in my bag I can use for day clothes.

DH and I have often gone to Europe for up,to 10 days with hand luggage only, we manage all our meds ok. Lush do 'solid shampoo, conditioner & shower products' . Buy sunscreen in Boots airside, along with any other essential liquids. (I think that you can Pre-order on line and collect though I haven't used it) I find it totally liberating, as at home I am shoe, clothes and accessory obsessed. Kids think it is hilarious having witnessed over the years my total inability to pack light with up to 5 of our children!!! Have always found pharmacy staff in Europe very helpful if I have needed help (always take copy of our prescriptions with us) Enjoy the stress free moment when you leave the plane bipassing the luggage reclaim.

Reported.

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Have them sent post restante to various places along the route

In our household it is the husband who packs more than I do! I can't stand heavy or large luggage. My small bag on wheels is perfect. It gets more complicated if I have to travel for business and need various outfits to attend various events. And even then I am on the smallest of luggage compared with my most of my colleagues.

I walked on the Camino de Santiago for my 50th birthday and took only an 11-litre backpack which had to contain everything I needed. 2 pairs walking shorts, 1 Rohan skirt, 3 T-shirts, 3 pairs pants and 3 pairs of socks. Nappy pins to attach damp socks to whilst walking (they never dried overnight, but the pants did). A lightweight fleece cardi/jacket and the lightest jacket possible (weighed 320g). Flip flops for the evening - so good to get out of the walking boots! Tiny camera, Kindle, and a small cosmetics bag. having never travelled without the full 25kg or more, I found myself utterly liberated, and I have never overpacked since .

Although you do have this to contend with at the end of each day!

I couldnt embark on a plane journey with just hand luggage, I would love to, but I am sure I couldnt, on the other hand, travelling on a train for a few days within the UK I have managed with just hand luggage,it can be done, but as one reader said, no room for non essentials!

DH and I have travelled a lot, over many years. We have travelling light down to a fine art. A small day pack is fine for weeks on the move. I take 2 pairs of black cotton/lycra trousers,(one to wear, one spare), 3 light cotton tees and 1 long-sleeved ditto as basic. Boden's very soft light tees roll up to nothing and weigh a feather. 4 pairs M&S microfibre knickers, 2 bras, wearing a a warm-but-light merino button-up coatigan with big pockets on all flights (long haul gets very cold). 1 sarong which can be used as nightwear, a blanket, a cover-up - very versatile. Comfortable trainers and very light walking sandals. Meds in mini containers, SPF 30 moisturiser decanted into small plastic pot, make-up limited to mascara and lipstick. No jewellery - too easily lost. I figure i won't know anyone in faraway places and I'm not there to impress anyone, but to be impressed by all the new places. Sure, black trousers and same-old-same-old shirts become very monotonous, but who cares? They are easy to wash and wear, even with a few crumples. Life's too short to travel this amazing world burdened with stuff.

My OH will only ever take hand luggage - even when he was away for over 2 months after retiring. After a lot of business trips he has packing down to a fine art.
BUT he will spend an awful lot on hotel laundry - everything goes in every morning. In Australia I seem to recall $9 just for a pair of socks. It was a relief when we stayed at a service apartment for a bit - with a washing machine.
In hot sweaty climates you do get through a lot of clothes, and if it's very humid things you wash yourself can take ages to dry.
I always take a suitcase, but it's relatively small.

I travel for months at a time in a VW pop top. There is no room for clothes! and everything else must earn its space in the van by being multi-purpose. I have Rohan knickers, but at £18 a pair they are ridiculously expensive. I find that cheap, thin supermarket knickers dry every bit as quickly and you don't mind chucking them our at the end of the trip!

My daughter was away for 8 months in the Far East (gap year) and took a 30L backpack - that's a small one, if you're interested.

Quite how she is my daughter, I don't know as I take the kitchen sink 'just in case' with me. In my defence, I usually end up needing the kitchen sink (one cabin-sized bag is full of medications).

My daughter has promised to come and 'sort me out' (packing-wise!) prior to a holiday and I'm scared.....!

Yes I could do this with just a small case and a handbag. I have traveled Europe like this and would love to travel the world too.
I just take lots of photos as souvenirs

My half is just where it would give me a visible panty line

I am going to try harder when I pack in future.

I always pack up to the maximum in luggage that I'm allowed - just in case it's hot/cold. etc. But when you go on a cheap flight it can cost an extra £45 sometimes for a large suitcase in the hold and so then I try to just take a cabin bag and think I will use that £45 to spend on items as I need them. Most times I hardly spend anything - usually shower gel or sun cream. I think it's quite empowering and refreshing to travel light.

I take Travel Wash which comes in a 75ml tube. It's not perfect, but for 2 or 3 weeks it's enough IMO to clean and freshen the clothes.

Jalima, Rohan knickers have soft elastic which doesn't cut me in half, but I suppose it depends where your half is

I was waiting at Heathrow for family to arrive years ago and saw people coming off a plane from the Middle East (I think) with enormous boxes which looked like washing machines, tumble driers, tvs etc!

The worst offenders for taking huge amounts of cabin baggage had to have been on a flight from Auckland to Hong Kong. More than one passenger managed to come aboard with a wide screen TV set.

I know people who go on board the aircraft looking like teletubbies and I just hate wearing trainers on an aircraft.

There is no hope for me. I am a 25kg+ kinda gal.

Yes, save it up and wait for a washing machine!
What do you wash it in? As one who had Persil washing powder very carefully inspected many years ago I am wary!
Where do you hang it? DH will not have damp clothes hanging around.
and, heaven forbid, what if you get a sickness bug .....

We've had a couple like that, Jalima. One also included a day on a glacier, so we'd to have walking boots, a warm jacket, gloves and a hat. I had it all on to fit everything in the big case

I'm not one for washing things in a basin on holiday. I can't even be bothered with that at home. Handwash and dry clean only take their chances in the washing machine here. I've only come to grief once - for anyone considering it, suede really does not wash well

yes, a holiday which combines a cruise, some posh hotels but also the outback.

That requires more than hand luggage.

Pack the same way whenever I go to Australia for 6/7weeks..saves wasting time stood at baggage carousel?..