Traveling Carry On Only

When given the choice, we prefer traveling carry on only. I’m writing this the summer of 2022 when pictures of lost baggage piling up at London Heathrow Airport are popping up everywhere. The piles of lost luggage are almost comically large.

But for every suitcase in that pile, that’s someone missing their clothes or souvenirs or (hopefully not) medical supplies and medicine.

There’s a reason why airlines recommend carrying on anything you don’t want lost.

And there’s a reason (actually a bunch of ’em), why we prefer traveling carry on only.

Sometimes it’s impossible to avoid checking in a bag, but we’ll go over our packing strategies and tips below to make it easier and more convenient for you to go carry on only as well. In fact, we do have a check-in bag we prefer to use when it’s unavoidable (or just undesirable). But we’re also big, big fans of going as light as possible normally with our favorite bags.

Reasons to Travel with Carry On Only Baggage

1. Carry on is cheaper than having to pay for checked bags. Now as every airline seems to charge you for every little thing (shoutout to airlines like Southwest that let you take two free check-in bags), it’s simply more economical to go carry on only. Usually there are zero to minimal fees for carrying on a personal item (backpack, camera bag, purse) and your carry on (roll on suitcase, bigger volume backpack etc) than for checking in a bag that goes in the plane’s hold. I like saving money. It means more food and activities at my destination!

2. It’s less to haul! Keep in mind that all places do not have elevators. Many big hotels nowadays do, but if you’re staying in an older historic building, or getting an airbnb, you may be hiking up some stairs. And, it may get a little tedious carrying several giant suitcases up three flights. You might also be taking a train or public transit between hotels or from the airport. You’ll find the more you transfer between places, the more you want to get rid of your crap. Trust us, we did a weeklong bus tour, switching buses and hotels every night, through Peru at the beginning of our yearlong trip around the world. We were ready to toss both our huge suitcases! Ack!

3. If you do carry on, you don’t have to worry about your luggage getting lost or having items mysteriously taken by unscrupulous TSA agents or baggage handlers. We always keep our valuable stuff in our carry ons, even if we’re going to check-in luggage. That usually means ALL electronics plus at least one day’s worth of clothes should the airline lose our bag. But it’s a lot nice when you can just roll off the plane with literally everything you brought from your trip, knowing it all arrived with you!

4. No long waits at baggage claim. Once you deboard, you’re ready to take off. It’s a timesaver, which is another no-brainer when you’ve traveled halfway across the country (or world) and want to get right to the fun.

5. Space for souvenirs. I mean, we love to have space to bring back some souvenirs. Maybe a good bottle of wine or two depending on where we are. So we go carry on only. Sounds counterintuitive? Read below in “Packing Tips.”

Packing Tips

1. Choose items you can mix and match, so you don’t need a different shirt for each pair of pants or skirt, etc. This means sticking to a limited color pallets. We’re not huge fashionistas, so it’s pretty easy for us to stick with non-clashing colors that we can mix together.

2. Remember: You don’t need to pack everything! Most places you travel to will have all the basics. So, if you’re cold and need to buy a sweatshirt, you can. If you forget or don’t have room for all your toiletries, no problem. Even medication can be purchased abroad, and the process is often easier in other countries compared to the U.S. In many countries, you can walk into a pharmacy, describe your symptoms, and receive medication without needing a prescription. So of course, bring all your crucial meds! But if it’s a “just in case/maybe” kind of situation, you probably don’t need it.

3. Stuff socks or other small items in your shoes to save space. 

4. If you do check luggage, always keep your valuables (cameras, laptops, etc.) in your carry on. Do not risk losing your camera, GoPro, or nice jewelry by putting it in your checked-in luggage. Even if you have a TSA lock, it’s not worth it. 

5. If you intend to shop or get souvenirs, you can pack a compact duffle bag inside your suitcase for extras. We’re usually less concerned about checking a bag on the way back home. If it gets lost, no big deal; we’re at home. Plus if you have to pay for a checked-in bag, at least you’re doing it just one way. So we usually end up checking in our carry-on suitcase and instead taking our duffel back now packed with shiny new souvenirs (potentially breakable stuff we don’t want thrown in the hold anyway!) as carry on.

6. Wear bigger items while you travel, so it doesn’t take up space in your suitcase. For example, I always wear my tennis shoes or hiking shoes on the plane and pack my smaller flats and sandals. I pack thinner tops that take up less space and can be layered and wear my fleece jacket on the plane.

7. Generally speaking, you can pack enough clothes for 1-2 weeks in a small suitcase or 40-45 L backpack, and if you’re concerned you may run out of clean clothes, you can always do laundry. In fact, we usually pack with the intention that we’ll do laundry at some point. For one week trips, this is usually never a concern. For two weeks or longer, we’ll drop our clothes off with the hotel front desk, a local laundromat nearby, or other service if it’s cheap enough, which in our experience, has been the case in many places. Now, be forewarned, generally speaking, hotels offer the most expensive, although most convenient, ways to get your laundry done. So if the prices at the hotel look ridiculous (I’m looking at places that charge $3 USD per t-shirt to wash), then check out a local laundromat to either do it yourself or drop it off on a per kg basis which often works out to an affordable rate. If you want, you can also consider doing laundry in your hotel room with tiny packable packets of soap. Yep, we’ve done this too! Doing laundry overseas may not sound fun, but it’s a lot better than losing your baggage or lugging around huge suitcases.

8. When you’re traveling for a week or two, you only need to pack for one season, and therefore shouldn’t need as many clothes. You can check ahead to see what the weather should be like when you’re there and plan accordingly. Layers are also your friend. Packing close that can easily be layered instead of a huge oversized parka, for instance, can reduce the number of clothes you need, making your existing wardrobe more versatile.

9. Using compressible packing cubes like we do to both organize your clothes and compress them to make more room. It’s nice to have an organized suitcase or backpack rather than digging through a bunch of clothes too.

What to Pack

1. Camera – If you’re a photography buff, definitely bring your camera and whatever lenses and accessories you want. There’s not a lot of super great ways of reducing the space and weight the camera takes up in your pack. We usually shoot with a Nikon Z 6II. Sure the mirrorless format saves a little weight compared to DSLR, but lenses are lenses and can take up a lot of space/weight. To minimize the number of lenses we bring, we use a 24 – 200 mm f/4-6.3 lens. It covers about 95% of the shots we want to take instead of taking multiple prime lenses. But if you just like to have a few pictures for memories, smartphones nowadays tend to take pictures that are just as good, if not better than small point and click cameras. 

2. Compressible Down Coat – These coats are a game changer. Perfect for layering, adding a bit of warmth, and don’t take up much space. Clothes like this make a big difference. 

3. Universal International Power Adapter – Think about one of these with multiple USB ports. That way you can plug in and charge multiple devices at the same time and don’t need a ton of individual adapters.

4. Portable Charger – If you’re out all day and heavily using your phone and other devices to navigate, take pictures, and look up information on activities, you might run through your battery. We’ve found it’s worth bringing a portable charger like this.

5. Shoes – Limit yourself to: tennis shoes, flats/dress shoes, and sandals, and wear the bulkiest ones on the plane. If it’s winter, just tennis shoes or comfortable boots and a pair of dress shoes. We really like lightweight athletic shoes like the Nike Flyknits that can be used for light hiking, walking in the city, working out, and pretty much 90+% of the activities we do on a daily basis.

6. Merino Wool clothes – T-Shirts, socks, and more. These clothes tend to be naturally odor-resistant. You can easily get away with wearing a merino wool t-shirt or a pair of wool socks several days or more without needing to wash it. Just leave it out overnight. It’s like magic. And merino wool (the good stuff) isn’t like a scratchy sweater. It’s far more comfortable than you might think. This moisture-wicking, temperature-regulating miracle fabric is worth the increased cost when you realize one merino wool piece of clothing replaces several of its cotton brethren.

7. Microfiber Towel – Not all pools, beaches, or hot springs provide towels. Microfiber towels are great at absorbing water, dry quickly, and take up very little space. It can also be used as a blanket or a wrap if you’re cold. They dry super quickly, and honestly, we’ve used these way more than we thought we would. They pack down so small and are relatively light, so no need to bring those bulky cotton towels!

8. Collapsible Water Bottle – These are great if you don’t want to contribute to a bunch of plastic waste but also need to save space!

Things You Probably Don’t Need

1. Hair dryer – Most hotels already have one and several of the airbnbs we’ve stayed in have supplied them, as well. You can even ask your accommodation ahead of time if they supply one, and if they don’t they may decide to add that for you. Worse comes to worse, you can wash your hair the night before and it will likely be dry by morning.

2. Extra toiletries – For most generic toiletries, try not to bring extras unless you’re in a remote location. Shampoos, body washes, etc are all easy enough to come by wherever you are. Unless there are specific ones you need, especially medically related, try not to stress too much about it.

3. Guidebooks – Gasp! I used to bring guidebooks everywhere. But the truth is, you don’t need these heavy paper books anymore. Instead, either get them for your Kindle (or maybe your Kindle app on your phone)–or use websites like this one! I’ll admit, these can still be useful, but consider if you’re comfortable with the alternative.

4. And other paper books – Again, maybe you can’t give up your dead-tree edition of a book, but using my Kindle or even my Kindle app on my phone has been a game changer. Especially with the number of books I tear through.

5. Too much tech – Do you need an iPad and a laptop? Do you need your Kindle if you can read on your phone? How many lenses do you really need for your camera? Think of things that you might only use in specific instances–and try to get rid of ’em!

Recommended Suitcases and Backpacks

We talk about which suitcases and backpacks we like in another article here. Moral of the story, we recommend the backpacks we use for our personal items and our carry on luggage. We really appreciate being able to just strap these on and go, rather than pulling a rolling suitcase behind us. However, we’ve definitely used rolling suitcases in the past and can understand why you might want or need them for a variety of reasons. We like our Delsey check-in bags. They’ve dealt with a LOT of abuse. Similarly, the carry on versions are durable and expandable! We like doing expandables for our carry on, because as we said above, maybe we’re coming home with some extra wine bottles or souvenirs–and we need to check the bag in. We can pack more into the expandable ones.