Travelling with hand luggage only

Why would you do this?

I used to be a paying for a hold suitcase on every flight sort of person. I packed plenty of outfit options, a few books etc so I’d just have to book a suitcase onto my flights. Then I realised on my last big trip that at approximately £20 per flight, when I’m taking flights from Leeds to Riga, Riga to Tallinn, Helsinki to Riga to Budapest and Budapest to Manchester, you’re talking £100 or more just on suitcases. That’s more than I spent on accommodation for Riga and Tallinn!

As I always aim to travel on a budget, paying for a suitcase on all those flights wasn’t going to happen, and thinking about the wasted time waiting for my bag, and the possibility of it getting lost, just wasn’t worth it either. So I decided I’d be travelling with hand luggage only, and I’ve done that on every solo trip since.

Now I mostly travel with J, we still do hand luggage only for our shorter trips. For longer trips, we check in one small bag between us, and so the tips in this post are still very much needed.

Packing a hand luggage only bag

Packing your bag is, obviously, the most important thing here. You need to have enough clothes for the number of days you’re away, for the correct weather conditions, and if you’re doing anything special you may need different clothes for that too. Adding something like swimming stuff, or a towel if you’re in a hostel, or heels for your planned nights out, can make this really difficult.

When I’m packing, I start with a list. This list will be written a few weeks before my trip, often on the trip before, and it’ll be tweaked as I go along. I then take the list with me on the trip so I can edit it, so that future trips are easier. My current small bag checklist is as follows:

Things for sleeping: Leggings (which I fly in, and then wear to bed whilst I’m away) a comfortable t-shirt, and underwear. I don’t want any of this to take too much space and if I’m away for more than 3 nights, I hand wash underwear part way through the trip. Never take more than 3 days worth of pants when that’s likely to mean you can’t take other important things!

Daytime clothes: Dresses tend to take up less space than multiple pairs of jeans, and they’re less heavy, so I pack a dress per day, or a dress per couple of days for a longer trip, and a couple of cardigans, one of which I travel in. Dresses also tend to roll up easily without creasing, so no need to try and iron on a trip-who has time for that? Tights and underwear take up very little space, and again if I’m away for more than three nights, I hand wash part way through the trip.

Skincare/makeup/other liquids: I never use face wipes at home, but on a trip I break that rule to save room in my liquids bag. Face wipes can go in with clothes, along with anything powder like eyeshadow, blusher, face powder etc. I’ll be honest, I take very minimal makeup on trips-I used to, but I never chose to wear it, and it was a waste of space and weight allowance for me. I just take a foundation with SPF, two lip stains that also work as blushers, one small eyeshadow palette, my eyebrow gel and face powder.

I pack a decent toner and a decent moisturiser decanted into a little pot, and for longer trips I take my vitamin C capsules, so my skin is pretty happy. I don’t tend to wear SPF on my body in the UK but on trips to a hot country I buy this at the airport on the way to my first destination, so it’s not using my liquid allowance. I also keep a stash of mini perfumes that go on trips with me, the kind you get as freebies when you’re buying something in Sephora or from an online beauty store.

Tech and gadgets: I usually travel with a camera which takes up a bit of space, but I’ve gone from taking my Canon DSLR with 3 or 4 lenses to my Olympus Pen with just the kit lens and a 17mm F1.2 lens and this has halved the amount of space my photography kit takes. For me, when packing any tech, it’s worth considering how much you’ll use it. I take hundreds of photos a day, if you’re someone who snaps one or two, would you be better using your phone and keeping the luggage space for something else?

I also pack my iPad to edit photos on the go, although I don’t do this for shorter trips. I do always take my kindle, as this takes much less space than books, and I read a lot. My Kindle Fire also lets me watch Netflix so it’s ultra handy.

I pack a couple of travel adaptors and more charger cables than I think I need, in case one breaks or I lose it. I also pack a spare memory card, a spare camera battery and, if the trip is longer than 3 nights I take my camera battery charger too.

I never take a hairdryer because of space, but I book places that have a hairdryer in the room or accommodation. I do always pack my hair straighteners,

Food and drink: I try not to pack too much as food tends to be bulky, but I always pack teabags and some snack bars. For a longer trip, where I’m staying in air b n bs and trying to save money, I’ll often pack a couple of packets of pasta or supernoodles for some cheap meals.

Things I’ve learnt from hand luggage only trips

Always use packing cubes/bags: Packing cubes help to organise your bag, which saves having to unpack everything all the time, and more importantly they help to compress the size of the clothes in them. I use one for day stuff, one for night stuff, a zip bag for underwear and a separate zip bag for gadgets.

Pack one pair of comfy, practical shoes only: Everytime I’ve taken more than one pair of shoes, I’ve not worn them. I tend to travel in a pair of comfy trainers and pack my Birkenstocks if I’m going to warm countries, or I travel in boots that I wear for the whole trip if it’s cold. Multiple pairs of shoes are a waste of luggage space.

Wear both a jacket and a jumper on the plane: If you’re going on a trip where you’ll need a coat, wear your coat on the plane, along with your biggest jumper, so you don’t need to pack them. Definitely don’t do what I did flying back from Paris though-make sure you pick up your jacket from the overhead locker when getting off, even though you’ll forget because you’re warm enough in your jumper. RIP my favourite green jacket…

Do you travel hand luggage only, or are you someone who always needs to check in a bag?