The Light Packing Thread

Based on a lot of comments posted in the Ex-EU thread of VS cracking down on skiplagging or not taking the last sector, my helpful suggestion was to do hand luggage.

With some unbelievable kilos being crammed in the luggage allowance, I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread to help some of our community pack lighter (and in SRB's vein, save a bit of the planet by reducing weight/emissions/penguin deaths) by offering some reasoned and practical tips to packing lighter.

To keep the tips in perspective, lets try for a 7 night stay with hand luggage. Feel free to laud over how little your luggage has weighed in the past for such a trip!

Cabin Crew must be very good at this kind of thing!

Not going to happen EVER (again) .NCL for 2 days with a carry on was bad enough .
DL

Like the idea of this thread as was contemplating trying to do the same later in the year. Can anyone who has done this also tell us what bags they use as carry on in order to achieve this feat, i.e. manufacturer and bag name.

Thanks.

We were looking at carry on bags today, and were attracted to some which were about 4cms longer than the VS guidelines say. Do they ever check dimensions at checkin-in? I've seen th frame to check sizing, but not seen anyone use it or be asked to do so.

Not going to happen EVER (again) .NCL for 2 days with a carry on was bad enough .
DL

I'm with you on this. No way especially with VS hand luggage allowance

Packing light on a UC trip is taking two cases of 25kg each instead of three x 32kg and just one carry on between the two of us.
Dick D

get bottoms with zipoffs. So you can convert them to shorts.

So my helpful suggestions when I travel which is slightly tailored to business trips for 7 days or less:

- One pair of jeans usually suffices. 99% of the time. Make them dark coloured and you can get away with wearing them for business meetings and evenings out.
- Add a Suit Jacket, gives a smarter casual look for any event you might be required to attend to and can be worn with polo's & t-shirts for evening wear.
- Light brown brogues are excellent for smart day and evening shoes. Wear trainers for the flight if you want two shoe options. But seriously - 2 pairs are plenty for 7 days (I'm expecting a bit of controversy from the female contingent here).
- Never pack shower gel/shampoo. Hotel's always have it and you can always buy stuff there if you need speciality shampoo!
- 3/3/3 mix of t-shirt, polo's and dress shirts. Through the suit jacket into the mix and you definitely have enough day/evening wear.
- Throw in a pair of shorts and swimming trunks if you 100% have the opportunity to swim or be outside. Otherwise they come back unworn.
- One UK>EU/US/AP adapter, then pack a small 4x socket multi-way with USB ports as it saves having multiple adapters for your UK plugs. I really like PowerCube's. They are super tiny and have extra USB ports.
- Decide on one type of aftershave/fragrance and wear that for the week. 25ml is plenty for a week. Guaranteed you don't need two different types.
- Most places aren't that remote to get supplies, so don't worry about packing that much.
- Be ruthless with excess clothing!

That sounds like you can pack in a lot! Should be much easier when going to a hot place, and for holiday:) I tend to only take one pair of jeans or chinos, as it shorts when away. And I wear those when travelling. Can't get away with cutting down on charger for ipad/phone though. Also - straighteners a must, I'm afraid.....

My problem would not be packing to go but packing the ton of shopping i have gathered whilst I am away!

That's something we will have to consider to, we always come back with a bunch of stuff for the little ones. Hmmmmm....

Much easier for guys to pack light. I wouldn't get awsy with that list for a business trip!

So my helpful suggestions when I travel which is slightly tailored to business trips for 7 days or less:

- One pair of jeans usually suffices. 99% of the time. Make them dark coloured and you can get away with wearing them for business meetings and evenings out.
- Add a Suit Jacket, gives a smarter casual look for any event you might be required to attend to and can be worn with polo's & t-shirts for evening wear.
- Light brown brogues are excellent for smart day and evening shoes. Wear trainers for the flight if you want two shoe options. But seriously - 2 pairs are plenty for 7 days (I'm expecting a bit of controversy from the female contingent here).
- Never pack shower gel/shampoo. Hotel's always have it and you can always buy stuff there if you need speciality shampoo!
- 3/3/3 mix of t-shirt, polo's and dress shirts. Through the suit jacket into the mix and you definitely have enough day/evening wear.
- Throw in a pair of shorts and swimming trunks if you 100% have the opportunity to swim or be outside. Otherwise they come back unworn.
- One UK>EU/US/AP adapter, then pack a small 4x socket multi-way with USB ports as it saves having multiple adapters for your UK plugs. I really like PowerCube's. They are super tiny and have extra USB ports.
- Decide on one type of aftershave/fragrance and wear that for the week. 25ml is plenty for a week. Guaranteed you don't need two different types.
- Most places aren't that remote to get supplies, so don't worry about packing that much.
- Be ruthless with excess clothing!

and go full commando for the duration

Easily done to take one roll aboard weighing up to 14kg for a week's travel (mine is a LV BTW ) plus a shoulder bag or laptop bag with computer and other work items. You have to be in UC of course on VS with their ridiculous cabin baggage allowances.

As Ryan says, take a jacket for day and evening wear, two pairs of trews, and tightly pack shirts and other stuff, cut down on the toiletries (US travel sizes are a boon that we haven't properly got the hang of in the UK yet), wash your underwear and socks, 'steal' VS sleep suits en route if you want something to wear when the fire alarm goes off in your hotel ...

I've done four or five days with a single carried bag before ...

All of the above requires temperate weather. In winter it's different!

But do staff ever question or measure, or even weigh, the size bag you are taking on?

My problem would not be packing to go but packing the ton of shopping i have gathered whilst I am away!

Me too! :o

My problem would not be packing to go but packing the ton of shopping i have gathered whilst I am away!

Me too!

Most hand luggage, laptop bags etc have multiple pockets/compartments - I find you can achieve a lot by being selective about what goes in each pocket/compartment and being sure to use them all.

I also tend to fit the biggest items I can fit into each place first, then fill in the gaps with smaller items...

I could probably do it, except I don't really have a carry on sized bag, but generally my medium sized Antler bag comes in around 14kg when checked. For our 2 week trip to Japan that's what it weighed and my OH was the same as we've gotten into the habit of laundering a few items and washing our own socks & undies and then we had loads of room for shopping. The extra bag we took for souvenirs wasn't needed as we managed to pack everything in our 2 bags. We still had clothes unused too which is a lesson to cut back more. And if necessary you can always buy extras at your destination.

So for a week I could probably easily achieve this.

I tried to go HL only on my last 5 day NYC trip with work, which due to work policy was in Y - and I didn't upgrade, as prefer the guaranteed leg room of a extra-leg room seat with spare seat nextdoor to a packed PE myself. Easily packed a suitable bag for suits for week, jeans for evening with polos/jumpers (was winter!).

What killed the hand luggage plan is working in IT - my equipment for the job. Laptop (micro) charger, plus all my numerous kit (conf phone usb speaker for use in hotel is invaluable), headsets... even with using laptop as a charger (which I do), it was impossible in my current handluggage bag. I know Virgin allow a 2nd "laptop" bag, but I don't currently have a suitable one for my kit.

However, if in UC with 2 bags I'd call the hang-luggage plan easily doable.

and go full commando for the duration

No one would ever know But tightly rolled pants fit nicely in between the handle frame in the case. It also makes a nice flat base. I also put paired socks into my shoes. For winter climates, I wear a skiing jacket as my coat!

Not as good as Slinky's LV bag but mine is currently a Antler Tourlite II 4-Wheeler, though I do need a new one as the TSA lock is broken If anyone has any good suggestions? I can only do 4-Wheels nowadays, I can never go back!

I packed so well on my trip to Japan I had no room for my purchases I wanted to bring home. So I bought an army duffel bag whilst there, filled in with dirty laundry and then filled my case with various trinkets I had purchased. Bargain for £12 and I shall take it on future trips as a laundry bag on the return. Not lockable but doubt anyone will want to pinch my smelly smalls!