Vancouver Island-based travel writer Linda Barnard is ready to fly with everything she needs for nearly a month of journeying through five European cities with varied climates. (Photo courtesy of Hans Pellikaan)
With baggage fee creep and the stress of lost and delayed luggage, carry-on is going to be the only way to fly in the summer of 2024.
For a long weekend or even a week, no problem. But a month?
It can be done.
“Once you start travelling light, you’ll never go back,” says Victoria-based travel writer Kim Pemberton. “I love never having to worry about lost luggage and being able to leave the airport ASAP.”
As a freelance travel writer, I swore off checking bags a long time ago. It wasn’t hard. My trips are typically under seven days.
Now I was facing my luggage Everest: 29 days in five European countries. There would be lots of train travel. That means hauling a bag up and down staircases at railway stations between platforms. Navigating the nervous-making gap between steep train steps and the ground is challenging with a big, heavy suitcase.
My itinerary included Seville and Córdoba, Spain; Vienna, Austria; Ljubljana, Slovenia; and the German regions of Saxony and Bavaria. There were two conferences in the mix, so I had to pack something professional-looking. Could I make it work?
I grilled my fellow road warriors about how they manage carry-on only for long trips, including the travel writer who just keeps circling the earth like a human Snowpiercer.
The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority limits carry-on liquids to a 1-litre bag with no one item over 100 millilitres. Travel writer Linda Barnard packed items that would do double-duty, like a moisturizer with sunscreen. Flat-pack bottles were great for cleansers and hair care. (Linda Barnard photo for Vacay.ca)
They were encouraging. Don’t think about packing for a month, one advised. You’re packing for five days and constantly rotating.
The right luggage is important. I’m a long-time fan of durable TravelPro luggage. I took the Platinum Elite 22-inch rollaboard on the trip. The two-wheeled, expandable case has an interior compression strap and more interior space than my favourite 22-inch TravelPro Maxlite 5 spinner. Four wheels take up precious inches of packing volume, but I missed the ease of a spinner when it came to getting in and out of airport toilet stalls.
For my personal item, I used an 18×12-inch Travelon anti-theft backpack. It conforms to airline size limits, has a waterproof interior and fits under the seat in front of me. I can get a remarkable amount of stuff into it, too. I slipped AirTags into both pieces.
As for what to pack, online searches offered inspiration and suggestions: Layer, stick to a couple of colours to mix and match outfits, and roll, don’t fold, clothes to minimize wrinkles and space.
The TikTok-popular “5,4,3,2,1 packing system,” which ranges from five tops to one hat, was too limiting for me. But it was a start.
Many travel sites recommended compression packing cubes. I took three and labelled the contents with masking tape for organization.
It sounds a bit obsessive, but I spent about a month planning my carry-on game, packing and repacking my case. It paid off.
I also came up with a few packing rules of my own:
- Realize that nobody notices what you’re wearing. Seriously. They only care about what they’re wearing. Everything in the suitcase must be worn multiple times in different ways.
- Take laundry strips and a couple of small packets of wool wash for sink laundry. A Tide to Go stain remover pen is a good idea, although it’s not always successful. The squid ink vs. my white T-shirt battle did not end well. Plan to do a machine wash at the halfway point. We booked an Airbnb apartment in Ljubljana because it had a washing machine. Or hit a laundromat and see if the locals are separating their whites and darks.
- Be ruthless about shoes. Wear running or walking shoes on the plane and pack one pair of dressier shoes. I tucked slim Mephisto sneakers in my backpack. They worked well for dinners and events. I regret bringing a pair of soft sliders when so many hotels give you slippers.
- Do dress rehearsals. Lay everything you plan to bring on the bed. Put most of it back in the closet. Try everything on. If it doesn’t fit now, I guarantee it won’t later. Figure out how to make multiple outfits from a few pieces.
While preparing to be on the road for 29 days in five European countries, Linda Barnard knew she would have to haul luggage up and down staircases at railway station platforms at some point. So packing light was a must. (Linda Barnard photo for Vacay.ca)
As for liquids, gels and toiletries, that 1L bag looks very small when you’re packing for a month. Hello, amazing European drugstores! I’ve been using Kitsch 90 mL flat toiletry bottles for years and added a trio of even smaller FlatPak Toiletry bottles by Matador to my bag. At $44.99 for three, there was sticker shock involved. Having curly haircare products at hand? Priceless.
My backpack held my liquids, notebooks, chargers, medications, and supplements, a lightweight shawl, snacks, small crossbody purse, mini umbrella, e-reader, a Columbia backpack that folds into a wee pouch (perfect for day trips), reusable water bottle and my laptop. The computer was an unnecessary weight I didn’t need, considering how little I used it.
Since I’ve had melanoma skin cancer, I need sunscreen and a broad-brimmed hat. I love my Wallaroo sunhat, which rolls up or packs flat and doesn’t look dorky. I use 50 SPF stick sunscreen when I travel, a small one from a good skincare line for my face and a larger, mineral-based stick for the rest of me. They work well and don’t add to my liquids tally. And since everything must do double-duty, I took a tube of 30 mL face moisturizer with 30 SPF.
Long-range weather checks helped me decide what to bring. But it was hotter in some places and much colder in others than predicted. The uncommon heat wave in Vienna and Ljubljana was followed by a 20-degree drop in temperatures when I got to Germany, including snow in Franconian Switzerland, an otherworldly place of forest caves and jutting rock formations. The spa town of Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic was overcast and cold, which made the 38 Celsius degree (100.4 Fahrenheit) outdoor thermal pool heavenly.
A two-wheel rollaboard case takes up less space in overhead bins and has more interior room than a four-wheeled carry-on. A backpack counts as a personal item. It must fit under the seat in front of you. Airlines have slightly different rules on size, so check. (Linda Barnard photo for Vacay.ca)
Pack layers, the experts say. Those layers are your friend when it starts to hail.
I also had two secret weapons.
My partner brought checked luggage and he had space if I needed it, like room for the Spanish olive oil. I slid a large fold-up tote in my rollaboard to use as a carry-on for anything I accumulated during my travels and so I could check everything for the flight home.
What did I pack? Here’s what went into my suitcase:
Five pairs of pants: Linen trousers for hot climates, a pair of lightweight black joggers, black trail tights and black wide-leg lightweight dress trousers. I regret bringing a heavier pair of black jogging pants, which I barely wore. Everything packed flat in a compression compartment inside the suitcase lid. Lightweight grey jeans were my travel outfit. They could be dressed up and were welcome on cold days.
Nine tops: A black, long-sleeved merino wool top was my go-to. I also had two lightweight blouses; one multi-coloured, one white, a technical workout shirt, two short-sleeved T-shirts in white and black, a long-sleeved, lightweight blue-grey T-shirt, a dark grey merino-silk blend long-sleeved top for a base layer and a warm and lightweight black cashmere cardigan.
Two jackets: I wore my black Eddie Bauer Departure Blazer everywhere, including on all travel days. It weighs nothing, has a bunch of pockets and looks good dressed up or with jeans. I also packed a super-lightweight cream and gold bomber-style jacket for evenings and events.
Other stuff: Bathing suit, socks (packed too many), underwear (wish I packed two more pairs, I was constantly doing sink laundry), bamboo leggings, and a light top for sleeping.
Topper: I picked up a waterproof Orvis Ultralight City Jacket with hood at a used outdoor clothing store in Victoria. It was roomy enough for multiple layers underneath and light enough to roll and pack.
The takeaway: I made it work, managed to look good when I needed to and I often wished I had packed even less.
I checked both my backpack and rollaboard for the flight back to Canada. Due to a tight connection in Vancouver, only one bag made it home with me and was delivered to my door the next day. Call it a life lesson.
