Guys. I confess. I am an over packer. I have a problem.
Whenever I go on holiday, I always pack waaaay more than I need. I know I do it, and I still do it. I can’t seem to stop myself.
My most recent trip involved a week in Palm Springs and just under a week in LA. I took enough clothes with me for a whole extra week, and I did so consciously. Why? I genuinely have no idea. I wasn’t staying another week!
As I muse on the silliness of it all while I cobble this post together, I think it might be that I have some sort of in-built need for contingency or resilience. For example, what if I only take a few shirts, but spill red wine down one of them, or get crapped on by a bird? What if I don’t take enough shorts/trousers and I sit in some gum? What if a passing car splashes me with mud from a puddle? The thing is though, these things rarely, if ever happen, so I tend to end up hauling around a massive case literally full to bursting with more stuff than I’ll ever need one any given trip. It’s ridiculous. I admit it. This includes (but is not limited to) tops, bottoms, underwear, nightwear, shoes, toiletries and accessories. It's mad.
I recently ran a poll on my Twitter account (which you can take a look at via the Twitter icon on my blog!) about whether I should use an upcoming twelve-day trip to Thailand as an experiment to see if I could go long haul, for more than a week, with cabin-sized luggage only. I thought it was going to be a bit like Brexit with a 48/52 split, aaaand… well... it was… a split of 53/47 with the winning response to try going with cabin-sized luggage only.
So I think I am going to do it. Tentatively.
Now, the caveat is that I’m travelling in Business class (omg my first time in Q-suites!!!) so my checked luggage allowance is crazy generous, as well as carry-on allowances. That means I can have a carry-on size case as well as another small bag, so that’s going to be the sneaky part as I can add a few more things into a large-ish ‘weekend’ type bag to get a few more things on board.
However, that comes with its own perils. As this trip is a two-in-one holiday and (my first ever Oneworld status) Tier Point run (thanks Turning Left For Less!), my flight itinerary is LHR – ARN – DOH – BKK (and that is not including internal Thai flights from BKK – CNX – USM – BKK!!!) However, having cabin-sized luggage only, when travelling solo, introduces some limitations. For example, I can’t just leave all my stuff in the lounge with a buddy while I pop to the loo; I’ll need to cart everything about with me for the whole time, which could in itself end up being quite frustrating, what with two stops and multiple internal flights, therefore diminishing the enjoyment of the trip by adding in, intentionally, more stressful activities like worrying about where to put all this luggage. Now, this might sound like a first-world-problem (and it likely is), but I am not hugely used to travelling long haul on my own, least not to a place where I can’t read or speak any of the language, so trying to make this as stress-free as possible is really key. I don’t know of many airports that have a left luggage facility airside where it could be possible to leave such cases while you move about, going to lounges or shops, etc. (If you know about airports where you can do this, please let me know I'd be interested to read more about it.)
The solution? I think I am going to take a cabin-sized bag, with a separate weekender, and check the cabin-sized bag. That way, I am taking waaaay less stuff, and removing the stress of carting everything about. Win-win right? It’s in the realms of the bleeding obvious, but I genuinely need to start to learn to take fewer things with me on trips, whether they're short or long haul, so that seems like a fairly sensible way to do it. It also means that in the weekender I can keep some smaller toiletries and a fresh pair of trousers, tee shirts and underwear to change into en route, given my itinerary involves two stops.
Aside from training myself to take less unnecessary luggage with me on every trip I do just to reduce the amount of heavy lifting involved (and associated cursing and sweating!), it also means that I am, in a very small way, minimising the overall weight of the aircraft I am travelling on, which reduces even by the tiniest margin, the amount of fuel needed for it to get me to where I am going and therefore reducing my own carbon footprint. Now, in the grand scheme of things, that’s virtually nothing, but I started to think about what it’d be like if we all did this; every passenger on every flight? I was reading an interesting article with Finnair CEO Topi Manner which talked more about Finnair’s drive and desire to move towards a more sustainable and carbon-neutral model, and he discussed methods in which Finnair is trying to reduce overall aircraft weight, such as improving fuselage design and materials. He also discussed sustainable options; removing printed newspapers and replacing those with digital solutions, or replacing metal cutlery with a lighter alternative. I notice that Qatar Airways leave toothbrushes and other paraphernalia in the bathrooms to take by choice should you need them, rather than giving them out to everyone needlessly which again reduces the volume of discarded single use plastics which is also really great in terms of moving towards sustainability. I think some airlines effectively encourage people to take everything but the kitchen sink away with them by offering staggeringly large luggage allowances, which while not unmoral, I do find very hard to justify in my own head. My ticket to Thailand with Qatar Airways allows a whopping 40kg of luggage, which is absolutely bonkers. Obviously in some cases that could be justified, but on the flip side I think it’d be a great thing, as passengers, to just think while packing “Do I really need this?” If the answer is “no”, then leave it behind. Given there are more aircraft than ever in the skies, we should all be making personal choices about how we impact on the environment and about how we travel. While I greatly admire Greta Thunberg’s daring use of catamarans to get to the US, that isn’t time-viable for anyone currently, so making small-scale, thoughtful choices with things like lightening the luggage could reap benefits in terms of the reduction in carbon emissions from flying, if done en-masse by a conscientious population.
In terms of lightening luggage loads, it would be incredibly helpful if every hotel had some kind of laundry service available at a fair price point. However, I tend not to stay with the larger chains (unlike a lot of travel bloggers/points collectors), instead opting to stay in smaller, unique boutique types of accommodations, where laundry facilities for guests just aren’t really feasible. For example, The place I'm staying at in Bangkok is a family-run bed and breakfast with only five rooms. I also don’t think it’s especially conducive to a relaxing holiday (or a pragmatic use of time) to have to use a local launderette either, unless you're on a long term trip and/or backpacking (which I definitely do not do!) So that means the only option really is just to pack light, and be savvy with it. And cut-throat.
I tend to almost exclusively use Eastpak luggage, whether it's a toiletries bag, a cute weekender, a small cabin sized soft-shell case, or a huge trolley bag for a three-week trip with my partner. I find their versatility and quality of product, aesthetic and price point really suit my needs, plus their pieces tend to be pretty light, so not overly affecting the weight of my luggage by themselves inadvertently, which is another consideration when buying your luggage in the first place.
Another thing... a Twitter follower suggested using packing cubes but I honestly cannot see the point of these in terms of saving space; the only reconciliation I could see for using these would be if I were trying to be more organised in terms of fitting everything in my luggage. Am I missing their point? I am unsure how they would help you save space. After all, they're not vacuum bags (which I'd avoid anyway as I don't want to get to my destination with every single thing creased!) If anyone has any more information or pointers about using packing cubes, please drop me a note!
Anyway, usually my case on any given long haul trip is clocking 22/23kg. For Thailand, I want to get that down to 15kg at the absolute maximum. I am going to have to try several trial runs to make it work, which might actually be a pretty good idea in terms of understanding what I can physically fit into the space I am giving myself.
If that means having to wear the same tee shirt twice, then challenge accepted.
(The success of this whole venture will be a blog post in February '20, once I am back!)
Do you have similar packing woes? What are your packing tips? Why even use packing cubes? Let me know! :)