How To Travel with only a Carry On
When it comes to traveling, I try to spend as less as possible, so that often times forgoing paying to check luggage. Also, with this last trip, where we had to switch airports during long layovers, it just wasn't smart to check.
Over the years Ive learned a few tricks to making traveling with just a carry on as easy as possible.
Pick your carry on
Carry ons come in all shapes and sizes and each airline has their own idea of what size a carry on can and should be. In the past, Ive used roll carry ons that I ended up having to check in (In Ireland).
Backpacks, are the best to get through as a carry on.
I've used full blown hiking/camping backpacks which I have taken to Costa Rica and Tanzania easy as Pie.
For this latest Trip I purchased a Cotopaxi Allpa 42L which turned out to be such an amazing asset. I searched for deals on it on Ebay and Facebook marketplace.
I chose this backpack because it had a couple different carrying options and different opening options. It also has a built in rain cover.
Figure out Clothing
Know how many days you will be gone and the weather you will encounter. Lay out all the outfits you would like to take and then condense. For example, If I was going on a trip for 2 weeks I would lay out 14 days worth of outfits and then figure out items I can wear multiple times. It also helps to keep in mind that it would be better to take items that wash and dry easily and/or are light.
SO with a 14 day trip in mind when I look over my outfits and see that I have 3 outfits with jeans, I get rid of two pairs of the jeans and only bring/pack one.
I try to get my 14 day outfits down to 5-7 days worth of clothes that I can repurpose for other outfits during the trip.
Condense
My brother, his wife, and I all had the same backpack and were gone the same amount of days and their carryons looked considerably smaller with the space saving bags. Make sure to get the ones you can get rid of the access air by pressing it yourself without a vacuum.
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