How to travel only with one carry-on bag

The person that never traveled with a big wheeled bag should throw the first rock!

I believe that everyone during their lives has experienced the problems of packing a little too much and never wear everything we took with us.

However, adding to the weight frustrations (like sweating to carry a big bag around, hitting everything and everyone in public transportation and taking a lot of time to pack and never be able to dot as we did back in our homes, etc,.), airlines charge for additional bags, overweight luggage and bags that are taken to the cargo hold.

A good way to avoid these fees, not having our bags lost by airlines, and make it easy on our muscles, is to travel with only a carry-on bag. I mean by this, with a cabin-approved carry-on bag (the standard for most airlines is 55x40x20 cm).

 I changed my approach to packing and started traveling light (with just one bag) when I saw a friend of mine waiting in vain for his bag to come out of the aircraft into to conveyor belt. He ended up waiting 4 days to have his clothes returned!

Nowadays, I travel with even less than that (check my article on how I started traveling with only a 20 liter backpack), but I never travel with anything that I cannot carry with me into the aircraft cabin. This means, the maximum bag size I take is a cabin size carry-on bag.

 

There are a lot of benefits of traveling with just a carry one, but there is one that, in my opinion, is unique to these types of bags when comparing to bigger and with smaller bags.

The cabin-approved carry on bag is the biggest size you can usually take with you into the aircraft, which gives us the advantage of being able to fit two weeks worth of clothing without needing to do any laundry during our trip.

 

Of course, the lighter we travel the easier it is to carry the bag around, so, in my opinion, doing laundry is small time investment for the great benefit of being able to pick up our bag easily.

However, I will focus on putting everything inside this bag, take it to the aircraft and, not worry about laundry for 2 weeks. 

I have tried this myself and fit 15-days worth of outfits for a trip to Japan, without doing any laundry.

As I mentioned, now, I would never do this again, since I prefer to travel with only a 20 liter backpack. But, if you really don't want to worry about laundry, this is totally doable.

 

So what should we do to pack our carry-on bag?

I selected 5 important topics that I do to pack my own cabin-approved size carry-on bag.

 

1. Check airline rules for the size of cabin-approved bags

The most commonly accepted size for cabin-approved bags is 55x40x20 centimeters, however, each airline may have it's own rules on what they consider an acceptable size for bags that can be taken into the cabin. Because of this, one of the most important things to do is to check the rules for the airline we are traveling with.

There are airlines (such as Ryanair) that ceased to accept the standard bag sizes to be taken into the cabin, so it's well worth checking.

 

2. Plan our outfits

When traveling with just a cabin bag, whether or not we plan do to laundry, planning the outfits we are wearing during our trips  is very important to ensure we do not over-pack. We want to carefully plan how many outfits we need and when and in what circumstances we will wear them. 

To accurately plan for the outfits we should think about things like the weather (is it cold? rainy? windy? warm? inconsistent?), what social environment are we going to be in (is it a more relaxed or formal culture? what clothes should we take to avoid being out of place?)

If it's cold, we take sweaters, or fleeces. If it's warm and there is a relaxed culture we can pack just t-shirts. If we plan to go to the theater maybe it's better to take one outfit that is more formal.

Depending on the appropriate type of clothing, we must think about how many days we will spent there and start planning outfits (what will I wear in each day). 

The most important aspect is to plan a outfit for each day you are traveling and not pack anything else.

Clothes colors are also important.

A key tip is also to keep it simple in terms of clothes colors and patterns: wear whites, blues, blacks, which are easier to match between themselves. 

There is no harm in taking reds, yellows or pinks, we just need to spend a little extra time planning how maximize the number of outfits. Also, the less patterns a polo or a t-shirt have, the easier it is to match them between each other and the better one looks.

To maximize outfits and the space in the bag, one thing we can do is have less trousers or shorts.

For example, if we plan for a 10 day trip without doing any laundry, we can take 10 t-shirts, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of chinos, and 1 pair of shorts. This accounts for 30 different outfits combinations! (10 t-shirts x 3 bottoms).

Of course if we are doing laundry or if we're traveling less days we take, for example, only 5 t-shirts, 1 pair of jeans and one pair of shorts, which dramatically reduces the number of clothing pieces we pack.

However, if we are not doing laundry is important to think about what to do with dirty clothes. You want to have them as separated as possible in a plastic or reusable bag or in another compartment of the suitcase.

What I always do, is roll my daily used clothes together and put them on a separate compartment inside a plastic bag. I prepared a video to show how I do it:

 

 

Planning for shoes is another very important aspect.

Again, we need to consider where we will be going to, and what type of trip we have. If we are just visiting tourist attractions, maybe taking one pair of sneakers and a pair of sandals or flip flops is more than enough.

If it is a business trip it is probably worth it to pack a more formal pair of shoes.

The key is not to take too many shoes with you.

The key for fitting everything into one bag is to take only the clothes we planned that we are going to be using and not the clothes that we could need. Do not take anything "just in case" - stick to the outfit plan and you'll be fine!

 

3. Plan toiletries and "other" items

We need extra items in our trips aside from just clothes. Picking the right accessories and travel items is very important to not over-pack.

The secret is to find items that are multipurpose and that we think we will use during our trip.

Regarding toiletries, I always pick the essentials. Although these may vary depending on what each person considers essential. 

Check online to see what sort of amenities the hotel you are staying in has. They usually have shampoo, body lotion, soap, etc, so there is no need to take any of these items.

I always carry a deodorant, tooth paste and a small travel tooth brush, and an electric razor. 

The electric razor, is however, a luxury I always bring with me. I like to travel light, but I do not like to lose quality of life, and to me an electric razor is totally worth the extra space.

As for "other" items, there are a few items I always bring with me: 

• foldable 10 liter backpack - takes no space and allows me to use it as daily bag. The most common use I have is to go to local supermarkets buy food and water.
• small fast drying towel - I use it to go to the beach, swimming pool, gym, and shower anywhere I may need.
• smartphone - The smartphone does not require explanation. It's a very useful communicating device that doubles maps, camera and....phone.
• tablet - I mainly use it for reading. I used to carry a couple small books with me, but the iPad is very thin and fits well inside my bag. Similarly to the smartphone, this is very useful and can double as maps, note taking device and, mainly, as a book.
• Medicine - I always take 2 or 3 pills of paracetamol with me if I don't feel well. If I need more I can just buy it.
• Passport - I take it with me, either inside my bag (which is with me the whole time in the aircraft) or in my foldable daily pack.

Regarding airlines limits, it is also important to mention that we cannot take liquids with us that are more than 100ml. So anything that is bigger, we can either put in a small 100ml liquid container or just buy it locally. 

A good example of issues I usually have with this is with sunscreen. I try to buy 100ml packages, if not, I just buy it at my destination.

 

4. Prepare a packing checklist

Planning my outfits and the clothes I'm taking on trip is much easier if we use a checklist. By using one, we lay out clearly what we are taking and we will not forget to put it inside our bags.

To create this checklist, I just use google keep, which is a free, simple and fantastic tool that allows us to take notes and create checklists.

Based on the planning I've described above, I create a note with all the items included in my packing list and cross them off the list when I put them inside my bag.

The image below shows an example of google keep notes in action with a packing list that I prepared for a short trip. This list needs to be adjusted depending on how many days you are traveling and whether or not you opted for doing laundry.

To make sure I don't forget anything, I try to pack it a few days in advance (I usually like a week before) so that I can have everything ready and make sure I do not forget anything.

 

5. Pack everything efficiently inside the bag to maximize space

Packing only the outfits we need for the days we're spending away in our trip is crucial, but the way we put the clothes inside the bag makes all the difference!

My experience tells me that rolling the clothes not only maximizes the space, but also makes it easy to take things out of the bag without having to re-pack everything.

I even like to bundle t-shirts and roll them together. This helps save space in my bag.

I use this trick to put together entire clothes changes/outfits. I put my underwear inside a t-shirt or a polo, and then roll them all together. This way, each roll I pull out has a clean set of clothes for the day.

I use this same technique for packing my pajamas:

 

So first step is rolling all my clothes and second step is carefully organize them inside a packing cube.

 

I really like using packing cubes. They can save a ton of space by compacting our clothes, but most importantly I think it keeps or outfits organized and, once closed, if I need to take the packing cube out for airport security check, for example, the rest of my bag is still organized and it is very quick to put it back inside again.

 

But how do I actually roll my clothes? 

 

1. lay the t-shirt on a flat surface.

 2. fold a 10 centimeter horizontal line at the bottom of the t-shirt

3. divide the t-shirt into 3 vertical lines and fold the left side towards the middle, and do the same for the right side.

4. roll the "rectangle"  tightly until it is inside the bottom previously folded until you get a roll.

Difficult?

I prepared a couple video examples of the most typical items: t-shirt and shorts

After rolling all my clothes and putting them inside the packing cubes, it is time to simply put the packing cubes inside the bag.

Firstly I start with the heaviest items, like shoes (which I put on the bottom of the bag), then my full packing cubes, and only afterwards I put any random items that I did not put inside the cubes.

And this is how I do it!

I hope that by sharing my experience you can leverage your own method as well.