The Great Carry-On Challenge!

I’ve always admired people who travel light – and I know I’m late to the party with this. The movement towards carry-on only travel has been building for years, and some of the most well-travelled people I know swear by it and haven’t stood beside a baggage carousel for decades!

I always thought I was just built differently – I need options! Who knows what I’ll feel like wearing on a tour three weeks from now? Who knows what the weather will be doing? I was always the one hauling out the biggest suitcase and angsting over the checked-in baggage allowance and how I’d cope with only that.

So, the idea of me doing a month in Europe with only carry-on luggage seemed not altogether realistic to everyone who knows me – me included – but it felt like challenge worth having a crack at.

Why Bother?

·       It was a fun challenge, I really enjoyed planning for this, and the ease with which it all worked brought me joy every day.

·       Less risk of losing a bag (all seasoned travellers know the fear of waiting for the suitcase that never makes it to that final carousel)

·       The ease of getting through the airport, and never needing to wait for bags.

·       Never having to consider what to wear – I really didn’t have much of a choice

·       To my delight I could even fit my bag under the seat in front of me in economy class – meaning I had something to put my feet on – I find this MUCH more comfortable!

·       Save money on bag checking fees.

·       You’ll need to wash clothes as you go, you won’t come home with a bag full of dirty washing.

Drawbacks:

·       Needing to wash clothes as you go, often by hand.

·       Less room for souvenirs – but honestly isn’t this a benefit? Who needs another tea towel or fridge magnet?

Which Bag?

My first consideration was what bag to use. I first assumed I’d use the good old carry-on sized wheeled suitcase, but after some conversations with more experiences light-packers, I decided to go with a backpack.

After a bit of research, I went with the Osprey Fairview 40 Women’s Backpack, it was light, well designed to comfortably carry with a waist belt and chest strap, it had one main large compartment and one little one, and a laptop sleeve – which I didn’t need on this trip, but does make it a more multi-purpose purchase for future travel. It was big enough to meet the limits of airline carry-on bags, and I liked that it was flexible enough for me to stuff more in if I need to but could tighten the straps to reduce the size too.

The Osprey Fairview 40 Women's Backpack - My Perfect Bag!

Getting Around

Having carry-on only did mean I always had my bag with me when moving about. While my companions checked their suitcases in and moved around airports with little bags – I still had my backpack. Although it was bulky, I never regretted my choice, I really was comfortable carrying it around and found it really didn’t hold me back.

In train stations I had the advantage moving up and down stairs with my backpack, and I found that on busy trains it was much easier for me to move about and put my bag in the overhead spaces, than it was for my companions with their wheeled suitcases needing to find a spot on a luggage rack after negotiating busy train aisles.

Ready for Another Train Journey: Backpack on, my ubiquitous white shoes and cross-body bag, all-purpose dress and a jersey that got a LOT of wear

The Wardrobe

I tried this bag out for a week in Rarotonga – think hot tropical island – not many layers needed – and I filled it up! So, I was more than a little concerned about fitting in a wardrobe fit for a month in Northern Europe in September, but I’d told too many people about the challenge at this point – there was no backing out!

I looked into several methods of devising my wardrobe, there's the 54321 method and the 333 method that are both popular, and I definitely used some of their principles. I also had AI review my list and suggest changes – this was surprising useful!

My final list looked like this:

3 x t-shirts

2 x dressy tops

1 x jersey

1 x cardigan

1 x jeans

1 x black pants

1 x stripey pants

1 x skirt

2 x dresses (one casual and one dressy)

1 x long red leather jacket

1 x warm bomber jacket (reversable for two varied looks!)

This gave me lots of options that could easily be dressed up and down, and almost everything was mix and match, and made up of clothes I wear a lot anyway – so I knew I’d be comfortable and feel like myself. I took nothing that needed special care, dry cleaning, or ironing.

I also threw in two merino singlets for those cold Baltic days – the only things I didn’t wear when we struck beautiful weather throughout most of our trip.

Shoes – I went with white lace ups – comfy for long days walking but nice enough to wear out too. And thanks to AI I added a pair of black ballet flats – these were my dressy shoes for going out but were casual enough for wearing with anything.

Underwear of course, one bikini, and one scarf – a well-chosen scarf can really change up your look. I also took one all-purpose cross-body hand bag, big enough for my kindle and headphones on the plane, but not too big to look out of place in the evening too.

Was it Enough?

Well, no. While I could have stretched this and forced myself to make it work, I really needed another casual top; so, I did add a souvenir t-shirt from Berlin. This really helped tide me over between washing and drying what I had.

Compromises:

Yes, there were definitely compromises, things I just couldn’t bring:

·       Cosmetic/bathroom bag – I used plastic bags only and transferred my toiletries into little plastic pots. The only thing I ran out of was toothpaste and that was easily purchased on the go.

·       Packing cubes – even as light as these are, that was 200grams I saved.

·       Travel case for my headphones – ironically this was just too bulky

·       Glasses case – a risky choice that partially paid off – I saved space and weight, but I did end up with broken sunglasses as a result.

·       Raincoat – just too bulky, and I knew I could pick one up easily if I needed too – which I did and ended up carrying that raincoat for only about a week of our trip before discarding it.

I did, however, make room for my hair tool! It’s a very lightweight airwrap type device, it fitted in okay, and I’m really pleased I took it – it got lots of use!

Laundry:

Absolutely, with this amount of clothing and the amount of walking we were doing I couldn’t do without laundry stops. I now have a new favourite hotel room accessory – the heated towel rail! Any hotel room with a heated towel rail had me washing out my t-shirts and underwear in the bathroom sink for overnight drying in the bathroom – I even managed to dry my jeans on the heated towel rail in London after hand washing them in the bath on arrival (note to self: stick to white wine only on the plane – red wine in turbulence leads to hand washing jeans in a hotel bath in London). Twice during the month, we also stopped at laundromats where I gleeful washed nearly all of my clothes. Hand washing is perfectly adequate, but it felt good to throw everything in a big commercial washer for a really good wash a couple of times.

Another hotel bath, another outfit washed

Shopping:

I LOVE to shop, so much so that I’ve had to limit myself to thrift shopping only since December 2024 – I adore the challenge of thrift shopping and its certainly easier on the budget. I did squeeze in some fantastic thrift shopping Helsinki and Prague, and yes I could fit all my purchases into my bag!

As for souvenirs: Two comments on that – jewellery doesn’t take up too much space (oh the joy of shopping for vintage rings in Amsterdam…but that’s another story), and husbands are good for carrying the bigger things! Is this cheating? I say no, I made sure that everything bought for myself or for my use went in my own bag, along with a few smaller gifts, and my husband dutifully carried the rest – which really wasn’t much.

Did everything make it home?

No, and that was always the plan. My white lace up shoes were never going to make it home, they served me well and I happily left them behind in Prague, knowing I wouldn’t need them for our last stop in Dubai. A certain bright blue raincoat purchased out of necessity in a thrift shop in Helsinki also only made it as far as Prague, it served me well, but I just didn’t need to bring it home.

The Helsinki-thrifted raincoat that didn't make it home!

Would I do this again?

Absolutely, I am fully converted and don’t see myself ever going back to a suitcase. My backpack and travel wardrobe enhanced my trip and I loved the limitations and freedom of it – it felt liberating!

Does anyone want to buy a suitcase? Mine are going cheap!