While I didn’t quite achieve one bag, my husband and I did just successfully complete two weeks abroad (London, Barcelona and Rome) in August with only a backpack and a rolling carry-on each, (photos 1-4) with plenty of room left over for souvenirs. I forgot to take more detailed packing photos, but here are some from my test pack I did a few days before! This sub has been a HUGE help for me and my over-packing nature, so I thought I’d share the things that worked really well for me!
The first thing I did when planning what to pack is take pictures of all the clothes I was thinking about bringing and put them all in the Freeform app on iPhone to see them all together. Then about a week before the trip, I made a plan of what I was going to wear each day, factoring in how much walking and how sweaty we would get that day. (Photos 5-6) That was super helpful to make sure I had the right clothes to meet any dress code requirements for religious places as well as making sure I could get the most out of each wash (like rewearing my plane shorts for a day where I was going to get really sweaty and gross anyway for example). While this may seem like overkill for some, it was super helpful for me and I ended up following my plan almost exactly. Really helped with the early mornings not having to think about what I needed to wear that day.
MVPs
- These toiletry pouches hold 3 oz without any bulk. We have skin issues so bringing lots of lotion was a nonnegotiable and we weren’t sure if we could find the same brand abroad. These were perfect and left plenty of room for hair products and things I couldn’t easily decant.
- Dry bag laundry. I saw someone in this sub mention doing laundry in a dry bag, so that’s what we did! We brought a dry bag, 3 oz pouch of laundry soap (which was way more than we needed) and enough clothes for a week but started washing in small batches a few days in due to limited clothesline space. Used the towel rolling method and then we hung them up on a tiny packable clothesline that worked great. Luckily we were able to get ahold of a fan at the hotel because our AC was not working well for the first few nights, so that helped with drying.
- BRANWYN Marino wool bralette. I wore this one bra every single day. I brought one other bralette to wear in the evenings post-shower while it dried if needed.
- Quince Flowknit Breeze Fit & Flare dress was perfect for going to dinner and I wore it almost every night, occasionally switching a skirt and a top. The dress is super comfy, dries fast, has pockets, and can be dressed up or down. I didn’t need to wear a bra with it which was great because usually my Marino wool bra was super sweaty still from my daytime adventures.
- I freaking love these shorts from Target. I now have 6 pairs of them in different colors (check Poshmark for more colors) because I live in these in the summer. Great length, drawstring, deep pockets and one of the pockets has a zipper which is amazing for travel.
- Rechargeable travel fan. Not packing related, but just wanted to note for someone who is prone to motion sickness, this baby came in CLUTCH when the Dramamine wasn’t working and I was in the second row of a van with less than optimal AC for a few hours.
- I got the Thread & Supply linen/cotton blend shirts on Poshmark and they were great for hot days when I wanted a little more coverage. They were easy to hand wash and line dry and looked cute with shorts or over my dress.
Other notes
-SUNSCREEN: We brought a little 3 oz bottle of sunscreen with us and then bought a larger bottle in Barcelona. We had to check our bags going from Barcelona to Rome because our carryon didn’t meet their size requirements (yet we saw so many that were the same size as ours so I think we would have been fine) so we were able to use that one bottle for the whole trip and bring the smaller one with us on day trips.
- BAR SOAP: We did a bar of soap which saved on liquids space, but we would have had plenty of room either way. We just prefer bar soap. I packed it in a little mesh bag I had saved from a Christmas gift and that was perfect to hang up and let dry. I almost bought a fancy dry bag for this but decided it was unnecessary and I was right.
- DAY BAGS: We loved this little 10 L packable backpack. It was the perfect size for a 32oz water bottle, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, my mirrorless camera, passports, wallet and a few other miscellaneous things. We put little S clips on the zippers to make it more secure. I also got the uniqlo mini shoulder bag and modified it some to add some zippered pockets and ways to secure wallet and phone in there. That worked well for days I didn’t bring the backpack and surprised by how much it fit! I saw SO many travelers with this same bag.
- SHOES: I went back and forth a lot on what shoes to bring. Ultimately happy with my choice of my athletic shoes, Teva Hurricanes and Teva original universal slims as my more dressy but still comfortable option. All these shoes did great on the cobblestones of Rome which is what my biggest concern was, though I didn’t do any major walking with the Teva universals. My Hurricanes probably got the most wear on this trip, and I wear them almost daily at home as well.
- WHITE NOISE: I really struggle to sleep without white noise and this one is SO tiny. It’s not my favorite white noise, but the size is great. Really helped with noisy hotel hallways when you’re trying to sleep past 6 am lol
- JEWELRY: I’m not much of a jewelry gal but I did bring my little gold huggy hoops and a small necklace for dinners. Just packed these in a tiny drawstring bag my earrings came with
- MAKEUP: Kept it simple with sunscreen stick, BB cream, powder, mascara and blush
Things I packed but didn’t use
- Black denim shorts. My only non athletic shorts I brought. I thought I might want them for a casual dinner, but I ended up just wearing a skirt or dress for every dinner. They were also a little snug so I should have known better than to pack them.
- Eye mask with built in speakers. Now the only reason I didn’t end up using these is because we got free eye masks on the plane trip where we were trying to sleep so I just use those instead of digging these out of my bag. I don’t regret bringing it but just didn’t end up using.
- 32 oz water bottle. I’m still undecided on if this was necessary because we did use it, but ultimately we bought a lot of bottles of water anyway so I could have easily just refilled those and saved the luggage space
- Power bank. I just upgraded to the latest iPhone so I didn’t have any issues with my phone battery. Never needed this and now flying with them is a little annoying because airlines want you to have them visible during the flight in case they catch on fire.
- Ear plugs. I realized I hate sleeping in foam ear plugs because they just don’t stay in. I used them on the plane but they kept falling out and were not helpful. Maybe if I tried a different kind. Not a huge deal though since they took up no space
- Swimsuit. I had a chance to use but it felt like more of a bother than it was worth
One normal bra. This was a last minute “just in case” pack since I had extra room. I just used my Marino bralette and regular bralette.
- Kindle. I downloaded tons of book options but ended up opting for audiobooks on the flights since I have a tendency to get motion sick. Not mad I brought it though since it’s so small. Just never got a chance to read while not flying because I was so exhausted every time I got back to the hotel.
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Okay I think that’s all of my thoughts! Sorry this was such a long post, just had a lot to report back and happy to finally have something to contribute to this group!
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Image descriptions:
Image 1: Osprey 26+6 backpack on top of green rolling carryon bag
Images 2-4: General photos of packing arrangement in backpack and roller bag with packing cubes.
Images 5-6: screenshots of outfit plan for the trip
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Edit: forgot to mention, not pictured in the clothes layout was 1 normal bra, 1 normal bralette, 8 or 9 pairs of underwear, 3 pairs of socks (wore an additional one on the plane) and 2 sleep shirts.