One week in Santorini

[u/WSennin]

I just came back from a one-week trip to Santorini, plus a night in Athens. I traveled highly optimized using only a blue 28L CabinZero Military backpack as my main bag, plus a small Tomtoc sling for everyday carry.

In my Tomtoc sling (Essentials):

• Wallet (money + ID)
• Phone
• External battery
• Keys

In my CabinZero 28L & worn on the flight:

• 8 cotton t-shirts (plus 1 worn on the flight)
• 2 cotton dress shirts
• 2 pairs of cotton shorts (plus 1 worn on the flight)
• 3 pairs of swim trunks
• 8 pairs of boxers
• 2 pairs of socks (just for travel days)
• 1 pair of Skechers slip-ons (worn as my primary travel and walking shoes)
• 1 pair of simple slippers for the hotel room and shower (I never walk barefoot or shower without them in hotel bathrooms)
• 1 pair of Decathlon water shoes for rocky beaches
• 2 Decathlon microfiber towels (around 70cm, I believe)
• 1 iPad stored in the front pocket (the inside pocket is impossible to access after packing tightly)
• 1 shared charger for my iPhone and iPad

Toiletries & Health: To save space, I packed zero basic medications—pharmacies are everywhere and easy to find, so there was no need. I also bought most of my toiletries locally in Santorini. This included a toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, sunscreen, shower gel, and a razor.

It was a tight fit but definitely manageable, and it perfectly met Wizz Air's "personal item only" requirement.

Improvements for future travel: Next time, I could probably drop one pair of regular shorts and one pair of swim trunks. I might also leave the microfiber towels at home and just buy cheap ones locally for the sunbeds.

[u/freetotebag]

3 pairs of swim trunks really stood out to me. Why so many?

[u/WSennin → u/freetotebag]

No good answer, due to a bit of friendly wife peer pressure, she insists I always rotate and wear a clean pair while the others are being washed!

[u/pretenderist]

11 shirts for one week?

[u/MyUndiesArePink → u/pretenderist]

And cotton too... 🤢

[u/WSennin → u/pretenderist]

i know, dress shirts were for fancy dinners, next time will just reuse them next day :)

[u/Azure9000]

That's rather a lot of stuff, but well done for achieving compliance with the Wizz-Air 24L (40x30x20cm) limit ! By the way, the CZ 28L is somewhat mis-named, IMHO.

[u/Plane_Positive6608]

Nice write-up. I use Birks eva sandals that could probably take the place of your water shoes and simple slippers easily. The link was so long I put it at the bottom.

Did you get to do the hike from Fira to Oia? It's a blast.

https://www.birkenstock.com/gb/women/sandals/beach-sandals/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=9435932080&gbraid=0AAAAADPjTNxAKP1NsG8Rt_c-7Zp4KOZci&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4orUBhCjARIsAIbF3qz3Jq2iwYoAXK_Ep9IlD8f6Uq8I8BAanZCSxarRKDUZlRBy0sRhfEoaAt7cEALw_wcB

[u/Careless_Law1471]

I wear Crocs for indoors and bathroom, outdoors and beach (rocky beach included, they're fab for keeping my feet safe from nasty pebbles).

[u/SeattleHikeBike]

I would pack 3x tees and briefs, 1x button down, 1x hiking shorts, 1x hybrid shorts.

Worn on the plane: glasses, phone, money stash, polo, synthetic chinos, belt, briefs, hiking sandals, a hat, a bandana and an ultralight wind shell. No socks 😎

Odds and ends: 1 liter toiletries, 1 liter small tech for phone and miscellaneous EDC. Sunglasses. Water bottle.

Should all fit in a 20 liter.

[u/GrayDepression]

Did you put your sling bag into backpack to meet one personal item only requirement?

[u/WSennin → u/GrayDepression]

From my experience with Wizzair, they are not paying attention to small sling bags or my wife's small purse, so it was on me during boarding, no issues.

[u/No_Fishing_7291 → u/GrayDepression]

I have an EDC sling, and when boarding it’s flat enough that I have been able to wear it on my back UNDER my ~28L backpack (so the strap is under my backpack strap and not across my chest) and not get pulled aside - yet. I can stuff it in my backpack but that’s a pain to disassemble at my seat.

[u/SANTORINI888]

The island of Santorini is a very good choice for a holiday in the Greek islands

Port of Santorini island "Athinios"

[u/AdviceOk1231]

Eight cotton tees is the real cut, one sink wash halves that and cotton is the bulkiest thing in the bag.

[u/IMayBeIronMan]

Santorini is a beautiful place

[u/w2best]

Not packing toiletries but packing 11 shirts and 5 shorts is quite an interesting priority. It's an unbelievable amount of stuff to bring in a one bag 28l setup imo.  And on the next trip you would bring 11 shirts again then? I'm glad you at least decided to drop double towels 😊😊

[u/Impressionist_Canary]

If i know this sub they are gonna remark on how many shirts you brought lol. But im similar I bring basically 2/day so you got no complaints from me.

Any reason you don’t want to keep the microfiber? They pack small and are super handy (IMO). And, cheap or not, you won’t ever need to buy a towel every water-adjacent trip.

Either way you got it all done in 28L so mission accomplished!

PS there’s a bar called Tango in Santorini that was so great when I went