If this topic seems silly, please feel free to take it down!

I kind of don't get the "packing light" philosophy. With pilot type bags, luggage carts in terminals, helpful taxi drivers and all the other conveniences, and given that slow travellers stay in one rental for at least a week (sometimes two), what's the big advantage to packing light?

When in warm climates, I'm likely to wear two shirts a day (and won't mention unmentionables). Even the best sports jackets look grubby when worn all day and evening for a week. I need two at least for two weeks abroad. Same goes for slacks; two pair a week is minumum and given accidental spills, rubbing againsts, etc, I'll still be doing laundry, so I'd just as soon take four pair. Then there's accounting for different types of activities: from country walk/hikes to passeggiata. Loie always asks me if she's packing too much, and I say "pack more."

Perhaps I'm too vain? My mother always said "Pride knows no pain," but the relatively small amount of effort involved in moving an extra suitcase or two from airport to rental seems well worth it to me to stay clean, presentable and comfortable in a range of activities and weathers! Of course this assumes I won't incur the pain of lost baggage, which seems more and more likely. But if it arrives, I'm happier to have it than to have packed light to avoid taking it!

Pauline will love you! A person after her own heart.

Chris, is that you, posing as BuckyE???

Yeah - he likes to wear two shirts a day irregardless of heat.

Okay - for me it comes down to a few things.

1) I hate waiting for my checked bags and have had some nightmares in this department. So if I can pack light enough to do a carry on, I will. That said, if I'm checking at least one bag, then all bets are off, and I'll check them all and not worry about what I'm packing. Why should I lug them through security and around the airport if I don't have to?

2) Depends if we're renting a car and how big it is? I'd hate to get there and not have our luggage fit into the trunk.

3) If I have access to laundry facilities or not? When we go to Israel in November, and we're staying in hotels, you can bet, I'll probably pack heavy since we can't do laundry.

That's about all I can think of at the moment though.

If a person is going only to one destination and home again, packing everything you want to pack might make sense to you, Bucky.

If you are getting on and off trains and buses, heavy bags are the pits--especially if they have to be lifted into the overhead rack. And then there are all of those stairs going down into/up out of subways, under one track to another for trains, etc.

If you go to different locations and lodging, those heavy bags have to get there, somehow.

There are so many times during travel when a person has to handle their bags; it's unavoidable. We travel with one bag and one carryon and I still feel like I have a ball and chain.

As we get older, we don't have the same strength and ability to schlep bags around, either, and I sure don't want to have to pay someone else to do it.

Doing laundry isn't fun, but I'd rather do laundry than carry extra weight.

Charity

OK, I am the queen of packing heavy. I just returned from 2 weeks in Italy with a 69 lb and a 40 lb checked bag plus my carry-on. One week into the trip, I spent 261Euro to MAIL MYSELF home clothes and dirty laundry to make room for stuff I bought. It was also quite cold, so I sent home short sleeves and kept mostly jeans, sweaters and jackets. I traveled with 2 other women, so my usual schleppopotomus husband was not with me to carry anything. What did I learn?
Bring fewer shoes, no one cares (except me) if I accessorize well, always take a leather jacket, even in May! Don't travel to Italy without my husband!

Years ago, on our first trip to Paris, I packed a rather large suitcase to check and a stuffed-full carryon bag. Hubby complained the entire time going there about having to keep up with such a heavy carryon. After the two weeks we were in Paris, I realized that I hadn't worn half of what I packed, that I stayed mostly in my old favorites, and that the new scarves and accessories that I'd packed still had the price tags on them.

Now, I pack a 21" carryon and a bag with cosmetics and meds, etc. and am happy not to have all the extra stuff. I only bring clothes that I wouldn't mind leaving behind or losing. I always bring a fold-up duffle bag to handle the dirty clothes on the way home, and to stuff with goodies that I find on our travels. I'll never take a large suitcase again. I gave them both away years ago...

Jennifer

My husband's philosophy is simple:
Pack light - you may have to carry your own bags, and,If you don't have it you can buy it when you get there. I have to confess that I rarely remember his first suggestion, but always manage to "buy it when I get there"!

If Pauline is the Queen of Packing Heavy, then I'm the Princess Next in Line to the Throne! I love your thinking, Bucky!

Last year, I took a 24" pullman, packed to the gills and a good-sized carry-on, and althought there were some things that I didn't wear, I was happy to have some variety for everyday wear. I rented an apartment and had laundry facilities, so I washed what I needed to when I needed to wash it.

There were only 2 times that having this amount of luggage was a pain in the petootie...once in Florence, while trying to make a mad dash for a train when the announcement was made that our Pisa train was now leaving from line 5 and not line 1, as previously posted. However, there were several good guys who helped me, so it wasn't hideous, just an inconvenience.

The second time was in Paris, late at night, after the taxi driver had let me off at my apartment. I had a huge struggle getting the right keys to unlock the door, and then i was also struggling with the luggage, getting it and me up the stairs to my apartment. It was late and I was trying to be quiet! One of the neighbours was coming in with me and offered to help. He carried the bags to my door, then wished me good night and said that he lived one floor up in the same apartment location, and if I needed any assistance I was to ask him and he'd be happy to help!

This year, I'm truly going to try and trim it back a little, because I'm changing location 3 times in a month...my definition of fast travel!
I would rather not schlepp that amount of luggage to the train station in Rome, off the train to stay with friends in Santarcangelo, then on the train again, then off in Venice and then AGAIN at the airport, when I'm going home.
That smacks of overload for me!

What'll I actually do? I have no idea, I'll let you know after I get home this fall! Just know that I agree with you totally...I like to wear fresh, crisp, clean clothing, and wearing the same pair of jeans for a couple of weeks isn't my idea of personal comfort! No a thing wrong with that, if you can do it...I don't want to, so the result is that I end up with a lot of stuff!

"Just around the corner in every woman's mind - is a lovely dress, a wonderful suit, or entire costume which will make an enchanting new creature of her." ~ Wilhela Cushman
Brenda

hear hear!

Currently lugging a 65 litre backpack around with me! I reckon it weighs about 20kg. I have enough clothes to last me at least 10 days and they're nice things... not typical backpacker camping store things. The things that weigh the most and take up the most room are... HAIR PRODUCTS and TOILETRIES! I reckon I'm carrying around about 1kg of hair products, a dryer and a straightener.

It's a bit ridiculous, but I haven't felt like a dag once yet on this trip.

I've just sent some stuff I haven't worn for the past month back to Perugia.

I don't get how people travel so light either.

Ah, well, I see a few points that are, I'll say, not relevant for Loie and me.

1. We're traveling as a two person team. I am a 55 year old still fairly fit efficiency minded schleppopotomus. Loie is the paper manager: keeps the tickets, itinerary, all paperwork; deals with clerks etc. while I stand guard and haul.

2. We spend money when "necessary." Large enough cabs and cars to fit all our bags; cabs from airport to rental, etc. (Compared to the overall cost of the trip, we consider these "extras" minimal.)

3. We are Americans: we use cars and cabs, planning our travels to avoid public transportation for transfers. (I hope this doesn't make us Ugly Americans. I did kind of insist using the ferry to cross from Wiltshire, England to Brittany, and poor Loie was seasick. That also involved some train use, and the luggage handling wasn't efficient in one place: had to haul up and down stairs to cross tracks. Bad design!)

4. Little is carried. Everything wheels (and does it well; we've had several changes of luggage over the 20 years we've been traveling together) or is strapped to something that wheels. We both wear an "urban explorer" across-chest shoulder bag.

5. As a vain schleppopotomus, I don't mind the extra work.

Mind you, our system has been developing for a long time. We did NOT have it worked out when we went on honeymoon. That trip, though, was a boon, as it taught us to pick a place and stick with it for a week or more. ("I'm sorry, I don't care if we don't make it to Canyon de Chelly, I can NOT haul these bags in and out one more time..." collapse) Perhaps we're specializing in a limited range of travel type. The overly civilized? All I know is, I need my detangler conditioner. And sports jackets. And shoes. And socks, and... ;^)

quote:

I kind of don't get the "packing light" philosophy. With pilot type bags, luggage carts in terminals, helpful taxi drivers and all the other conveniences, and given that slow travellers stay in one rental for at least a week (sometimes two), what's the big advantage to packing light?

Hmmm... The heavier the airplane is the more fuel it takes to move the plane. So I suppose that one advantage could be that the lighter you pack the more you could feel that you are doing your part to help conserve natural resources ... (I'm not an environment nut, just trying to come up with an answer to your question).

I just got back from six weeks in Europe and I flew between London and Paris and between Paris and Munich on European airlines. The weight restrictions for baggage are stricter within Europe on European airlines than they are on American flights. I was limited to a 13 pound carry-on and 50 pounds checked. I'm thinking that this is to help the airlines to stay competitive with their prices.

Welcome back Palma!!! I wondered if you would weigh in ( ) on the subject. What did you buy??

Ginger

We are a family of 5 travelling with Ryanair so no extra luggage allowance there! but I have a plan.....every other family member travels light and my stuff goes in their bags!!!!!!!
on a lighter note a friend spent a long time persuading her daughter that luggage sharing meant that you could not combine two weights into one bag and not that if she and the boyfriend used one bag she would be humiliated at check in by male clothes being removed from her bag!!!

When you are renting a city apartment in Europe, odds are there will not be an elevator. Given the choice between a divorce and packing light, I choose light.

quote:

Originally posted by Palma:
schleppopotomus

Favorite word of the day!

Bucky, my husband is a pack mule like you, and we have historically carted way too much stuff with us on our European trips. Our big vice is not clothes so much as BOOKS.

I think it really depends on where you are going and how you are traveling... and what restrictions your airline may have! (The airlines are dropping their weight limits in an effort to conserve fuel.) Fine if you are doing the slow travel thing and don't mind paying porters or taxis to minimize the hassle. But as others have said, if you are traveling on any kind of public transportation with your luggage (train, bus, vaporetto), staying on upper floors in buildings without elevators, staying on a cobblestone pedestrian street where the taxi has to let you out a few blocks away... having too much luggage is AWFUL.

Some of the most stressful moments of our trips have resulted from having too much luggage: long awful walks on rough streets, having to ride in cabs with bags on our laps, enduring the glares of other passengers on trains as we struggled to find a place to stow our luggage in the crowded compartment, sweating as we had to climb almost 200 steps to get to our rental in Ravello, hauling the bags up over at least ten bridges to get to the vaporetto stop in Venice .... I could go on.

We have become converts to the idea of packing light, and will be going to Europe soon for seven weeks with a backpack and moderate-sized rolling bag for each of us. We are happy to mix and match a small number of clothing items and do laundry every week.

But each to his own, and if you are truly a "schleppopotomus" (love it!) and can design and afford a trip where too many heavy bags aren't a problem, more the power to you!

Kathy

[corrected at Kathy's request]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Colleen,

Boy! how I wish I knew how to pack light. It has only become worse now that we travel with a baby. Our last trip to Tuscany, we had a huge problem fitting the bags into the boot of our rental car. We begged Europcar to please give us a bigger model, luckily a Mercedes station wagon was available, but we were still unable to comfortably fit the bags and stroller. It took us more than an hour of juggling to find an optimal arrangement. Then came the problem of carrying the super heavy bags down numerous steps to the villa and back up. We allowed ourselves an additional hour just for this exercise. Also, when calling cabs for airport transfers we had to specifically ask for cabs with adequate bootspace. A lot of hassle it was! Next time, I will pack light. That is my big lesson learned.

Susan Allen Toth, I think in England for all Seasons, advocates heavy packing. So it definitely has its proponents in experienced travelers.

I think it's a matter of doing it thoughtfully, being realistic and knowing what you're getting into. And learning from your mistakes. I would say you definitely have to be prepared to carry it all at some point though, even if it's just up the stairs to the bedrooms.

Throwing ridiculous "just in case I get trapped in a cave/get invited on a yacht" outfits is one thing. A small flashlight, your laptop if you feel you need it, or a blazer that will redeem any outfit is another.

I think it also matters how you pack it. A low number of bags that stay upright by themselves (this is key, for you and the shins of everyone around you) is vastly preferable to one giant immovable suitcase, or a dozen small, bulging single-purpose bags that take off everyone's head as you move down the aisle (this is lunch this is Kimmy's toys, this is Nate's books, this is our change of clothes, this is my camera bag, etc).

And despite twice having my luggage lost for 4 days (grazie, Alitalia; merci, Air France) I remain committed to packing my toiletries and a single change of clothes, my world cell phone and a few essentials (addresses, keys medicine etc.) in my carry on and checking everything else.

So I think there's a happy medium. Which I bet is what everyone thinks they've achieved, so we're all winners!

I'm on the pack light side, being a budget traveler.

In response to one post above, it's a good idea for family members to mix up their luggage amongst the various bags. That way, if one person's bag goes missing, the person is not completely sunk. Of course you should have a carry-on with basic necessities as well.

We now pack light(er)than in the past after one three month trip we took through Europe with my husband carrying a body bag, which is what one of thes stewards on the ferry from Dover to Calais called it. But I don't know how anyone can have just a 21" carry on for a two week trip, ok if its summer maybe but how about winter? You have much heavier gear, sweaters, boots, coats, jeans...

You'd probably wear a sweater, coat, and boots onto the plane. But of course it would be more challenging, and it might not be worth it.

I've gone from doing 25 days with one carry-on sized backpack to this:

quote:

I've gone from doing 25 days with one carry-on sized backpack to this:

ROFL...

Jennifer