Good evening from a new member of the club.
Back in the late 1990s, I travelled around south east asia for a month with a small backpack borrowed from a small English lady and did OK. a couple of decades later I have a larger family, and everyone carries a checked bag with ~ 20kg/45lb inside plus a carry on backpack with the legal limit of 7kg/15lb. So when I started watching your Pack Lightly videos I suddenly realised I need to re-learn my skills of long ago. But one big question I have is - how much do you pack in your carry on backpack? The videos look like your cramming way more than 7kg into them? We're flying business class with Emirates (I think I'm old enough to need this to save me sleeping through the first week in a new time zone) & they kindly allow another bag up to 7kg, but some of the internal Euro airlines don't, so I'd really like to know how much your light load actually is, and how you get into the local airlines with one bag?
Regards
Phileas Phogg (Call me Phil)
Posted by
Freedonia
18357 posts
Welcome to the forum.
Participants here are travel enthusiasts who volunteer their time to share their experiences and answer questions. Rick is not here. (Well, he may lurk but not under his own name.)
The way to stay within the weight limits of the numerous airlines is to learn to pack light. It's easy is you want to, it's not easy if you don't.
If you are checking bags, the only things you should take in your carry on are prescription meds, electronics and any valuables you don't want to lose.
And, I don't think Rick is traveling on the cheapest fares. You pay a little extra and you can take more.
Posted by
OP
Australia
3 posts
Thanks for the very quick and helpful reply Frank.
I liked the idea suggested in one of the videos of packing light so as to avoid the need to drag checked bags around, so I'm planning to try to make the limits of the airlines, but I'm concerned some local airlines have even tighter restrictions, and may not permit 2 bags in the cabin. I'm worried we might end up losing a bag along the way as we can't get it on the plane, so was hoping to get some tips from your experienced forum members as to whether it's actually such a big issue?
Thanks Again
Posted by
Houston, Texas
1149 posts
Phil: take a look at this post from Colin Maira who works for Rick in Scotland, but has his own tour service in New Zealand. Here is the post https://mondumo.com/pack-light-travel-far-smart-packing-tips-for-australia-new-zealand/. This works for anywhere in the world with a few adjustments.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
17822 posts
I have a larger family, and everyone carries a checked bag with ~
20kg/45lb inside plus a carry on.
Hi there, Call-Me-Phil,
The forum bunch travel all sorts of ways including their packing methods. Some can travel for 2 two months with just a backpack, and others of us cheerfully check a bag. There's no right or wrong as long as it works for you but oooof, Phil, a 45-pound bag is overpacked unless, say, spending a college semester abroad! My checked bag is less than 1/2 that weight for a 3-week trip before bringing home museum books and other mementos. Given what we've had to move our luggage up, down, across, etc. on our European adventures so far, we wouldn't want to deal with that sort of weight.
(To be honest, I'm going to trim mine down a bit further next time. Spring is sadly in this chicken's rearview mirror.)
Honestly, you might want to start by just trying to eliminate a decent chunk of that 45 pounds even if you can't get it down to carry-on weight? In addition to checking bags - which we choose to do for multiple reasons - we both have modest carryons that contain our essentials and which fit under cabin seats, and we hit a coin laundry somewhere during the trip.