Longtime reader here, but this is the first time I have posted. We leave tomorrow for a 19 day hiking and touring England/Ireland trip, and I just want to thank this forum for the great packing tips that I have received. The last time we went to Europe was 8 years ago on the Rick Steves Family Tour. We thought we packed light then - with each person using a 22" roll-on, and a separate carry on. Some of our neighbors had even stopped by as we were leaving to see if it was really possible to travel to Europe with just a carry on. But wow, was it all heavy, and I really brought too much stuff!
This time around, I was fortunate to be able to learn so much from this forum. My family chuckled as I whipped out my food scale, like Sarah Murdoch recommended, to weigh all my items. Boy, did it work! I also planned so that every item coordinates with every other item, color-wise. (Not rocket science - don't know why I didn't do that last time.) I used the Ebags TLS Motherlode Convertible Weekender Jr. bag as my main bag (thanks, Lee), and I have kept it unexpanded. Even my husband has been impressed at what a great bag it is and how much it holds. (He is using the Osprey Farpoint 40 and that is also a really good bag.) I also have the Osprey Daylite daypack, as we will be doing inn-to-inn hiking and will need a daypack as we are walking. I went ahead and used the ebags packing cubes to organize my clothes in the TLS bag. Since we will be moving to different b&b's on many days, I wanted it to be easy to stay organized. I have the Flip and Tumble bag that Lo and Pam recommended. It is packed inside the TLS bag, and I will use as a tote and a purse.
I "lightened" my 3-1-1 bag by using the Lush jungle conditioner and argon soap bar (cut in half like someone recommended) and the Honey House Naturals lotion bar. I tested the conditioner out at home, and fortunately, it works well on my hair. Lush also makes a tiny little solid perfume that I am using. I've got the Forever New laundry detergent and the Travelon inflatable hangers (I think Frank recommended the hangers). I have the TRTL neck wrap pillow for the plane. (It looks a little odd, kind of like a neck brace - I have tested it out on some long driving trips and it is really comfortable. Here's hoping I actually sleep on the plane!) I have the Citymaps2go app loaded on my phone, with maps already loaded and offline. I also put all the confirmations for various places we are staying onto pdf files and put them on my phone and my kindle so that I wouldn't need the paper copies. We also did test packs (even my husband got into the act on this), and walked around with our filled bags. Our 19-year old daughter gave us some eye rolls as we were doing it, but hey, the test packs helped! I could go on and on - I got so much good advice from this forum on clothing, microfiber underwear, shoes, wool socks, chargers, etc. There is such a generosity of spirit from so many of the posters here and I just wanted to say thank you, and happy travels!