If you had told me that in December 2015 I would have been able to pack a whole weekends worth of clothes in one travel backpack for a city break to Amsterdam I would have laughed at you square in the face. Beady does not pack light. No Sirree. But, I did. I managed to pack 3 day & 3 night outfits with toiletries and shoes in to one bag. And when we go to Oslo at the end of this month we only have hand luggage again. I know some of you may be crying out in horror! How, you might ask? Well I’m going to tell you how to travel with just hand luggage…
Okay, simple things first; pick items of clothing that you can mix and match throughout the trip, there’s nothing simpler than being able to look at a few items and know that each and everyone of them can pieced together with one another. Another clothes related tip is that any pants or socks should be rolled up in to your shoes, because goddammit, that is valuable space that needs to be used. Am I right? In fact roll everything up to make sure you optimise all that space, ‘kay? Plus it minimises the chances of your clothes getting wrinkled.
Prepare by getting hold of a decent sized bag that is also lightweight to take as carry-on. Sounds super obvious, right? But let’s face it with only 5kg – 10kg (depending on which airline) you need to make sure that your bag doesn’t weigh too much before you get any of your luggage in to it. This Pantone Beeswax rucksack, c/o Amara Living is exactly that and there’s space for your laptop, great for those workaholics or Bloggers who need to a little bit of work whilst away and it looks pretty neat, huh?
Another way to save space and weather permitting, think about wearing the heaviest or bulkiest items to layer up whilst travelling on your flight. I know for some places or certain times of the year this might be a no-no but it’s always worth doing if you can!
When it comes to beauty products you are only allowed 100ml bottles of liquids, so it is always worth investing in a set of clear bottles and bag which can be found in most beauty sections at supermarkets. I picked up a set from Morrisons for around £5 which included three bottles and two pots inside a clear, airtight, zip-able bag. Perfect for transferring over body wash, shampoo and conditioner in to but making sure you aren’t using huge amounts of space in your bag.
When taking hand luggage, chances are you might only have the one bag for your travels so you need to make sure everything is super safe! Use little padlocks (not TSA locks just in case security want to have a little look inside) to lock your zips just in case you are carrying valuables so no pick pockets can get in. Also, you’ll find yourself digging around a lot trying to find things (trust me, this will happen!) so take precautions by protecting your mobile phones or iPads with good covers like these from Tech21* just in case you drop them on the floor whilst rummaging around.
When packing books or any other items that aren’t clothes, try spread them round the bag in gaps that aren’t being filled rather than stacking them on top of one another because it will just make it harder to pack when you return home. If you are using a rucksack, try use one with a large pocket on the front where you can pop your passport and tickets in so you can easily access them too.
And lastly, make a list of what you are wearing each day and the essential items you need. Then stick to it. It might sound like tough love but by doing this it eliminates the desire to just keep packing bits here & there that you really don’t need. Something I am terrible at doing, so going with just carry-on luggage encourages me to be a little bit more stricter which is something I need now & again.
Now, excuse me whilst I go and write my own little list for Oslo because this gorgeous, new backpack needs packing pronto! Do you have any tips I need to consider when packing hand luggage? I would love to hear from you in the comments below, the more weird & wonderful, the better!
Bee xxx
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