10 Steps to Lighter Luggage

When travelling to places like Cinque Terre and Venice it is imperative you keep the weight of your luggage as light as possible.  But how do you do that you ask?

Well here are my 10 best tips:

1. Wear your heaviest, bulkiest items of clothing and footwear and pack a Capsule wardrobe.  15 coordinating items of clothing that create a different look everyday for up to 3 weeks and all fits in a carry on size bag.
2. When packing use packing cubes and roll your clothes, don’t fold them. You’ll have no ugly creases and fit much more in a smaller case.
3. Take a universal charger instead of separate chargers for your phone, camera, etc
4. Decant your liquids, buy travel size, or take makeup and perfume samples and you can greatly reduce your volume and use your favourite brands.
5. Don’t feel obliged to buy souvenirs everywhere you go or if you do consider posting them home. We often buy bells or magnets.
6. Don’t take a laptop unless you need to. Take several SD cards for your camera and backup when you get back home. Use your smart phone for Google maps, checking emails, etc.  Scan and save all travel documents and confirmations to your phone or a thumb drive.  It takes up no space, helps the environment by not printing, keeps all your documents together and saves that important piece of paper getting lost.
7. Hand wash your clothing each day or use local Laundromat at least twice a week.
8. Take multi purpose items. Think of that oversized t-shirt as a nightie or a cover up for the beach and your scarf can double as a sarong or a wrap.
9. Consider a point and shoot camera (or your smart phone) instead of heavy DSLR camera.
10. Above all look for clothing that is versatile, colour coordinates with everything else, is wrinkle resistant, can be layered, and is lightweight and quick drying.

The payoff for all this is no chance of lost luggage and flights are cheaper if you don’t have checked luggage.   You can also save time by not having to wait to collect checked luggage.

I would suggest in addition to your carry on, which can be a roller or backpack, carry an anti theft cross shoulder bag with your passport, smart phone or point and shoot camera, a pen, travel size toothpaste/toothbrush, hand wipes/sanitiser, purse size moisturiser,  tissues, lip balm, etc. I pack my toiletry items into a ziplock bag and throw in a few cotton buds, emery board, bobby pins and hair ties.  I carry my cable for my iphone and earbuds on a large hair clip to stop them tangling. I also have a little pouch which holds my nail clippers spare batteries, SD cards, SD adaptor and thumb drives.

If you follow these top 10 steps to lighter luggage, next time you are running for the bus, getting your luggage up a flight of stairs or dragging luggage along the cobblestone roads you will appreciate my advice.