What to carry-on and what to check? The die-hard travellers say carry everything on. That's good advice and that may or may not be something that you are comfortable with. I know people who could easily carry everything on, and I know people who would just never be comfortable with the idea. They need an outfit for all occasions.
The advice to carry-on is good advice. For example, I was standing at the US Airways ticket counter making a seating change. Two women in their early to mid twenties were standing at the American Airlines counter next to me. They had a 10 day trip starting in Paris, going to Venice, then Florence, finishing in Rome and then flying home.
Oops. Their checked baggage, which had all of their clothing in it, was lost for FIVE days. It finally caught up with them in Rome. They had to buy all new clothing on their trip. They were trying to get some compensation from American Airlines for the inconvenience and extra costs they incurred. I hope they get something, but they didn't get anything at the ticket counter that day.
I'm getting to the point where I really can just about carry everything on that I need for a reasonable trip. My troubles lie in the photography equipment department, and I am making real strides in that area as well.
However, if you know you are going to check baggage my advice is to plan for trouble. Here's how I pack my carry-on and my checked baggage.
My carry-on bag is an Eagle Creek Sport Companion.
My checked bag is an Eagle Creek Tarmac ES 22.
What I'm Wearing
- REI pants with zip-off legs (dark gray)
- Adidas Dri-fit Shirt (black)
- ExOfficio Underwear
- REI "WrightSock Double Layer CoolMesh Low" Socks
- Shoes
- Money Belt
Carry-On Bag
My focus here is very simple. If my checked baggage doesn't arrive, can I still hit the sites while I wait for it to arrive? Answer? Yes. I'll wash the clothes I'm wearing, wear the spare set the next day and then rotate from there until my luggage finally arrives. Incovenience? Yes. Disaster? No. And, you won't find me wasting an entire day running down clothing stores to re-create the missing warddrobe.
- Change of Clothes
- REI pants with zip-off legs (tan)
- Adidas Dri-Fit shirt
- ExOfficio underwear
- REI "WrightSock Double Layer CoolMesh Low" socks
- My "Camera Bag". (it fits inside my Eagle Creek Carry On). See the details of what it contains here.
- My "Seat-Pocket Bag". This is the bag I dig out and stick in the seat pocket. It has everything I need without ever going up to the overhead bin for my Carry On. See the details of what it contains here.
- My "Electronics Bag". This is zipped up in an Eagle Creek small "Packing Cube":
- European electrical outlet converters
- iPhone charger
- Camera battery charger
- Hard drive for picture storage
- USB cable
- SD Card to USB drive converter
- Extra camera battery (fully charged)
- My "Wash Up" bag. Again, nicely zipped up in an Eagle Creek 'waterproof' "packing cube" and contains:
- Eye drops
- Toothbrush
- Toothpaste
- Dental floss
- Deodorant
- Paperwork
- Itineraries
- Contact numbers (hotels, embassy's, taxi's, etc.)
- All that other paperwork!
- Key guide books
- Camera Lenses (I carry them with me!)
- Amazon Kindle (reading material)
- USB Drive with Roboform2Go
- Hat
- Prescription medications
- SureFire flashlight
- Extra earplugs
- Sunglass case (Eagle Creek)
- Eyeglass case
- Bread Bag Twist Ties
- Compass (N-S-E-W device)
- Liquid laundry soap (3 oz)
- Lightweight wind-breaker / raincoat
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