How To Only Take Cabin Bags When You Travel (for a week)
I’ll admit – I love flying budget airlines to cram even more holidays in. Especially with
RyanAir, it can quickly become more expensive if you’re unprepared. Simply taking a
cabin bag is the best way to avoid those extra costs. However, I know from personal
experience how hard it is to cram everything into a small bag! The tips below should help
you stay on track to keeping your travels low-cost. (I will admit, these tips are fairly
universal but if you’re staying much longer than a week, you may need to consider
upgrading to more or bigger bags.) When backpacking for over a month, I DID have only cabin luggage however I upgraded to have a larger bag then Ryanair’s usual size. In reality, it’s what works for you – so take whichever tips help you and leave the rest!
Tip 1 – Plan What You Pack
And stick to it! This is the number one reason why more goes in my bag than should. It’s
the typical rifling through your drawers, picking out yet another outfit you probably won’t
wear. I’m telling you know – you probably won’t need it. Write up a list of the bare
essentials. Put these in your bag, and then if you’ve got room you can add some
optional items. You can also have a look at where you’re staying – if there are washing
facilities and you plan to use these, you won’t need as many clothes either.
Tip 2 – Flexible Bags
Airline luggage often has to fit into very specific size measurements. If you have a more
flexible bag, you’re more likely to be able to cram more in than one with rigid sides. You
can buy the ‘airline approved’ suitcases, however I would personally opt for a small
rucksack. These are much more likely to be flexible to different airline measurement
policies as well as squashing to fit in the luggage checkers when you have overpacked.
Tip 3 – How You Pack
When you do have items that take up a lot of space, can you pad them and fill any spare
space in them with other things? A classic example of this is a mug when camping. Roll
a t-shirt up and stuff it in; you’ll save so much room if you do this with everything.
Tip 4 – Know What You’re Wearing
Travel in your largest clothes. I’m talking t-shirt, jumper, jacket, coat if you need it. If
you’re travelling somewhere warm, I often shove a fairly casual jacket in that I can wear
on a night time – however these take up space. Wear it on the plane. This applies for
shoes as well – wear your largest boots or trainers, and squash the sandals into the bag.
Tip 5 – Have food separate
If you are taking food to the airport, take it in a separate bag. If you’re not taking it on the
aeroplane, you don’t need it taking up room in your bag. Before you question how
sustainable that is, you can take one of the fold-able shopping bags, shove it into one of
the pockets of your bag before you board and then you have a spare bag for while
you’re away, too.
Hopefully this has all been helpful in giving you some idea to pack lighter. There are so
many others – when travelling with a large rucksack, one of my friends takes a portable
vacuum bag sealer and keeps all of their clothes in vacuum bags for the duration of the
travel. It’s something that’s unique to everyone, and hopefully you’ll manage to be off
and away on a cheap flight to somewhere nice with these tips!
For Zadar, I used these tips to pack for the week. If you’re interested in
looking what to do there, click here!
