Somewhat transportation related - Packing!

[rszdtrvl]

We leave on Sunday. Family of 3 headed to Las Vegas for 3 nights. Flying Southwest.

If it were you would you :

Pack a large suitcase for the 3 of you and one carry on suitcase and have your personal item

- or -

Each person has their own carry on suitcase and personal item.

I am getting ready to pack but am not sure how the easiest way to do so would be......

 

[dougsmom98]

We are a family of 6 and each of us always has a carry on suitcase and a personal item (back pack). It works great and we don't have to worry about lost luggage.

 

[snoopy5386]

We leave on Sunday. Family of 3 headed to Las Vegas for 3 nights. Flying Southwest.

If it were you would you :

Pack a large suitcase for the 3 of you and one carry on suitcase and have your personal item

- or -

Each person has their own carry on suitcase and personal item.

I am getting ready to pack but am not sure how the easiest way to do so would be......

Depends, how old are the family members? I have 2 young kids so option 2 isn't really an option for us, they can't pull their own carry on bags.

I always check as much as possible when we fly SW, I have no problem waiting a few minutes at the baggage carousel vs dealing with dragging tons of bags through the airport. And honestly by the time we get off the plane, take a potty break and walk to baggage claim the bags are usually already going around on the carousel.

 

[rszdtrvl]

We are typically pros at packing as we vacation yearly.

This is a shorter vacation than normal for us as a family (we are used to Disneyland).

I am torn!! It would be easier, and less is more, to have one regular suitcase and then our personal item - less to keep track of.

But it would also be nice to have separate luggage for each person.

 

[rwdavis2]

Since it's Southwest I would have each person take a small suitcase and personal item. Why check bags when you don't have to? Carry on is faster and you won't end up with a lost suitcase.

 

[rszdtrvl]

Forgot to add - DS is 17 - so not a little kid.

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

Why not pack in cubes in the larger case, then everyone a backpack. Using three separate bags may just cause over packing and hassle boarding and un boarding.

 

[pooch]

for three days in an oversized handbag!!! I can't imagine needing anything beyond a carryon each.

 

[Alesia]

for three days in an oversized handbag!!! I can't imagine needing anything beyond a carryon each.

Same here.

 

[Donna M]

Same here.

Same here too!

 

[rszdtrvl]

Why not pack in cubes in the larger case, then everyone a backpack. Using three separate bags may just cause over packing and hassle boarding and un boarding.

This is exactly what we decided to do. We already have a bunch of packing cubes and use them every time we vacation.

We will have the larger checked suitcase. DH will have his C-Pap machine as his "personal item", DS will have a backpack, and I will have a backpack.

Each backpack will contain a change of clothes (DS will have his and I will have mine and DH's) just in case there is an issue with the checked bag.

I asked DH which way he thought would work best and this is the way he said, which is great as it is the way I was leaning. A few minutes to wait for our suitcase is no big deal.

Thanks for the opinions!

 

[stacielee]

This is exactly what we decided to do. We already have a bunch of packing cubes and use them every time we vacation.

We will have the larger checked suitcase. DH will have his C-Pap machine as his "personal item", DS will have a backpack, and I will have a backpack.

Each backpack will contain a change of clothes (DS will have his and I will have mine and DH's) just in case there is an issue with the checked bag.

I asked DH which way he thought would work best and this is the way he said, which is great as it is the way I was leaning. A few minutes to wait for our suitcase is no big deal.

Thanks for the opinions!

Does your DH always take his C-Pap machine as a carry-on? Everytime my DH does that, they pull him aside at security and he has to unpack his stuff. We now put it in the checked bag and don't worry about it. And since we almost always fly SW, we don't worry about paying for checked bags.