Traveling w/ Carry Ons ONLY

[rbork]

Anyone ever travel w/ carry on luggage only. I'm thinking about a budget stay at a value and want to cut down costs of baggage. There are 4 of us. Think it's doable if every one get's one carry on? I'm thinking of spacebagging things and at the last resort wearing layers on our way from the up north in February. I could peel down once we get there Possibly plan a laundry trip in the middle of the week.
BTW it's for 7 days. Think it's doable? Anyone ever done this?

 

[dudspizza]

It is very doable. I went to Arizona for 6 days with only a roll aboard and a backpack. The biggest hurdle is the liquid ban. You either have to bring small bottles of shampoo, deoderant, etc... or buy it when you get there.

It actually helped me as I had a flight cancellation and I was more flexible with no luggage to find.

Have a great trip.

Duds

 

[rebecca06261]

This is very doable if you completely eliminate liquids. I always do carry-on/backpack only for any trip less than 7 days. My trick is that I always purchase inexpensive liquid-toiletries when I reach my destination and discard them upon the completion of my trip! I also pack only 2 pairs of shoes that coordinate with every outfit.

Of course, when traveling to FL in the summer, you usually have to plan for 2 outfits per day/ per person in order to avoid the late-day Florida stench. So if you can make it all fit in the carry-on, I say "go for it!"

 

[goofy4tink]

Yep, very possible. If you have no issue with doing some laundry mid-stay, then you should be golden!!!
I want to do carryon for the most part in the future. I am traveling to London in Feb and seriously doubt I can do that with carryon only. Besides, not sure how much carryon I can bring on the plane. But domestic?? Not a problem.

 

[TAKitty]

We only travel with carry on bags. I find that I always have room in the kids bags for some of my things or my dh's. We have also shipped a box down before and shipped it back to our house after the trip.

 

[bubba]

We have travelled carry-on-only since losing our luggage on our honeymoon 17 years ago. We (myself, DH, DS(9) and DS(5) we to WDW in May for 10 days with 3 roll-a-boards, a small backpack for the kids books, games and stuff for the plane, my wallet-on-a-string and my small camera bag. I also folded up a small canvas duffle bag and packed it in case we went nuts with souvenirs. Before the kids, DH and I went to the UK for 3 weeks with a carry on each, a backpack and my purse. It is definitely doable, you just need to be realistic. I always put all the stuff I want to take out on the bed, and think about what I really need according to our travel plans. We are always clean and I have yet to have to do laundry at WDW. I also pack things in zipper bags - roll stuff into a sausage, stuff the roll into a zipper bag, squeeze out the air, zip and pack. I always manage to pack more this way than when I pack traditionally (yes, this past trip I tested this theory ! I packed my bag 4 times ... and went with the zipper bags when I saw that saved the most space !)

 

[Twitterpated Dad]

You might want to check out these sites:

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/packlight.htm

http://www.verber.com/mark/travel/packing.html

http://www.travelite.org/

http://www.frequentflyer.oag.com/traveller_services/carryonguide.asp

http://onebagger.squarespace.com/blog/?currentPage=2

 

[3goofyboys]

Before I had kids I was exclusively carry on. If I thought there was any way the 4 of us could make it 10 days with just our carry ons that's the way I'd do it! It makes travel so much easier!

 

[patsfan101]

We're travelling carry-only and plan to ship a box of liquids (shampoo, lotions, etc.) to the resort via UPS a few days ahead of time. I can't take credit for the idea - a few friends of my husband have done this and recommended it. they say as long as you ship the package 5 business days ahead of time, it will be there when you arrive. That ellimnates the 4 oz in a ziploc bag problem.

 

[SEC]

I was wondering the same thing since it seems like all the airlines except SW charge for even the first bag. We flew SW in December but being able to get our boarding passes at the resort makes Delta more appealing.

Does anyone know if you can get the boarding verification document for infants using the resort airline check-in? It took a long time to do this at SW since you could not do it at curbside, then they did not even ask for it! They did going to Orlando.

 

[justplaingoofy]

We ONLY travel with carry ons...... we can do 10 days to either Disney or Caribbean with just carry on


I got these little liquid containers from bed bath & beyond for travel and they are perfect!

 

[disneynuts777]

We ONLY travel with carry ons...... we can do 10 days to either Disney or Caribbean with just carry on


So can our family of 4!!! I got fed up with the fact that our luggage never made it on the same flight home as us!!!

 

[DebbieB]

I was wondering the same thing since it seems like all the airlines except SW charge for even the first bag. We flew SW in December but being able to get our boarding passes at the resort makes Delta more appealing.

Does anyone know if you can get the boarding verification document for infants using the resort airline check-in? It took a long time to do this at SW since you could not do it at curbside, then they did not even ask for it! They did going to Orlando.

You can get your boarding passes for SW at the resort or a park guest services. I've done it on my last 3 or 4 trips. Last time I got it in Downtown Disney, the time before at City Hall at MK. Not sure about the infant.

 

[bytheblood]

Yes, I think this is very doable. Space Bags are a great idea.

 

[hockeybabe]

We always do carryon only to WDW. Not just for the baggage fees, but for the ease of getting off the plane and getting on the way without having to wait for baggage claim. And same for the trip home, you don't have to worry that your luggage got on an earlier flight. That happened to us once, our luggage was in another terminal since they sent it on an earlier flight. It was grouped together with other luggage, but no staff member watching over it. Since then we have done the carryon thing. Family of four, and it works great!

 

[justplaingoofy]

Forgot to mention that it is also handy if you are flying standby.


When we flew in May from Boston to Cancun we had a chsnge at Charlotte. They offered a flight with a :50 minute layover (too tight for us... we will not book a flight unless it has 1 1/2 hrs to be safe) so we booked the flight going out of Charlotte a little later. We did arrive ontime in Charlotte, and the flight going to Cancun was still at Charlotte, so we hopped on that flight. (If we had checked bags that would have been a problem!)