What are your rules on Travel?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Same! We started doing this over a decade ago, and it really takes so much stress away from travel when you know your luggage is always with you . We've gotten to be expert packers over the years.

I think you could be the best expert out there in terms of packing things to fit but it's hard to get away from weight of items. Most of the time my carry on weighs 20-35 lbs by itself between clothing, shoes, toiletries, etc.

Do people often weigh their carry ons? I usually do

 

[princesscinderella]

We do carry on when it's shorter trips but long trips we often do carry on and a shared checked luggage. We try to avoid checked luggage when we realistically can but we wouldn't do a 2 week Hawaii trip on just carry on and personal item I commend you for doing so it just wouldn't be enjoyable for us.

We'll be going on a cruise next July flying AirFrance there and British Airways back. Both have roughly the same carry on and personal items dimensions with AirFrance just under 22 X just under 14 X just under 10 and British Airways is 22 X 18 X 10. These are both however smaller than we're used to.

But the biggest kicker is AirFrance has a restriction that your personal item and carry on cannot weigh more than just over what is the equivalent of 26 lbs that includes the contents within your carry on and personal item as well as the empty weight. So unfortunately not going to be able to get a 7 day cruise plus additional days in the front and back. I think my husband's shoes would be all we could pack at size 13 lol. Although there is a free laundry room on the ship I still couldn't do it with the size and weight.

We are going on a 10 day Norway, Iceland DCL this summer we just booked our airfare but got premium economy so we can take a bit more weight so we should be ok to just to carry ons but we may end up checking one bag that’s just shoes. We always pack more tops and use Jeans twice but we have laundry access on the ship so that makes it easy to pack for 5 days of regular clothes, 2 dressy and a couple of mix and match outfits. I love packing cubes to keep me organized. I have read about needing special waterproof clothing for Iceland due to freezing rain and my Florida bones can’t take the cold . Hopefully they aren’t too bulky.

 

[dvcgirl67]

I think you could be the best expert out there in terms of packing things to fit but it's hard to get away from weight of items. Most of the time my carry on weighs 20-35 lbs by itself between clothing, shoes, toiletries, etc.

Do people often weigh their carry ons? I usually do

Yes, we weight them before we go. We got Away carryons for our last trip and we love them. Between that and the backpacks we carry....we've never had a problem with having to check at the gate.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes, we weight them before we go. We got Away carryons for our last trip and we love them. Between that and the backpacks we carry....we've never had a problem with having to check at the gate.

Right but what's the weight with all that stuff, that's what I was getting at. If the airline allows up to 50 lbs well yeah that's usually doable and many are probably used to that especially domestically. And we're probably more used to generous sizing too. I usually weigh my stuff domestically so I have a gauge for it as I need to be able to lift it up and cart it around lol but not usually because the airline prohibits me. One of the only domestic ones I've found for a carry on is Frontier with no more than 35lbs. But an airline we sorta checked was Aer Lingus and their carry on is only 22lbs. All the backpacks we own would also be too large for personal items on the airlines we checked and are for AirFrance and British Airways. Like I said domestically things tend to be less restrictions but not everywhere.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We are going on a 10 day Norway, Iceland DCL this summer we just booked our airfare but got premium economy so we can take a bit more weight so we should be ok to just to carry ons but we may end up checking one bag that’s just shoes. We always pack more tops and use Jeans twice but we have laundry access on the ship so that makes it easy to pack for 5 days of regular clothes, 2 dressy and a couple of mix and match outfits. I love packing cubes to keep me organized. I have read about needing special waterproof clothing for Iceland due to freezing rain and my Florida bones can’t take the cold . Hopefully they aren’t too bulky.

Yeah I told my husband for our cruise I might consider not packing as many items like underwear socks, pjs, and tank tops I use for layering (that would be used during the day for port excursions) because of the free laundry however I'm also hesitant because it looked like the detergent was powder and I haven't used that before on my clothing other than oxiclean, thinking I should ask if there's any other detergent or if I can bring my own pods.

We booked with points being converted from a Chase CC and I want to say premium economy with AirFrance was not worth it at all like the difference was astronomical. Certainly not worth getting extra weight allowance although on the way from Chicago to CDG we do have exit row seats but I can understand booking that. We looked into Delta who I would have preferred going with but the cheapest points-wise was 90K PP one way and yeah no..that wasn't going to work either.

I'm digging the checking luggage just for shoes! It's amazing how much space and weight that can add.

Packing cubes rock! Actually that's a travel rule for me is when it makes sense (which is almost all the time) packing cubes are a must. I also now use that with a combo of compression cubes.

This was 12 days worth of stuff for our WDW/USO trip back in May although keep in mind I needed a few more stuff because theme parks are a sweaty mess and also I brought a dress I wore to the wedding with a shawl and a sports bra and workout capris to do some work out a few times those added to the bulk. No laundry was being done there (and I wouldn't have had the time anyways to do it)


I should also say I've been eyeing an Iceland/Norway/Northern Europe cruise with the cruise line we're going with. That is a strong contender for a next cruise.

 

[bcla]

Yes, we weight them before we go. We got Away carryons for our last trip and we love them. Between that and the backpacks we carry....we've never had a problem with having to check at the gate.

I've never witnessed anyone questioning the weight of a carry-on. At most they might have asked to see it go in the sizer. However, whenever there's a rule, there's always a chance that it gets enforced. But I haven't even seen slightly oversized carry-on get denied unless it was a blanket gate check-in because there would be no space.

The oddest thing was that Spirit was mentioned. Since they charge more for carry-on than they do for a single checked-in piece, we opted for the latter. We used our hard-sided piece that weighed about 8 lbs empty. We got it under Spirit's 40 lb limit, but didn't carefully weight I on the way home since we didn't have a scale. It tipped at just over 40 lbs, but the counter agent said it was fine and she wouldn't charge extra. I was ready to take out something like a sweatshirt that might weigh a lb.

I've also seen some really weird things over the years, like the time we flew Alaska and checked in one piece at $20. But the passengers in front of us had two pieces - one weighing maybe 44 lbs and the other 52 lbs. The agent asked if they wanted to redistribute the weight to get under the 50 lb limit, and the passengers decline and paid the extra $50. I won't pretend to understand why.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I've never witnessed anyone questioning the weight of a carry-on. At most they might have asked to see it go in the sizer. However, whenever there's a rule, there's always a chance that it gets enforced. But I haven't even seen slightly oversized carry-on get denied unless it was a blanket gate check-in because there would be no space.

The oddest thing was that Spirit was mentioned. Since they charge more for carry-on than they do for a single checked-in piece, we opted for the latter. We used our hard-sided piece that weighed about 8 lbs empty. We got it under Spirit's 40 lb limit, but didn't carefully weight I on the way home since we didn't have a scale. It tipped at just over 40 lbs, but the counter agent said it was fine and she wouldn't charge extra. I was ready to take out something like a sweatshirt that might weigh a lb.

I've also seen some really weird things over the years, like the time we flew Alaska and checked in one piece at $20. But the passengers in front of us had two pieces - one weighing maybe 44 lbs and the other 52 lbs. The agent asked if they wanted to redistribute the weight to get under the 50 lb limit, and the passengers decline and paid the extra $50. I won't pretend to understand why.

You don't run into it much domestically, the U.S. has fairly lenient airlines with carry ons.

I'm with you on the last example, I would def. redistribute to save that $50 especially when that shouldn't have been much.

 

[dvcgirl67]

Yeah I told my husband for our cruise I might consider not packing as many items like underwear socks, pjs, and tank tops I use for layering (that would be used during the day for port excursions) because of the free laundry however I'm also hesitant because it looked like the detergent was powder and I haven't used that before on my clothing other than oxiclean, thinking I should ask if there's any other detergent or if I can bring my own pods.

We booked with points being converted from a Chase CC and I want to say premium economy with AirFrance was not worth it at all like the difference was astronomical. Certainly not worth getting extra weight allowance although on the way from Chicago to CDG we do have exit row seats but I can understand booking that. We looked into Delta who I would have preferred going with but the cheapest points-wise was 90K PP one way and yeah no..that wasn't going to work either.

I'm digging the checking luggage just for shoes! It's amazing how much space and weight that can add.

Packing cubes rock! Actually that's a travel rule for me is when it makes sense (which is almost all the time) packing cubes are a must. I also now use that with a combo of compression cubes.

This was 12 days worth of stuff for our WDW/USO trip back in May although keep in mind I needed a few more stuff because theme parks are a sweaty mess and also I brought a dress I wore to the wedding with a shawl and a sports bra and workout capris to do some work out a few times those added to the bulk. No laundry was being done there (and I wouldn't have had the time anyways to do it)
View attachment 707841

I should also say I've been eyeing an Iceland/Norway/Northern Europe cruise with the cruise line we're going with. That is a strong contender for a next cruise.

Oooh...on Seabourn? They have some sweet itineraries for Northern Europe .

 

[princesscinderella]

Yeah I told my husband for our cruise I might consider not packing as many items like underwear socks, pjs, and tank tops I use for layering (that would be used during the day for port excursions) because of the free laundry however I'm also hesitant because it looked like the detergent was powder and I haven't used that before on my clothing other than oxiclean, thinking I should ask if there's any other detergent or if I can bring my own pods.

We booked with points being converted from a Chase CC and I want to say premium economy with AirFrance was not worth it at all like the difference was astronomical. Certainly not worth getting extra weight allowance although on the way from Chicago to CDG we do have exit row seats but I can understand booking that. We looked into Delta who I would have preferred going with but the cheapest points-wise was 90K PP one way and yeah no..that wasn't going to work either.

I'm digging the checking luggage just for shoes! It's amazing how much space and weight that can add.

Packing cubes rock! Actually that's a travel rule for me is when it makes sense (which is almost all the time) packing cubes are a must. I also now use that with a combo of compression cubes.

This was 12 days worth of stuff for our WDW/USO trip back in May although keep in mind I needed a few more stuff because theme parks are a sweaty mess and also I brought a dress I wore to the wedding with a shawl and a sports bra and workout capris to do some work out a few times those added to the bulk. No laundry was being done there (and I wouldn't have had the time anyways to do it)
View attachment 707841

I should also say I've been eyeing an Iceland/Norway/Northern Europe cruise with the cruise line we're going with. That is a strong contender for a next cruise.

I love these for travel laundry they don’t smell too strong and they did well getting the chlorine smell out of our bathing suits at Aulani.

Miracle Made Liquidless Laundry Detergent Sheets - 32 Sheets Up To 64 Loads - As Seen On TV Plastic Free & Biodegradable Eco-Strips for Sensitive Skin - Dye, Bleach, Paraben, and Cruelty-Free Earth Friendly Sheets https://a.co/86179TV

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Oooh...on Seabourn? They have some sweet itineraries for Northern Europe .

*sigh* gosh they do! So so tempting, too many itinerates look amazing like do I want Scandinavia, Iceland, coasts of Ireland, Scotland, England, or getting into the Amsterdam and Denmark stuff.

I kid you not the other day my husband says to me "well we may have to see about the cruise options while we're on board for getting that on-board future cruise discount" guess we'll find out lol

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I love these for travel laundry they don’t smell too strong and they did well getting the chlorine smell out of our bathing suits at Aulani.

Miracle Made Liquidless Laundry Detergent Sheets - 32 Sheets Up To 64 Loads - As Seen On TV Plastic Free & Biodegradable Eco-Strips for Sensitive Skin - Dye, Bleach, Paraben, and Cruelty-Free Earth Friendly Sheets https://a.co/86179TV

Oooh okay I have heard of laundry sheets but hadn't really looked into them. Thank you for that recommendation! and I assume it's not counting towards your liquid either?

 

[bcla]

You don't run into it much domestically, the U.S. has fairly lenient airlines with carry ons.

I'm with you on the last example, I would def. redistribute to save that $50 especially when that shouldn't have been much.

They were native Spanish speakers. I don't think there was a language barrier per se enough that they didn't understand that they could save $50, but I couldn't really get into their heads as to what they did or didn't understand.

 

[princesscinderella]

Oooh okay I have heard of laundry sheets but hadn't really looked into them. Thank you for that recommendation! and I assume it's not counting towards your liquid either?

Nope they don’t count. I put them in a ziplock and they keep the clothes in my suitcase smelling fresh

 

[NannyBeBe]

If I don't have the discretionary funds to pay in full, I don't go.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Nope they don’t count. I put them in a ziplock and they keep the clothes in my suitcase smelling fresh

Well that's just awesome, thank you again for that

 

[dvcgirl67]

*sigh* gosh they do! So so tempting, too many itinerates look amazing like do I want Scandinavia, Iceland, coasts of Ireland, Scotland, England, or getting into the Amsterdam and Denmark stuff.

I kid you not the other day my husband says to me "well we may have to see about the cruise options while we're on board for getting that on-board future cruise discount" guess we'll find out lol

I told you! There's no going back. But honestly, I saw the itinerary you're talking about and it's not too bad considering all the you do and the level of luxury/service on those ships. And...I'm betting there will be discounts for the next year or two as we're likely heading into a global recession. Carnival, the owner of Seabourn, is having some financial trouble and has said that they're discounting some brands...it's possible you'll get a nice deal. I'm assuming the cancellation policy is fair...and that you can put the cruise on your credit card so you have good protection.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I told you! There's no going back. But honestly, I saw the itinerary you're talking about and it's not too bad considering all the you do and the level of luxury/service on those ships. And...I'm betting there will be discounts for the next year or two as we're likely heading into a global recession. Carnival, the owner of Seabourn, is having some financial trouble and has said that they're discounting some brands...it's possible you'll get a nice deal. I'm assuming the cancellation policy is fair...and that you can put the cruise on your credit card so you have good protection.

All quite true. The sale we got (the automatic 2 category upgrade they were running) just ended but I'm thinking they'll likely do more in the future, maybe not quite like that but something.

Yeah there had been chatter on the FB pages about Saudi Arabia having interest in buying Seabourn but that talk was in the spring and from all that people know the deal fell apart. Sadly the pandemic hitting things, they are def. getting bookings from people I know some cruises are completely sold out and ones well in advance but I don't know how much that's impacting Carnival's bottom line.

I am def. enjoying seeing the photos from everyone and the stories they are telling, the port excursions seem like a lot of care and attention is done for them. I'm such a history lover and I'm practically salivating over all these things

 

[Kat_M]

read reviews, be as prepared as possible, for everything

 

[Moliphino]

Right but what's the weight with all that stuff, that's what I was getting at. If the airline allows up to 50 lbs well yeah that's usually doable and many are probably used to that especially domestically. And we're probably more used to generous sizing too. I usually weigh my stuff domestically so I have a gauge for it as I need to be able to lift it up and cart it around lol but not usually because the airline prohibits me. One of the only domestic ones I've found for a carry on is Frontier with no more than 35lbs. But an airline we sorta checked was Aer Lingus and their carry on is only 22lbs. All the backpacks we own would also be too large for personal items on the airlines we checked and are for AirFrance and British Airways. Like I said domestically things tend to be less restrictions but not everywhere.

I've flown Aer Lingus quite a bit and I've never seen them weigh or question a carry on.
My biggest complaint with them is that their gate agents never show up until about 2 hours before the flight (in the European airports, I've never had this issue on the US end), so a long line of increasingly anxious people forms well before they are even there to check you in.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I've flown Aer Lingus quite a bit and I've never seen them weigh or question a carry on.
My biggest complaint with them is that their gate agents never show up until about 2 hours before the flight (in the European airports, I've never had this issue on the US end), so a long line of increasingly anxious people forms well before they are even there to check you in.

Well that's good to know about the weight but goodness that would make me anxious too about the gate agents