I keep three basic sizes, a 20 inch "carry on" good for a one or two night trip - if I am not carrying a lot of extras. A 24-26 inch bag, for trips of 2-5 nights. This is my general purpose utility bag, if the trip is purely leisure, in warm weather, I can get a week or more out of this size. Even full, I am able to keep these under 40 pounds and easy to haul. I also keep at least one large bag, 28-29 inches. I have to watch these or they run overweight. I use them for longer trips, or road trips giving me the freedom to pack carelessly. Sometimes I carry two bags, the mid sized and the carry on. I have done this on longer trips to Europe, carrying the small bag on board and checking the larger one. I also do it when I drive to Florida and spend a week with family, I pack the smaller bag with what I am going to wear coming and going and carry it into the hotels between here and there, and the larger bag I pack with what I am going to wear while I am in Florida.
It is time for a new mid-size bag, the current one suffered a puncture
on the trip to Hawaii. Shopping I go.
When I used to travel (long ago) I always traveled very light and only used carry-on luggage. In retrospect it amazes me. I doubt if I could be so resourceful now.
ReplyDeleteShould you be carrying ANY bags at the moment?
ReplyDeleteJohn, I have a couple of trips coming up, one is just two nights and I can do that, the other is a bit longer (17 days) and I am thinking I may have to pay someone to carry my bag for parts of that trip.
DeleteI have a "backpack" carry on that works well for overnights and weekends, and as a carry on for longer stints, including flying. A suit-style bag that works for trips like the wedding you saw me at in January. I need a "week long" bag, the last one I borrowed for the trip to England, and had a close friend (may he rest in peace) not given me a roll of Gorilla Tape before I left, I would have been up the creek when the zipper blew!
ReplyDeleteFor my last vacation, a 9 day road trip, I took a LARGE duffel, and a smaller gym bag - transferring the things I'd need each night or two to the smaller from the larger so I had less to carry around the hotels. Worked like a charm!
As to weight, on my first trip to England, I carefully packed my checked bag, and weighed it at 46 pounds. That's what it weighed when checked at RIC and JFK. Coming home, at JFK, it suddenly weighed 54 pounds! It only had a fleece jacket added to it! I pulled that out, stuffed it into my carry on (the pack), and now it weighed 51 pounds. She let that slide. Bitch, she had her damn toe on that scale!!! Odd thing is, it didn't change the weight on the plane, just the distribution. FFS!!!
Peace <3
Jay