Why Can't You Pack a Bag? (2024)

I've been on both extremes - single carry-on (with no personal item, or a laptop in a bag solely to watch movies on the plane) for a two week vacation, and checked bag for a 3-day work trip. It depends entirely on context. Purpose of the trip, length of the trip, optionality with extending the trip, how locked in your itinerary is, all can play a role in whether it makes sense to pack a little, pack a lot, and whether you expect to use everything.

I took a checked bag on my last < 1 week work trip and didn't use 2/3 of what I brought but I'd bring the exact same bag if I had to because you never know what might come up.

As someone raised as a light packer, I've come to the opposite conclusion a little: I'd prefer packing "medium" to have a lot of flexibility to be dressed well for whatever may come up. A small half-full duffel bag isn't that much better than a full one, so if I'm on a short trip I've found that I'll often appreciate having the extra options.

That being said, I literally do not own a roller bag, and am quite happy taking the stairs.

For people without children, yes; with children, often, the opposite.

>For one, rolling luggage is usually a mistake for anyone who's not flight crew.

Rolling luggage is amazing, especially that that goes into the overhead compartment.

"I bring a week's worth of thin clothes that layer. If I need more, I'm either washing by hand or using a service. Basic toiletries, an e-reader, phone, keys, charger bricks, a notebook/pens, daypack. It fits into an underseat backpack with room to spare."

That's if you don't need to take more or heavier clothes, formal clothes, an extra pair of shoes, if you're packing gifts, or extra gear taken space elsewhere (e.g. camera and lenses in your backpack), and not taking stuff like souvenirs and such back.

>This has scaled fine all the way up to multi-month scientific expeditions in remote locations.

If you slob it like a 19 year old backpacker, sure.

I've had this conversation a lot with my wife, as we have divergent philosophies.

I'm an old Peace Corps hippie that then road warriored for a few years where I would do a 4 day work trip and limit myself to a bag I could fit under the seat on a plane. You have to be ruthless, rewear stuff that will be fine for multiple days, etc. You also learn what is non-negotiable to bring.

My wife is a planner, so she builds for redundancies and tries to pack for every scenario. She targets to fill a roller bag and the biggest personal item tote she has. But I will also admit there's much more social pressure on women than men in terms of what makes up an outfit.

Recently I visited my parents and had to pack cycling gear, backpacking gear, wedding suit, on top of my daily clothes. I had two pairs of shoes in my luggage which alone takes up like a quarter of a carry-on. I filled a carry-on and a big checked luggage. For a week trip without significant activities it would just be a light carry-on.

Also small rolling luggage is fine if you’ve got status with the airline. If you board in group 2 you will never be forced to gate check your bag. Just make sure it fits in the smaller RJ overheads and you’re good to go.

> For one, rolling luggage is usually a mistake for anyone who's not flight crew.

I used to travel with just a soft carry-on bag that converted into a backpack. It was great to just pick it up and go, and not have to worry about constantly extending and retracting the handle or bracing the bag so it wouldn't roll away on a hill.

But around the age of 50, my back informed me in no uncertain terms that those days were behind me. Now I let the wheels on my luggage carry the weight.

No major commercial airline allows a passenger to put 3 large suitcases in the overhead bins: it's one carry-on bag in the bin plus a small personal item. If I'm going scuba diving, especially technical diving in a cold environment, then I need to fill my carry-on and personal item with the expensive or fragile dive gear plus check two large bags for the bulky dive gear plus whatever else I need for the trip.

It's a New Yorker style manual thing, just like diaresis on reëducate for example [1]. I think it's sensible in this specific instance (and others like it generally) because it allows the user to disambiguate [I had my worst] [ever packing experience] from [I had my worst ever] [packing experience]. I'm not sure what other punctuation or style you'd use there to clarify that, besides letting the user figure it out from obvious context.

The New Yorker has a variety of these kinds of somewhat-archaic patterns, and I actually really like them because a) I think it gives a bit more literary feel, like the MIT Tech Review that also uses them, and b) it makes the text accessible to a broader audience, people who might speak english as a second or fourth language and not natuarally scan that phrase without punctuation.

[1] https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-...

Even better than rolling is a suit fold. I inherited one, and only got around to using it years later when I needed to fly in to a buddy's wedding with a suit. Ever since, it's my go-to piece of luggage. It's small enough to fit in a seat well in a pinch, it's light and portable enough to sling over your shoulder for a multi-leg public transit journey, and your clothes don't need any ironing to look immaculate when you get to your destination.

I am usually only traveling with a carry-on and I use something called "ranger rolls". Roll them as densely as you can get them. try not to leave them that way outside of immediate travel. I like it precisely of your space filling comment. I can fit clothes into what was ordinarily dead space with any other method in any other bag or suit case.

Teen-ager and some other unusual hyphenations are New Yorker style, yes

Hotel laundry service tends to be quite expensive, but many hotels have a coin-op (or maybe an app these days) laundry room where you can do your own. That's very handy for underwear, socks, and casual items.

And some people for whatever reason think that everything you wear once needs to be washed before you can wear it again. Break out of that mindset. You can usually wear pants and shirts several times if they aren't sweaty and don't have food spills or something like that. Hang them up or fold them at night, maybe touch up with an iron if they are wrinkled.

Unless the shops are closed and it is surprisingly raining now and you did not bring that rain jacket/umbrella.

Buying clothes at your destination doesn't always work out if you're not a standard size -- which may vary dramatically depending where you're going.

Just leave some room in the bag to bring back anything you might buy so you don't have to ship it.

Exactly. Buy local. Support the local economy and blend in.

Depends how remote your destination is.

The heaviness of your layering will depend directly upon the environment you will be in. The above is adequate for most temperate climates.

If you plan on being at higher elevations during local fall/winter/spring, your base layer will likely be light (and moisture wicking, please do this), and your first layer will likely need to start heavier than a temperate climate base layer.

Having spent a considerable amount of time in the North Central US during those seasons, the layering strategy is appropriate, but the heavier outer layers are non-negotiable, especially as the average temperature drops below 15F.

I tried layering when I traveled somewhere cold, where the high was just above freezing. I felt foolish whenever I went indoors and had to peel off three or four layers in order to feel comfortable.

The next time I went, I brought a proper winter jacket. When I was indoors, I took off my jacket. It was simpler and more comfortable, both outdoors and indoors. You cannot replicate a winter jacket with a rain shell and a bunch of layers.

The Bay Area has a lot of microclimates but none of them are really cold nor hot or humid.

In late 1970s, I spent two months hitching and riding trains around Europe, just an external frame backpack and a sleeping bag. A few years ago, I spent 2.5 weeks in U.K. and Ireland, with an 18-liter backpack and a waist bag (a.k.a. fanny pack ), which made getting around a breeze especially at airports and on trains. It even allowed me to carry a notebook computer. As mentioned in TFA, merino wool and no cotton garments helps. The rain was a minor inconvenience, but I did have lodging where I could get things rinsed and dried out in my room. I did buy an umbrella but should have splurged on better quality, even if I would end up abandoning it.

Best packing advice I ever received: take half as many clothes, and twice as much money, as you think you'll need.

I live in the Bay Area and I don't understand that. Layering is a stupid hassle. I'll put on one jacket of appropriate thickness when I go outside and take it off when I come inside. Simple.

There are certainly circumstances where you need really warm clothes. And hiking (and requirements for dress clothing) complicate thingx as well. But if I'm visiting cities and towns in not surefrigid weather, I can generally handle carry-on with some washing out in sinks and so forth with the right low maintenance clothing.

You've got to be kidding. I'm not going to waste time on a trip washing laundry by hand. Just pack another bag, and if you're staying longer then pick a hotel with coin-op washer / dryer machines available for guest use.