Our Guerrilla Packing Tactics: Check-In VS Carry-On

“The sense of ease we had going through the airport was well worth the shoes I had sacrificed.” I am sure I never said this, Josh Bender! A lady needs shoes.

You may have seen our post from last year regarding our luggage. We had a lot of it. When we left Australia in May 2012 we had 3 large suitcases and 3 small suitcases, plus a backpack.

Throughout 2012 we fluctuated from 1 to 3 large suitcases the entire time. We ended up returning to Perth with 2 large suitcases, 3 small suitcases, a pram, a carseat and a backpack.

Fast-forward to April 2014. We were about to set off again for an indefinite amount of time. What did we pack? How did we pack it?

This time we knew one thing.

It all had to fit in one large suitcase. So the pruning began.

As we started using our new awesome packing cubes we soon realised everything was not going to fit. Well it was going to fit, just not into our 20kg bag limit. After we asked our Facebook fans for advice about taking another large suitcase or a carry on, we realised there were so many different pros and cons.

We ended up with a last-minute addition of another carry on. Why another carry on, surely with children checked-in luggage is easier. True! But here was our reasoning:

Check-In Luggage		Carry-On Luggage
Pros	Cons	Pros	Cons
Don't have to worry about during flight or while carrying tired children off cramped airplane confines.	Has a weight limit.	Don't need to check in, so can easily use online check in services.	Smaller space means more bags. What could fit into one large bag, now needs 2 smaller bags. Less free hands.
Can be checked through to next destination during transit.	Sometimes can not be checked through, so have to wait for it during transit and re-check.	Do not have to wait after flight lands for luggage, can just leave airport.	Hard to carry sleeping children as well as bags when exiting flight.
Can carry more things in one bag.	Have to wait at carousel after flight, which sometimes can be a long wait.	Everything you own is with you at all times, no losing bags.	Sometimes overhead compartment space becomes a death match with your seated neighbour.
Can take things you wouldn't be able to on the plane, like larger liquid bottles including shampoo, wine, etc.	Can be lost, damaged, thrown around.	Most airlines do not charge for carry on luggage so spared expense.	Can't take certain things in your carry on, like a larger toothpaste, shampoos or a bottle of wine.
	Can cost more. Discount airlines have no free luggage allowance and so you pay per bag and weight.	Many airlines do not weigh carry on so you can carry the heavy stuff in them.
	Overweight bags can occur a very high fee.
	Bigger bags are harder to get in taxis or carry around on trains and buses.
	Check-in can become a longer process when checking in bags.

As you can see the cons of a larger bag far outweighed the pros or cons of the carry on luggage.

So here you can see we ended up with 1 large check-in bag, and 3 carry-ons, plus one backpack.

All suitcases vary with their contents, however with our new packing cubes it is real easy to find items. I know the kids clothes and underwear are all in the red cubes. Mine are in the blue and Josh’s the black. How my life has changed!

Our newest bags are the Pacsafe carry on. They look small, but they have plenty of space and it’s so easy to wheel them – I am in love with them. On top of all this they are pretty much impenetrable. We actually wrote a whole post about them here.

So what’s in the bags?

Well we have 3 eBag packing cube colours – Black, Red and Aqua. They are divided into:

Black small – Josh’s underwear and socks
Black medium – spare
Black large – Josh’s clothes
Red small – Mia & Caius’ underwear and socks
Red medium – Caius clothes
Red large – Mia’s clothes
Aqua small – Erin’s underwear & socks
Aqua medium – Erin’s clothes
Aqua large – Winter clothes for everyone – jeans & jackets

I read on Travel Fashion Girl you should try to pack 15 items per person. My first attempt had 20 shirts, my second more brutal attempt had 10. I was very proud of myself. Add to that, 2 shorts, a skirt, 2 dresses and I was pretty close.

First Aid Kit

We went through our first aid kit removing bulky packaging and using zip lock bags for labels. This gave us lots more room and actually has made finding things much easier. This year, unfortunately, I was diagnosed with a hyper thyroid so not only do we have to take our first aid kit, but I needed at least one year’s worth of meds to travel with. Again, I disposed of most of the packaging and used zip lock bags.

Car Seats

We are also carrying 2 BubbleBums for car travel, the best and easiest way to carry car seats, instead of last year’s awkwardly large booster seat. Check the latest price here.

Kids Toys

This year we decided there would be no toy bag, but the kids could choose 1 toy each. It didn’t really end up working like that, but it’s an improvement on last year. Mia and Caius both have 3 soft toys each, a pencil case and a bunch of interactive educational Leap Frog books and paint/colouring books.

Beach Bag

We have a beach bag filled with our swimmers, sarong, sunscreen and hats.

Shoes

Of course there are shoes. I had to be thoroughly chastised on my shoe collection and managed to get down to 5 pairs. My daughter was just as bad with 5. My son brought 3, one has already died so now he is down to 2, just like his dad.

Toiletries

We have two toiletry bags. One filled with shampoos and conditioners, one with toothbrushes, makeup and deodorants. Unfortunately we are all using different products presently, but hopefully that will change when we run out. I managed to get my large bottles into these new smaller travel-friendly ones, which are just fabulous.

Food

I mustn’t forget our food packing-cube. I mean it carries our liquid gold – Vegemite. And emergency dinner's that can be prepared with just boiled water.

Electronics

There is a bag of cables for everything we carry and, of course, a bag of our electronics. Our electronics bag shrunk overall as Josh pared down just the bare essentials. We are now carrying 2 laptops, 3 kindles, 1 iPad and 2 smartphones.

Josh also invested in some new tech gear to make life easier.

We now have a new travel power board, with built in travel adaptors and 2x USB ports as well. It charges everything we have. We haven’t found a country that didn’t fit so far, which means we can now buy electronics anywhere without carrying multiple adaptors.

His new multi-USB power adaptor allows most of our electronics to be charged from one point. Very handy!

We’ve also swapped our Apple TV for a Google Chromecast, which is similar but smaller, lighter and more travel-friendly.

And there you have it. A revealing glimpse into a nomadic family’s baggage. If we were travelling for a set period of time, like a month, I could foresee some of the stuff unnecessary, but with an indefinite period before us we have found this to be a wonderful compromise.

We hope you’ve found that to be some help. One day we hope to get rid of the large suitcase altogether, maybe when the kids can carry their own packs. But until then I’ll keep carting around exotic foreign wine from my travels and enjoy the benefits of checked-in luggage while I have it.