Minimalist Packing for Vacation
Recently my family went on an epic four-country tour of Europe over the course of nearly three weeks. There were six of us, including four children ages 4-12. Because I really didn’t want to rent a vehicle in any of the countries (renting a vehicle for 6 people in Europe is challenging and expensive!), I wanted to make sure we packed as lightly as we possibly could both for ease, and for financial reasons. We’d be utilizing all available forms of public transportation and as city-dwellers, we knew that having large bags would be too cumbersome for that type of travel. We also wanted all of our kids to be able to help with the lugging, and at least 2 of them are too small to help with large bags. so I was tasked with the challenge of packing for 6 people for 3 weeks in what we could carry easily, and to be honest, I think I did a great job. Here is a rundown of how we did it:
All of our bags for 3 weeks in Europe
Bag fees on airplanes can really add up when you’re taking as many flights as we did from country to country, so having carry-on sized bags was, in part, a financial decision. For our flights from the US to Europe and back, the two roller suitcases we brought were small enough to fit in the overhead bins. For our budget airline flights within Europe, our roller bags were too large to be considered carry-ons (they have different size restrictions so take note of that if you plan to travel overseas), so we did have to check them. However, those fees were quite minimal and it allowed us to be strategic with what we packed in which bag when we were flying from country to country, such as putting all liquids in the checked bags for ease at security. The bags we took were old ones that we’ve had for years and in hindsight, I wish we had invested in nice ones before this trip. We put a lot of mileage on these bags and one of them definitely needs to be retired now. I plan to replace it with something much more durable like this for future travel.
Along with our two roller bags, we each had our own travel backpack that I had gifted to everyone for Christmas in anticipation for this trip. We got each member of the family a different colored bag, and they worked so well for us. There was plenty of room in the bag to pack the allotted amount of items per person (don’t worry - I’ll talk about how I came up with that number), and they were easy for most of us to carry, even when we were walking relatively long distances. My youngest two kids were 4 and 8 while we were traveling and the 4 year old found it challenging to carry his backpack due to the weight of it being packed to the absolute maximum capacity, so at times we took turns carrying his bag for him. However, he has since used it on shorter weekend trips and had no issues. The 8 year old was able to carry hers, but did get tired on days where we were really hoofing it. Thankfully the rest of us were able to pick up the slack when they got tired, and I think these bags will work out great for future travel as the kids continue to get stronger.
Packing light was essential to make this minimal bag situation work, so each member of the family packed:
3 casual outfits
2 dressy outfits
3 pairs of pajamas
1 pair of sandals
1-2 swimsuits
We knew most of our days were going to be spent sightseeing so we wanted to wear casual, comfortable clothes for the heat and walking, but we included a couple of dressier outfits for nicer restaurant dinners. Additionally, we all wore our bulkiest clothing on airplane days in order to keep those items out of our suitcases. This included pants, sweatshirts or jackets, and sneakers.
In order for us to be gone for so many days with so few items, we utilized laundry whenever it was available, and I did hand-washing as needed. I always travel with Tide pens, and recently I’ve taken to also traveling with laundry detergent sheets. I’m a firm believer in doing laundry on vacation, and these sheets have worked great in washing machines and even for washing by hand in a hotel sink!
Our laundry drying in a park in Austria
We went to 4 different countries on this trip and have more international travel in our future plans, so we purchased this international power converter, which both adapted the power voltage of our electronics, and also had every outlet converter we needed.
Finally, because we were on-the-go so much on this trip, we knew we needed to stay hydrated, so I brought along some collapsable water bottles and Liquid IV packs.
While we were traveling, my husband and I remarked to each other multiple times how proud we were of how minimal we were able to be with our luggage, and I felt a sense of accomplishment knowing we had set a goal to pack smartly, and we’d achieved it. I learned a lot about packing wisely in preparation for this big trip, and now I feel like our family could do it again and again (and perhaps we will)!
You don’t have to be going on an epic European vacation to want to pack minimally. No matter what your upcoming travel plans are, I hope these tips will help make the dreaded task of packing a bit easier. Happy Traveling!
— Colleen
PS. You can get to know me and my family a little more here!
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