Are You Packing Too Much on Your International Vacation?

Is Your Luggage Breaking Your Back?

If you’re flying to the other side of the world and your airline ticket includes a luggage allowance, is there any reason to avoid packing as much as you can up to the weight limit? Should you focus on the convenience of having absolutely everything with you that you think you might need, no matter how heavy or unwieldy your suitcases might feel during the hours you spend traveling?

If you’ve never flown internationally before or you’re taking a big trip that will last several days, you might not have any idea as to how much you should pack. How many changes of clothes are really necessary? Should you bring extras? Is it necessary to pack extra pairs of shoes, or can you get along with just a single pair?

If the place you’re going has a vastly different dress code than you’re used to, or you’re traveling during a season where you might need a lot of layers, you might assume that you’ll have no choice but to fill up your suitcase with lots of clothes. You might feel nervous about landing somewhere and not having the appropriate attire or footwear when you land.

From my experience, you can definitely overpack and end up having too many clothes around, but it’s also sort of easy to under pack, too. However, while overpacking simply means having to lug a heavier suitcase around, under packing sometimes means encountering some hassles along the way that you didn’t expect on your trip.

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Weight Limits on International Flights

One of the first things to think about when you’re trying to figure out how much stuff you’ll bring along on your vacation is the weight limit for your luggage on the airplane. Now, most of the time, international flights have a pretty generous luggage allowance. Some tickets actually allow you a carry-on plus two checked bags, which can help when you’re traveling for a few days.

The weight limits are always posted on the airline’s website – don’t trust some random post you read on the internet. I’d post the weight limits here, but you never know when the standards might change. Go to the official airline home page and check out the weight limits. Don’t get caught with old information.

Remember, too, that some airlines only have weight limits for their checked baggage, which means you should try to put your heavy stuff in your carry-on or personal item that you plan to take on the plane with you. If you’re a few pounds too heavy on your checked luggage because of a beefy pair of shoes, just put them in your backpack to avoid an upcharge on the baggage fee.

The more important consideration for your carry-on luggage is size. Most airlines won’t ask you how much your carry-on weighs. They may just measure the item inside a box to make sure it fits within the size guidelines. You can definitely stuff the heavier items in your carry-on to keep yourself from going over the weight limit on your checked luggage.

Packing According To Your Movements

One of the factors that may influence your style of packing is your itinerary. If you’re booking an international itinerary to Mexico, but you’re only staying in a single hotel in Mexico City for a week, you don’t need to worry about lugging your suitcase around from place to place.

Just pack what you want, and don’t worry about running out of clothing. Anyway, if your main concern is running out of clothing, you’re probably not looking at exceeding the weight limit anyway. What really makes you get close to the weight limit is shoes, toiletries, and anything that isn’t clothing.

For my Morocco trip where I also traveled to France and Italy, I stayed in a total of six different establishments, most for at least two or more nights (Paris was the only place I stayed just a single night). I had one checked suitcase and one backpack as my personal item on the plane.

Overall, it wasn’t a hassle, and I might have even had too many clothes for the journey (I had a medium size checked suitcase. So, not the huge one, but not a carry-on size, either). The medium checked suitcase got me through plenty of days traveling, and I never felt like I was rolling around with a huge amount of clothing or stuff.

Packing Light & Dealing With Inconveniences

The one trip I’ve taken where I felt like I didn’t have quite enough clothing was when I went to Vietnam. I used a carry-on size suitcase but checked the suitcase (for the international tickets, we had a free checked bag allowance, so I took advantage of it even though my bag was a small carry-on size).

About half way through the trip, I was running out of clothes – the only way to combat this was to get some laundry done. Which, given we were in Vietnam, was actually really affordable. We had it done by our hotel, and it cost a little more than $12.00 US. Totally worth the cost and convenient since we didn’t need to find a laundry facility.

However, if we hadn’t had access to a laundry facility, I definitely would have run out of clothing. It was really humid and hotter than I expected for March in Vietnam, so I couldn’t really re-wear any of my clothes. I often wear clothing a few times to cut down on laundry time, but it just wasn’t possible in Vietnam.

As a result, I’ve learned that you should either have at least one outfit for every day of travel or have a place planned in your itinerary where you can have your laundry done or do your laundry. It’s not fun at all to run out of clothing because you were worried about packing too much. Research your laundry options before you leave so you know exactly when you’ll get fresh clothes during your journey.

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