What to Do With Your Luggage While Traveling

Is It Always the Best Practice to “Pack Light” When You Travel Long Distances?

Conventional wisdom suggests that it’s easier to travel when you don’t need to haul as much stuff around from place to place, but sometimes you can’t avoid having some pieces of luggage beyond your personal item on the plane. Sure, you can try and wear the same outfit for a week straight, but do you really want to spend all that time at the laundry doing your wash while you travel?

Actually, now that I mention that, some places will do your laundry, but it might take 48 hours to get it back. I had our hotel in Hanoi perform this service when we were on the second half of our travels through Vietnam. It was SO convenient. Cost me about $15 to have absolutely everything we had that was dirty washed, and it came back to us folded and lovely..

However, arranging your trip around access to a washer/dryer isn’t really that efficient, unless you’re absolutely certain you only want to pack a personal item for your trip and don’t want to incur any other fees. However, I’m of the firm belief that you can actually spend more time doing your laundry on your vacation than actually experiencing the place you’re visiting, when you’re only carrying a day or two of clothes.

But we’re slightly off-topic here. This isn’t a story about visiting lavanderias in foreign countries. It’s how to care for your luggage and not worry about it during your vacation. Does that mean keeping it in your sight at all times? Do you need to handcuff yourself to your suitcase, so it doesn’t go missing?

Quite the opposite, actually. Finding a place for your luggage these days is actually quite easy. There are loads of ways to get your luggage taken care of while you’re out doing other things. You definitely don’t need to worry about trekking around with your backpack or lugging your rolling suitcase around while you’re on that awesome tour of Bogota.

Let’s learn how you can care for your luggage during your travels without actually having to spend all your time with your luggage!

(note: some of the links here are to websites with which I am an affiliate, and your purchases help fund my website!)

When Does Luggage Not Matter?

Yes, the automated voice at the airport tells you to keep your luggage in your sight and in your control at all times. That’s fine when you’re at the airport, lugging it along the terminal. However, what I mean here is that it’s not always necessary to go to extremes to pack light. Sure, it’s what you might do as a backpacker, but that’s not what this blog is about.

I mean that depending on your type of trip, you might as well pack all the stuff you need, so you’re not searching for the items you left behind in your home country, realizing now that you actually need them. Do you love sleeping on your own pillow when you travel? If you’re checking your luggage, shove that awesome pillow in there and take it with you!

If you’re going on a road trip for your vacation, it’s definitely a breeze to carry a pillow with you and get all that fantastic sleep because you feel like you’re sleeping in your own bed at home. Alternatively, if you’re traveling around from city to city but are doing so via plane or train, feel free to take more luggage as long as you’re staying in one town for at least a few days.

I’d recommend avoiding excessive packing if you’re traveling to a new city every day (I recommend doing that anyway, but that’s a blog for another day), but if you’re headed to one town for about three days before you pick up and head to the next, there’s no reason to avoid packing everything you need. It’s truly not a big deal to haul a suitcase on rollers around almost anywhere.

Obviously, if you’re in backpacking territory, you won’t have a rolling suitcase, and you’ll probably be wearing giant hiking shoes with a big pack. That’s not the sort of travel I’m writing about here. I’m writing more about the sort of trip where you’ll stay in a B&B, hotel, or short term rental. You’ll put your suitcase in the closet for three or four days and not worry about it until you move on.

What I’m trying to get at here is that you don’t want to “pack light” unless you have to. If circumstances permit, it’s truly lovely to have everything you need at your fingertips, without having to head out to the convenience store or somewhere on your travels to pick something up that you left behind. Just remain aware of the weight limits on luggage for your airline, and you’ll appreciate having your items with you.

Getting Someone to Store Your Luggage for a Bit

When you create an international itinerary, sometimes the timing isn’t exactly perfect for when you get off the train, plane, or automobile and when you can check into your hotel. The good news is that there is an entire industry dedicated to holding luggage. You’ll find these places in busy areas of major metropolitan areas, as well as near airports and train stations.

Let me show you an example. Imagine you’re traveling through Spain, but your train arrives in Madrid three hours before you can check into your hotel. You have a walking tour of Madrid planned, but you don’t want to carry your luggage around the entire time. A simple search on Google for “luggage storage in Madrid” will show you listings like those from Bounce, which will store your luggage for just a few Euros.

Sure, you could sit at a sidewalk cafe with your suitcase and drink coffee for three hours until your hotel is available, but why go through that sort of inconvenience when you can get your luggage stored instead and get on with your activities?

If you’re not sure where to find a luggage storage place, or you’re in a city where the service isn’t popular, an alternative is asking a tour operator whether they can store your stuff at their base. Sometimes, you’ll have a driver who can store your items in the trunk of the car while they ferry you around to your different destinations. If the tour starts from the home base of the tour business, you might even be able to store your luggage there while you’re on your tour.

Just make sure to go about arranging these services before you depart. Don’t assume that you’ll be able to find a luggage storage place at the last minute or that your tour operator (or anyone else you interact with) can safely store your luggage.

Getting your itinerary arranged minute-by-minute is not the easiest thing to do, but as you develop your schedule, you’ll probably start to see days where you might need to find a place to store your luggage. My book about creating an international itinerary can help you.

Asking a Hotel to Hang Onto Your Luggage Before or After Check Out

Now, this option is one of my favorites, because it means your luggage is already where you’re going to be at a certain point, or it’s waiting for you where you’ve already been. Many hotels, particularly in areas where a lot of tourists visit, will hold your luggage.

If you’re arriving in town super early, but your room won’t be ready until 3:00 PM, contact the hotel or establishment before you arrive (like as far ahead as you can, so you can figure out whether they offer the service). They might let you drop off your luggage at 7:00 AM, so you can go enjoy your day (maybe you have a brief walking tour booked) before returning to the hotel.

Note that you can sometimes check in early or late to your hotel, and the establishment might not even charge you for the service. Often, they will, but it’ll only be part of what you would have paid for an entire day. In some instances, I’ve even been known to book an extra day at the start or end, just so we could check in super early or late.

When we went to Colombia, I booked an extra day at the start of our travels, so we could check in at 7:00 AM (we had a red-eye flight from Los Angeles, and arrived in Bogota super duper early). If you’re on a tight budget, booking an extra day might not be the most economical option, so it’s usually best to ask the hotel if they’ll just hold onto your luggage before your arrive. It’s a pretty popular request from travelers, from what I’ve seen around the world.

Remember, however, that if you’re using a short term rental like an Airbnb for your stay, you might not be able to contact anyone or interact with anyone who would be able to take your luggage. In such stays, you’ll probably want to consider the luggage storage services instead.

The great thing about getting your luggage stored at your hotel though is that the service often doesn’t cost you anything. I’ve had my luggage stored by hotels on three separate continents so far, and I’ve never had to pay. However, the service is so convenient that I wouldn’t mind plunking down $10 or $20 for it. In local currency, of course.

Options for Reducing the Luggage Load During Travel

If you’re not comfortable leaving your luggage out of your control while you travel, there is always the option to pack light and emphasize lightweight luggage over convenience. One of the best options when you want to carry your luggage with you rather than store it is to consider a luggage brand designed for lightweight travel.

I prefer TravelPro’s soft-side luggage for my carry-ons (I have a shoulder bag for my personal item and a carry-on for my larger item). However, there are a lot of luggage companies out there these days that do a fine job creating sturdy yet lightweight luggage. If you’re going to be hauling around a piece of luggage for seven hours before you check into your hotel, do get the soft-side!

However, be aware that putting your soft-side luggage under the plane as a checked bag can make things a little nerve-wracking. The first piece of luggage my mom ever bought me when I was learning how to adult (so my late teens) was BROKEN the very first time I used it. Northwest treated my bag like it was meant to be tossed down a few flights of stairs during its travel.

(Northwest was bought out by Delta several years ago)

Normally, I stick to hard shell luggage when I’m checking luggage and soft-side luggage when I’m carrying it on the plane. If I’m going to need to haul it through the airport, I might as well make things as easy as possible! When I pack light and just take a carry-on, I do try to use a bag that’s well under the size limit for the airline.

I swear, the airline can tell you that your bag can be 17 inches long, but then when you get there, the box is clearly 16. If you’re flying on an ultra low-budget airline, don’t take the chance that you’ll get charged extra for your bag that’s the right size for the flight according to a tape measure but the wrong size according to their insidious metal bag sizers.

Taking Two Items On Board a Flight

Some airlines are super-duper strict when it comes to carry-ons, but remember that not all airlines are the same. Some consider your personal item and your carry-on to be the same item, but others allow you a personal item (like a small backpack or a big shoulder purse) as a separate allowance from your carry-on.

When I flew on Spirit (not nearly as bad an airline as everyone makes it out to be), the gate agent told me to stuff my purse into my carry-on, so I wouldn’t get charged for an extra carry-on. Funnily enough, the purse was tiny and just the subcompact coach bag, and the carry-on was a slightly larger shoulder bag (which I actually have two of because they’re the perfect size for under-the-seat storage on airlines with strict size requirements).

When you book your tickets on the various flights that you’ll take throughout your trip, make sure to check on the baggage allowances for all the flights. If you’re flying on a major airline like Delta or something, they’ll let you on board with your backpack as your personal item and your carry-on bag as your designated carry-on, but the same might not hold true for all airlines, particularly if you’re also flying a budget domestic airline.

If you’re curious or confused about the bag sizes, call the airline’s customer service number (or you can Tweet them, if you’re into that). Ask them to clarify whether you can bring a duffel bag and a backpack, or whether you’ll be charged for an extra bag because you’re, technically, carrying two bags, even though one’s small and fits under the seat in front of you.

Never think of airlines as “one size fits all” when it comes to luggage. The size limitations, weight limits, costs, and the general tomfoolery that may occur at the gate can vary wildly, depending on your airline. However, if you do your research ahead of time, you might learn that you can actually take two bags on board as carry-ons (with one being a personal item), which can reduce your costs and make it easier to get around at your destination when you have to carry your luggage for a few hours extra.

Enjoying the Freedom of Checking Your Bags

At the conclusion here, I do have to put my two-cents in regarding checking bags, especially when you have flight lay-overs in front of you. Not only does checking your luggage mean you don’t have to haul it on and off an airplane multiple times, but it also means that your luggage won’t have any problems actually getting on the airline.

You never know when the dude you’re sitting next to will take more than his fair share of the space in the overhead storage bins. If you get on the flight late or close to when boarding closes, you could end up having to check your bag anyway due to lack of space. Checking your bag means you don’t need to fight for overhead bin space, and it also means you can move through the airport without the luggage weighing you down.

Consider, too, that even if you’re flying on multiple flights from different airlines into and out of different countries, the gate crew or the folks who check you into your flight can actually check your bags all the way to your destination. When I traveled back home from Cambodia, I went through Vietnam and Taiwan on two different tickets. The crew in Cambodia checked our luggage all the way through to Los Angeles. So incredibly convenient!

Consider the lengths of your layovers, too, should you have stops in a city or two along the way. Sometimes, there is no option for a direct flight, or a flight with a layover can save you big money. In such cases, carrying your luggage through the airport when you have to stay there for more than a few hours can be a hassle, especially since you have to keep a hawk eye on it the whole time.

As a last piece of advice, to keep things as convenient for you as possible, remember that some international flights do include checked bags. There is no option to buy a ticket without checked bags, so if you’re paying for it anyway, you might as well check! Now, this is obviously not the case on every class of ticket or airline, but it’s worth taking note of anyway, particularly if you’re trying to make sure you don’t need to haul around your bags on your own.

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