How we travel long term with carry on luggage only

We belong to a facebook group called Senior Nomads. One of the discussions that often arises is how people travel long term using only carry on luggage. And there are lots of people who manage to do it, but there are still lots of people who travel with what we would consider to be too much stuff.

But of course it's a personal choice, and a lot depends on your travel style. Many people travel long term and stay for a month or more at each location. This means they are not often having to lug all of their stuff around. But when they do have to move, most of them will readily admit that it's a difficult and frustrating thing to do.

For people like us, who change locations four, five, or six times a month, it is certainly easier to travel light between accommodations. It's also easier when we have to take a bus or train. And it's far easier and also cheaper when we have to fly.

We like hard sided carry on size luggage. We've used soft sided in the past, and the problem is that it's too easy to get carried away and stuff it so full that it expands beyond what would be considered standard carry on size. We've seen people in airplanes struggling to stuff their over stuffed bag up into the overhead bins.

We are currently using a carry on bag made by Chester. Unfortunately, due to Covid supply chain issues the same bag is not available right now. A similar bag at a similar price point would be something like this TravelPro Maxlite 5.

Most flights allow you to have a carry on bag and a "personal item" like a small backpack. Ruth does have a small backpack, and I have my camera bag.

In fact, Ruth just bought a new backpack. We bought this Kailas 26l Backpack. It's currently got a 20% off coupon showing on the product page.

Many of the reviews compared it in quality to the much more expensive Osprey brand, and so far we would agree. It has a nice comfortable padded waist strap with zippered pockets and it has the back section that keeps the air flowing between the backpack and your back itself.

So far, we're impressed with it for the price.

So, what do we pack in our carry on bags to do us for months at a time?

Kevin:

I only bring two pairs of footwear with me when we are actively traveling between locations, I wear my hiking boots, and I pack a pair of walking sandals in the bag. When we are with our motorhome, I also have a pair of walking shoes. 

All of this goes into my carry on bag.

From left,

Combo rain/wind jacket. Some toiletries. Heavy sweater. Two jars of my favorite chicory coffee substitute that I can't seem to buy in Europe! Swimsuit. Sandals. Three t-shirts. Exercise band. Hiking pants. Two pair of shorts. Three pair of socks. Five underwear. 

And also my laptop. The bag is really full at this point.

Of course I am also wearing clothes on the airplane! Usually a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, a casual shirt on top of that, and possibly the heavy sweater depending on the weather where we are going to or coming from. And a pair of socks and 1 underwear! And if I am wearing the heavy sweater, the bag is not quite so full. And, I am also carrying the phone (we only have one phone between us), a charge cable, and the larger camera bag.

Everything that goes in the small backpack.

Sunglasses, business cards, earphones for the plane, a small bag containing sleeping masks and a small two way earphone adapter, memory drive, rechargeable battery pack, our liquid toiletries, epi pen, water bottle, first aid kit, foldable shopping bag, wet wipes, Ruth's laptop, Ruth's small purse. And a Keepgo Cellular MiFi device so that we can connect to the internet immediately in 120 different countries when we arrive at the airport.

And, here is what goes into Ruth's carry on bag...

Ruth's carry on.

Ruth: 

I also travel with only two pairs of footwear, my hiking boots that I wear on travel day and my new Merrell hiking/walking sandals.

From left,

Combo rain/wind jacket. One light hoodie, a little black sweater, a light pullover sweater, 2 light long sleeved tops, swimsuit, 2 t-shirts, 2 sleeveless summer tops, head/neck scarf and a heavy sweater/jacket.  3 pairs of underwear, 1 bra and 2 pairs of socks. 1 pair of jeans (I wear these normally), 1 pair of hiking pants that can be unzipped and worn as shorts, 1 pair of capri pants, 1 skirt, 1 pair of shorts, sandals, cribbage board with includes a pack of cards, 5 Yahtzee dice, and 1 LCR dice game, mini binoculars, small makeup bag, small jewelry bag, little sewing/mending kit, small flashlight, travel adapter, brush and Canada pencils to give out to people throughout our travels.

I normally wear the jeans on travel days, an additional long sleeve top, as well as an additional pair of underwear, bra, socks and a belt.

And this does us for as many months as we need it to. If for any chance we need something else, we simply buy it, preferable at a used clothing store. We sometimes have to wash socks and underwear and t-shirts by hand and dry them overnight, but really it doesn't happen that often. 

So for us, we prefer to wear the same clothes week after week than the alternative, which would entail having to drag larger bags around with us. Of course, each to their own. But this is how we do it..

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Record low deal on the 50 Pack of Walex RV Holding Tank Deodorizer Drop Ins. Never been this cheap! 

And in Canada...

Record low deal on Eco-Worthy RV Solar Panels.