Can you travel for multiple days using a personal item as your one-and-only piece of luggage? The answer is “of course!” – even when that travel involves dressing up for a wedding.
I didn’t intend to travel with just a personal item. My cousin had asked me to help with her wedding months earlier. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get permission to go due to work commitments. At just 2 weeks out from the wedding my manager received permission to release me for the weekend. At that point there weren’t many selections for summer airfares. I bought a ticket on American Airlines but couldn’t even get a seat assignment (uh-oh!). American charges for checked luggage so I knew that the overhead bins would be full of overstuffed bags from novice travelers. What was I to do? My schedule was very tight and I couldn’t afford any delays by a forced gate-check. Summer storms also threatened, making the potential for delays higher. I had one thing in my favor – American had just started a policy that let people board early if they only had a personal item. I took the sure thing – I traveled with just a personal item.
Lots of big storms to the north, but it missed us. The pink in the clouds is caused by lightning explosions. The whole weekend was very hot and humid.
I decided to use a new piece of luggage for this exercise – the REI Overnighter. This travel pack is 18” x 12.5” x 7” (slightly smaller than 46 cm x 32 cm x 18 cm) and weighs 2 lbs, 3 ounces (1 kg). The volume is 1575 cubic inches (26 liters). Technically this makes it slightly too big for a personal item, but if you under-pack the bag it will fit in the personal item sizer. The Overnighter absolutely fits under any seat, including the one on the aisle.
The REI Overnighter is smaller and thinner than a regulation size carry on bag. Ironically, it is actually heavier than my LL Bean Quickload Convertible. You can see my collapsible water bottle in the water bottle pocket on the side of the Overnighter.
I knew that I would be taking heels for the wedding, and they would take up quite a bit of space in my luggage. I also knew that I would be taking a fancy navy dress that would blend in with the wedding party. In the end I brought 8 items of clothing plus my pajamas and rain jacket (storms, remember?). I was trying to be careful in my clothing selections. I picked convertible pants and a skort for my bottoms. I then added in a sweater and tops that would go with everything else. The sandals are thin and light – even lighter than flip-flops.
All of my clothing for the weekend, including what I wore on the plane. The “dress” on the top right side is actually a sleep shirt by Gilligan and O’Malley (Target). I could use it as a second dress if needed. I also brought multi-use items such as convertible pants and a skort. The chambray shirt has roll-up sleeves for hot or cold.
Packing the wardrobe really wasn’t a problem. I bundle-wrapped my clothing to save space and weight.
I’ve bundle wrapped my clothing around my undies, stockings and long underwear top. It’s all secured by the internal straps. I’ve put my nightgown on the outside so it is easily available. The dress is next so it doesn’t get wrinkled, followed by my skort and the blue shirt. The knit tee is last.
After I bundle wrapped my clothing I added in my toilet kit, jewelry, curling iron, first aid kit and clutch. I stuffed them into every available corner, leaving room for my pumps. I put the toilet kit at the top of the bag for easy access.
I added my pack towel on top of my bundle-wrapped clothing. My toilet kit is at the top of the bag to the right. My clutch containing my first aid kit is at the bottom of the bag on the left. The green bag contains my jewelry and the yellow sleeve has my curling iron.
I finished my packing by adding in my pumps, electronics bag, makeup bag, travel comfort kit and liquids bag. I also added in a portable iPhone mount so I could use my smart phone as a GPS. The final weight of the packed bag was 13 lbs (6 kg). This is well under the weight allowance for most airlines. Yes, that’s right – one undersized bag held everything.
My fully packed REI Overnighter. I added my pumps along the side of the bag (at the top of the picture). My electronics bag is next to the pumps. The orange bag contains my comfort kit and the bag on top is my liquids bag. My light sandals are in the lid. I carried my wallet and smartphone in my pockets, although I put them in the main compartment of the bag for security screening.
It was hot the whole time so I folded up my packable jacket and stuffed it into the pack strap sleeve of my REI Overnighter where it was easily available.
My rain jacket is stuffed into the pocket that holds the pack straps. This keeps it available in case I need it.
I wasn’t happy with this outfit. The tunic top didn’t want to work with the rest of the wardrobe. I only wore it on the airplane and the drive to the hotel. The top works well for casual work around the house but isn’t versatile enough for travel. I didn’t like the silhouette either.
I barely made it to the rehearsal and dinner at the church. The skort looked like a summer skirt. The striped tee is a classic look, especially when I added gold jewelry. The delicate straps on the sandals kept the look dressy. I had planned on wearing my navy sweater with this outfit but it was just too hot!
This outfit worked well for the wedding set up. The skort let me bend and climb without embarrassment while giving me a dressier look. The shirt’s roll up sleeves were nice when the day warmed up. The espadrilles protected my feet yet were dressier than sneakers.
I wore this navy shift with my black pumps. I added in pink earrings and a bracelet, as well as adding pink shoe clips to my shoes. The colored accessories let me fit in with my cousin’s wedding colors – navy, pink, coral, and black. The shift worked very well for a semi-formal wedding on a hot summer’s night.
When you’re on the clean up crew you don’t get home until 3 am. You want something comfortable for the next day. This casual outfit was carefully selected. Roll the pants down, add a sweater and scarf, and it’s good for the flight home. That means that I can pack my bags, check out of the hotel, and still enjoy being with my family for the day. Sneaky, sneaky.
I added a sweater and scarf to my afternoon outfit for the trip home.
This modified wardrobe will work for a 2 week trip.
I can easily get two weeks worth of outfits from this wardrobe of a dress, four tops, two bottoms, and a sweater. I can wrap the dark scarf as a skirt and wear it with the white top and the chambray top for a couple more outfits.
So can you travel over a week with only a personal bag? The answer is yes, especially if you are careful with your clothing choices.
Impressive! I spent 5 days on the east coast for a wedding, and then bridal shower and bachelorette party (two different friends), and I ended up checking a suitcase! Luckily it was free ;) On the other hand, I was able to just use a carry-on for 6 months of travel. Funny how that works!
It’s always hard when there are multiple special events. It’s even harder if you are traveling with the same people since you don’t want to wear the same thing twice in just a few days. I think under those conditions I would use a regular carry on bag and bring a few more dresses that went with the same pair of heels.
I appreciate it when you tell why a choice didn’t work and how you would remedy it next time. This bag size looks great. Interesting it is heavier than the Quickload.
Yes, it is part of the “reflect” portion of the trip that I outline in my article on how to plan a capsule wardrobe for vacation. We find out what does and does not work for our travel. We make better choices as we learn more.
The bag is heavier for two reasons 1) The Overnighter material is much heavier and thicker than the material used by the Quickload. 2) The bag is lined with the green lining material where the Quickload has no lining. A lot of people like the brightly colored lining but it adds extra weight to the bag.
Great post – I really like your group of clothes, in the “vacation” photo especially, very much my taste.
I think the airlines grab for more money by charging to check bags is just plain dumb. I will stay loyal to an airline who resists the nickel and dimeing. I do not check bags and love the game of taking just enough on a trip but with the overhead bins being so jammed with largish bags, under the seat is getting to be the only sure thing and that is sometimes not easy to do, especially for a wedding trip.
The a la carte pricing is throwing everyone for a loop. It is one reason why I prefer flying on Southwest for domestic flights. Their “bags fly free” really helps keep the chaos out of the overhead bins. If I’m nervous I can buy an Early Bird pass for only $12.50 and that applies to all the flights for the day. Last time it also bought me TSA-Pre. I usually fly multiple legs so it’s a good value for me. Plus the SWA attendants seem to be nicer than other airlines (but maybe that is confirmation bias).
I was really worried for this trip because I couldn’t reserve a seat – American had reserved all the other seats for airport check-in. I went to the airport 3 hours early and was assigned a middle seat. I was happy to have it when they denied boarding for about 10 people. Of course all the begging and pleading for people to give up their seats delayed the flight more. It just defies logic. Why would an airline oversell 10 seats on a Friday flight in the middle of summer? Especially between two hubs?
Just found your site this week, and thank you so much for this! Sleepshirt from Target is genius, I just bought a lovely navy stripe which will work great as knit travel dress next week! Thank you!
The fine gauge of the sleep shirt really make them soft and wrinkle free. I’ve found that they dry very quickly too because they are so light and thin. I make all my clothes perform double duty, including my pajamas. In the winter I’ll bring a pair of yoga pants and a t-zip base layer top that I can use for workouts or skiing.