packing

Some words of warning/advice about packing.

Most major airlines allow you one piece of carry-on luggage in addition to what they call a "personal item" and most won't charge you to check one bag. There are size restrictions on the carry-on luggage, which you should look for on your airline's website, but the standard is 22" x 14" x 9". The personal item can be a purse, briefcase, laptop bag, shopping bag, or anything of a similar size. Oh!!! But watch out for weight limits too.
I refuse to check luggage whenever possible. There's just too much risk involved with losing luggage, especially for such a short trip. I don't think it's necessary to pack so much stuff that I'd need to use a bag so large I couldn't carry it on.

HOWEVER, the problem with our upcoming trip is that we have flights booked with Easyjet and Ryanair as well. These airlines charge you a fee if you want to check a bag and only allow you ONE carry-on item. That means you can only show up with one bag and no personal item!! So this means that I have to pack all of my stuff to fit in one 22" x 14" x 9" bag. Oii.

What I'm going to do is pack neutral colored clothing only (black, white, grey, navy, beige) so that it will be easy to mix and match outfits (more on my packing list later). And I'm going to bring a small purse with me that's large enough to hold my money and phone, but small enough that it can be shoved in my big bag if necessary. Hopefully it's inconspicuous enough that I can just carry it around normally.

One last thing: don't forget that you have to put all liquids into a plastic zip-top bag. The airports always have that nifty 3-1-1 reminder which means 3 oz. limits on containers, which must fit in 1 zip-top bag, and 1 zip-top bag per passenger. A lot of beauty supply stores (and stores that sell beauty supplies) sell empty 3 oz containers (in different shapes with different tops - like lotion squirt top, spray bottle top, etc.) which you can fill up with your preferred brands instead of splurging to buy travel-sized versions.

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