I am always nervous of lost luggage and mishandling so when I found out I had to take a two week trip to South Dakota, my goal was to pack everything I needed using ONLY a carry on. I managed to not check a bag….and still pack a crap ton of stuff. I will say I could have done without a lot of the items I packed because most didn’t get used.
Here’s what I took:
1 -21″ spinner containing:
- 1 cardigan
- 1 peacoat
- 6 pairs of underwear (& bras)
- 4 sets of PJs (no, I didn’t need 4)
- 4 sweaters (very thick)
- 2 blouses (1 long & 1 short)
- 2 skirts
- 3 pairs of pants
- 2 pairs of tights
- First aid kit
- 5 necklaces, 1 pair of earrings, 1 bracelet
- Brush
- Slipper socks
Liquid Bag
- Shampoo
- 2 bottles of conditioner
- 2 bottles of lotion
- liquid foundation
- disinfectant spray
- Toothbrush & toothpaste
- Dental floss
- Tide to go pen
- Hand sanitizer
- Deodorant
- Wet ones
- Emergen-C
- Theraflu
- Argan oil
Cosmetic Bag
- Lip gloss
- Makeup brush travel kit
- 3 tubes of lipstick
- 2 eye shadow palettes
- Eyebrow archer razor
- 2 tubes of mascara
- Blush
- Eyeliner pot & brush
Personal item (laptop bag/purse)
- Laptop & charger
- Picture of my sweet angels
- Snacks (4 granola bars, 5 packages of peanut butter crackers, 2 bags of M&Ms) –didn’t use ANY
- Wallet
- Eye mask
- Cell phone & Charger
- Headphones
- Kindle & Charging cable
- Naked eye shadow palette
- Small bag w/ facial wipes, lip balm, stamps (idk why…), lip stick, pens, pony tail holders, Bobby pins
*Most of these items were travel sized samples that I have collected. I keep them in a woven basket in the guest bathroom.
I also put together a wardrobe capsule to make sure I packed as few as possible and still had enough outfits to last.
Packing to come home was more challenging, especially with the 30+ bottles of shampoo, conditioner & lotion I smuggled on the plane. I wore my largest items on the plane to go to South Dakota (boots, heavy coat), BUT wearing those items to Houston wouldn’t work because of the temp changes so I held my jacket on the plane and used it as a blanket (it wouldn’t fit in the overhead bin in my suitcase). That worked perfectly because it was cool on the plane. When we landed, I just placed it back in my suitcase.
Minus getting stuck at the airport for 8 hours with my connecting flight being delayed 3 times, then canceled, then delayed again AND arriving in the midst of a snow storm, the trip was well. I only had to purchase a hat….could have used gloves also 🙂
