Bushel & a Pickle

Minimalist Travel Tips

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The girls Looking Cute in Rome

Amy and Meg are experienced at minimalist travel and have been even before the phrase was coined!

Can you believe they looked cute every single day of our long trip to Europe? Believe me, it can be done for any trip! For a wedding in AZ last year we all packed minimally even with our fancy clothes.

So, how do we prepare for minimalist travel especially for longer trips? In particular, I am including our experiences with minimalist travel our European trip a few years ago.

We know how to pack light! And without checked luggage. Our family has been doing it for years.

Tips for preparing for Minimalist travel

Giant Gunball Machine in Detroit Airport

Girl on the Go with 2 Bags….Minimalist Travel

One example of minimalist travel packing is shown in this photo of Meg with her bags at the Detroit airport. It was a layover. Leave it to Meg to find a fun spot for a photo, a giant gumball machine. A fellow traveler took the cute photo!

You can see her 2 soft bags. The floral Vera Bradley travel bag was her handcarry ‘suitcase’ and the other one, a tote bag, was her personal bag. In the Vera Bradley bag she packed her clothes and toiletries including a long formal dress and tall wedge sandals. She flew to a friend’s wedding for 2 nights.

The girl knows how to be a minimalist traveler! It does simplify the travel experience.

There was no overhead bin space available for her during the return trip. The stewards checked her hand carry bag (no charge, she asked first) and she grabbed the bag from the jet way after landing.

A Tip!

If that happens to you, make sure the luggage tag has the correct destination! One time I didn’t. My mistake. My bag ended up in Chicago, not where I was going. It was a learning experience!

family travel background

Selfie in Hall of Mirrors, Versailles

Minimalist Traveling Family Selfie in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles

When the older kids were children, Jim was stationed in Germany. For 3 years, we took many trips to European locations taking advantage of every school holiday and many weekends. We packed like minimalist travelers in those days too.

Now it was the girls’ turn. For their high school graduations, we headed to Europe.

Can’t lie! It was a trip down memory lane for Jim and I too. Decades ago, we met and fell in love in Germany. Read a little about our story here.

We flew to Rome. Skipping the baggage claim area, we headed directly to pick up our rental car and stood in a long line there.

Florence was our first destination. Next on our itinerary was Bavaria, Paris then back to Rome for the last of our sightseeing.

the Rental car size

Compact car and AWAY small hand carry suitcase

Why does the size of your luggage matter for car rentals?

Rent your car ahead of time. Jim booked a compact for us.

The car rental agent was very helpful. She was so concerned about our luggage fitting that she went with us to the car to make sure it would fit in the compact car. Evidentially, in her experience, many Americans’ luggage would not fit and they had to rerturn for a larger car. Thankfully, our hand carry suitcases and personal bags fit perfectly!

The right luggage for MINIMALIST Travel

Waiting for our flight with luggage

Miniamlist Travel with AWAY hand carry suitcases and backpacks

This is one of my favorite and best travel tips.

Have the right luggage! It is worth the investment.

Large suitcases are not usually part of minimalist travel. There are times to pack those big suitcases like moving internationally between continents. We most definitely used multiple suitcases then and paid any extra bag fees.

I want to be clear. We are not the typical backpack travelers. All of us like our travel comforts and regular changes of clothes. Having the best luggage size keeps us minimalist travelers.

As part of cleaning out our attic, we have systematically tossed torn and bent luggage of all sizes. We needed new hand carry suitcases. I can’t express how happy I was to have hand carry suitcases with working wheels and zippers that don’t stick as we wheeled through airports.

Without checked bags, we breezed to the rental car section. One reason to have the small hand carry suitcases was there was not a risk of lost luggage. What a distressing start to an epic trip!

After researching luggage, I chose AWAY small hand carry luggage. The small size fits into the overhead bins! I double checked on line with our international airline to insure they were the correct size.

Having those light weight, well designed, sturdy hard shell suitcases was so nice. The wheels rotate, a real plus. That is easier to pull your luggage as you walk along and not just in the airport. We took 4 hand carry suitcases and 4 personal bags on our European trip.

Our teens are experienced travelers. Though they like to always look cute and stylish, they know how to maximize packing their hand carry suitcases with everything they both need and want.

My Personal Bag for Travel

Vera Bradley Travel Bag

I used this Vera Bradley travel bag for my personal bag. It is also my go to bag for overnight trips. It will hold clothes, shoes, meds and Kindle plus cords and cubes. I also can tuck my purse inside.

Jim and the girls carried backpacks as their personal bag. Personal bags don’t get checked even if the overhead bins are full.

Notice the wide strap that will slip over the luggage pull handle. Believe me, that saves shoulder strain.

We still enjoy these suitcases for our travels.

only the necessities plus a little extra

It is possible to pack for trips of any length using only hand carry suitcases and bags! Even for style loving teens!

We all had 2 pairs of walking shoes. Summer clothes that are light weight and easy to roll make it easier to fit just a little more in! Using packing cubes was wonderful! Having those to sort your suitcase helps to keep our portable dressers neat.

Yes, we did some hand washing. Also don’t forget to pack light weight sweaters or hoodies. The Vatican and most catherdrals require arms to be covered to enter. On those days bring them along. If you forget, there are usually paper coverings to wear.

To my surprise, we all came home with clothes we didn’t wear! Hard to believe!

Take time to for some self care

Personal Care...Manicure

Amy does her own nails. I don’t! But I do want to have a fresh manicure and pedicure when I travel. The girls and I schedule any hair cuts and color about week before trip departures.

Pack those extra meds. Include an extra inhaler too. Keep those meds in your personal bag. When my hand carry was misdirected once, my meds were in it. Big mistake! Do the same with any valuable jewelry

Travel size toiletries are important. It is a sad sight when a TSA agent takes out that bottle that is just too large and pitches it into the trash.

We came back with over a 1000 photos! Too many? I don’t think so. I know how to use the delete button. I did not carry a tripod. I did bring a small extra battery but never needed it.

Which reminds me! Make sure you have the correct phone plan for international travel. I thought I undestood the plan we got but the large bill waiting on us proved I did not!

Minimalist travel is possible

Once you are done with plan, preparing and on your tip, remember to enjoy yourself! Enjoy your travel buddies…family or friends.

Treat yourself to a cappuccino or giant ice cream cone. Or try the Italian coffee, affogato al caffè. It’s simply espresso poured over a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Hope this is helpful as you plan and pack for your amazing summer trips!

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I have linked products I used that are the same or similar. Please note I may receive a small commission for purchases made at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your purchases!

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Reader Interactions

linda

Comments

  68. Nice practical tips — short and useful. Do you have a checklist you always use for longer trips (clothes, toiletries, chargers, documents)? Also curious how you handle laundry on multi-week trips — do you reduce outfits or plan regular washes? Thanks!

    Reply

  88. Great ideas and tips. I’m not sure I will ever be a minimlist traveler, maybe when flying.

    Reply

  89. Your travels look so fun! Great tips! I’ll be featuring this at Thursday Favorite Things tomorrow, starting at 10:00 CST. Thanks for sharing this great post with us!

    Reply

    • Pam. thanks for the feature. I’ll be going there next. We just got back late last night from our 3 day trip with one of our grandaughters to Williamsburg. We were definitley miniamalist travelers for that!

      Reply

  90. Hello! First, before I forget, thanks for coming over to Marmelade Gypsy and leaving such a lovely comment. We will be traveling to England in October. I used to be the queen of overpacking and my last couple of trips got down to hand carry bag and personal bag, but it’s always tight (especially in the fall when the weather can swing either way!) Your tips are excellent and a reminder, too, for a couple of things like the phone checking! We won’t be driving at all, so my bags have to be as light as possible because we’re never quite sure how far we are hauling them! So thanks for the excellent tips!

    Reply

    • Morning Jeanie, Thanks for coing by and leaving a coment! We trained ot NYC to see one of our kids for the weekend. Soft bags only. Cold weather does change what we pack but if I rewear sweaters and have my coat with me at check in, I can make it happen. We loved England. Enjoy your trip!

      Reply

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