10 Great Tips for Packing Your Carry-On Bags

Packing carry-on bags for the whole family can be stressful. So here we share some of our best strategies for packing that we have developed over time while traveling with our two young kids.

Introduction

Are you getting ready for flying on your next family trip? If so, you’ll want to make sure that you pack your carry-on bags with everything you’ll need without overpacking. In this blog post, we go through strategies to help you pack the right way as stress-free as possible.

Why packing of carry on bags can be challenging?

When you think about it, packing your carry-on luggage can be complicated: you want to carry as little as possible – especially with kids in tow. But you also want to make sure that you have everything you need during transport, or even beyond if your check-in luggage doesn’t make it to the destination with you. Lastly, you want to make sure that you are not stuck in security or risk losing items that are not allowed.

During our travels with kids, we have developed some good strategies to avoid stress and that allows you to travel comfortably and calmly.

We hope some of them can help you, too.

Our 10 Best Tips to Packing Carry On Bags

Tip 1: Make a Packing List and Plan

• Make a list of the things you will need – we always make separate packing lists for our check in and carry on luggage.
• If you are leaving early in the morning, it’s a good idea to pack or at least plan how you will pack your carry-on, the day before.

Tip 2: Use a Bag with Many Compartments and Pockets

• Check limitations for carry on pieces, weight and dimensions with your airline before choosing the bags you will travel with. Rules can vary a lot and it can be really stressful if you are asked to repack at the check in counter (talking from experience here…).
• Pick a bag with many pockets or inside compartments. This way you can keep organized with designated space for e.g. your travel essentials, electronics, liquids or snacks.
• Leave out a few snacks if you are getting over your weight limit.

Tip 3: Check What You Really Need

• Most of the time you will receive your checked in luggage at arrival. However, sometimes your bags won’t make it to your plane and it can take anything from a couple of extra hours to days (or weeks! – yes, this has happened to us…) before your bags show up.
• We have tried not getting our checked in luggage on numerous occasions so we always advise to bring everything that you cannot be without for 24h. To us, that’s things like our credit cards, phones, chargers, pc, camera and a few good items of clothing (only a little, though, you can always do some simple washing at your destination).
• If traveling with prescription medicine, we would advise to pack that in your carry on bag as well.
• Same goes if your kids have a favorite stuffed animal or blanket – just be aware that you will need to be attentive to it every time you are on the move so you don’t end up losing it.

Tip 4: Ensure Easy Access to Essentials

• Make sure that you keep your travel essentials where you can easily access them. This goes for tickets, passports, phone, credit cards, keys (do not put those in your check-in), reservations and destination addresses. This way you can spare yourself of people queueing up behind you because you are that person who just cannot find her stuff.

Tip 5: Limit Your Carry On Liquids

• Oh, the joy of organizing your liquids (this reads with a slight hint of sarcasm)!
• For carry on luggage, you are only allowed to bring a transparent and resealable quart-sized (1 liter) bag of liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes in travel sized containers (3.4 ounces/100ml).
• As a family with small kids this can be a challenge but do remember that many airports will allow you to bring extra liquids for babies such as milk, yoghurt etc. under some circumstances – our best advise is to contact the security personnel and ask them about specific containers you would like to bring.
• Only bring the personal liquids you have to. Also consider replacing some of them. We have e.g. become fans of shampoo bars (also at home) which don’t go in the liquid bag and can help us reduce plastic use. Win-win!
• If you are traveling with a baby in who needs formula, consider bringing baby bottles with a dose of formula powder in it. That way you can easily get through security and then buy bottled water for resuspension of the powder after passing security. And on a side note, we can recommend getting your child used to drinking formula at room temperature so you don’t need to look for a place to heat the bottle on the go in general (this obviously only goes for larger babies).

Tip 6: Make electronics and liquids accessible

• Make sure to pack everything you need to remove from your bag at the security point in very accessible compartments. It’s always a little bit stressful to get yourself and your kids ready to pass through this check point so help yourself by being organized.

Tip 7: Bring An Empty Water Bottle

• This is a simple trick that we often use to avoid the heavy charges on drinking water at airports and to limit our use of plastic.
• We bring empty bottles and then fill them at the nearest water post right after passing through security.
• This is only advisable in countries were you trust the quality of water.

Tip 8: Pack a Few Good Pieces of Clothing

• We do advise to pack light when travelling and only bring what you really need.
  But flights can tend to be cold or drafty so we always make sure that we pack a pair of warm socks for everyone. We also pack sweaters and at least one big scarf that the kids can share as a blanket or use for covering the eyes if they want to sleep.
• We roll up everything so it takes up as little space as possible.
• If the bag is getting too stuffed, a nice trick is to strap your sweater or jacket to the outside of your bag to keep your hands free (or on your kids).

Tip 9: Baby Gear

• A baby carrier is your secret weapon when flying – especially if you are traveling alone with a baby. It allows you to keep your baby close to you and feeling safe in new surroundings while you have your hands free.
• Some airlines also allow you to bring a baby car seat. While this can be nice if you have an extra seat for your baby during the flight (so you don’t have to keep them in your lap all the way) it’s not so great to carry it through the airport onto your flight – just consider whether it will be worth it.

Tip 10: Check if Your Stroller is Allowed through to the Gate

• When traveling with a baby or smaller child it can be a relief to be able to use your stroller all the way through to the gate – just be aware that often you will not be able to get it at the gate upon arrival. You will usually have to get it at the luggage claim area.
• Some smaller and foldable strollers are allowed so it is highly recommendable to check the specific criteria with your airline (many have different rules).
• We actually ended up buying a foldable stroller mainly for traveling. This has served us very well and was worth every penny.

Final words

The tips in this article have helped us tremendously on our travels with our 2 young kids and made sure that we could feel calm, organized and in control during our flights.

If you liked our tips we encourage you to share them with a friend who would benefit from them, too.