What's your golden travel rule?

[stm1sydney]

I'm going to take an unpopular position and disagree with the rules on travelling light. Yes, if you are a young backpacker who will need to walk long distances and navigate crowded subways with your luggage, or if you need to fit your luggage in a locker at a backpacker lodge or in a cramped cabin on a cruise it pays to travel light.

I'm going to have to disagree. We are none of the things you list above, but we are about 60 and travel HLO and find it very liberating and convenient.

We are in and out of trains, buses, taxis, metros (as well as planes), and walking around cobbled streets to find our hotel in an old town somewhere. Never have to wait at the baggage carousels. No time lost doing laundry, just do a few items when having a shower. Cold places, take a jacket and wear a decent pair of shoes.

Two nights ago I saw a woman at the airport struggling with her large suitcase and two smaller items. No thanks.

 

[MelMel]

As a Coeliac always have some safe food such as muesli bars in case the airline stuffs up your special meal

 

[Travellin Wilbury]

Do you have a golden rule that you always apply to your travels? If so, what is it?

Compression packing cubes. Game changers!! Used them for first time recently (May-June) for our extended Italian holiday; can’t begin to say what a difference they made to packing as well as ‘find-ability’ of clothing

 

[Forg]

We are in and out of trains, buses, taxis, metros (as well as planes), and walking around cobbled streets to find our hotel in an old town somewhere. Never have to wait at the baggage carousels. No time lost doing laundry, just do a few items when having a shower. Cold places, take a jacket and wear a decent pair of shoes.

How do you comfortably do a couple of 3 Michelin star restaurants on successive nights with a traipse around Ben Nevis as well as a wander around Brighton mid-summer, and without any laundry, over 28-odd days, and with only carry-on? For example I can’t imagine wearing undies or socks for more than a day apiece and being actually comfortable, and then there’s the fact it’s too warm in some places to be comfy in long pants but too cold in other places to be comfy in shorts, etc etc.

 

[Travellin Wilbury]

I'm going to have to disagree. We are none of the things you list above, but we are about 60 and travel HLO and find it very liberating and convenient.

We are in and out of trains, buses, taxis, metros (as well as planes), and walking around cobbled streets to find our hotel in an old town somewhere. Never have to wait at the baggage carousels. No time lost doing laundry, just do a few items when having a shower. Cold places, take a jacket and wear a decent pair of shoes.

Two nights ago I saw a woman at the airport struggling with her large suitcase and two smaller items. No thanks.

???? HLO. Pleeeease explain

 

[Forg]

???? HLO. Pleeeease explain

Helicopter Landing Officer or Helideck Landing Officer. These are the people that make sure the helo lands safely in all conditions!

 

[VPS]

???? HLO. Pleeeease explain

Welcome to AFF. Hand luggage only.

 

[VPS]

How do you comfortably do a couple of 3 Michelin star restaurants on successive nights with a traipse around Ben Nevis as well as a wander around Brighton mid-summer, and without any laundry, over 28-odd days, and with only carry-on? For example I can’t imagine wearing undies or socks for more than a day apiece and being actually comfortable, and then there’s the fact it’s too warm in some places to be comfy in long pants but too cold in other places to be comfy in shorts, etc etc.

I am a person that does not want to wash my clothes in the shower. Even if you wash them in a shower, they’re not going to be dry the next morning. I can do hand luggage only for a week or so if I’m in the same climate.

 

[iflyineconomy]

1: Be polite to service staff and tip when they're good.
2: Never forget sanitizer wipes and wipe down the area I'm sitting.
3: Seek out local advice I usually start with a hotel concierge/porters/wait staff.
4: Try to avoid being the stereotypical Aussie traveler!

 

[AuSammy]

I can do hand luggage only for a week or so if I’m in the same climate.

Yep. I can manage a week in a carryon if in warm climes. Longer or variable/cold weather then checked luggage.

I am very averse to carrying around a case full of dirty clothing for weeks on end and I also dont want to share my shower time with washing duties.

Compromise is a laundromat once a week

 

[RooFlyer]

Plus if you take a decent camera, for wilderness or wildlife-rich components of a trip. Takes up 1/4 of the carry-on in itself!

 

[Daver6]

People boil their soiled underwear in them.

They’ve also been known to cook raw chicken in them.

Why you should think twice about making a cuppa in your hotel room

What some guests are using the kettle for in their hotel room may shock you.

au.news.yahoo.com

Man's 'unhinged' hack involves using a hotel room coffee pot to cook raw chicken

Alexander C, a professional product manager who is keen to save as much money for his company as possible, had a unique solution for cooking dinner while on a work trip

www.mirror.co.uk

Someone heard from someone and saw a post somewhere. I somewhat doubt this is prevalent at all. I'm going to live dangerously and continue to enjoy a cup of tea in my room. I've also just booked an AI flight departing AMD. Let's see which gets me first.

 

[Forg]

Someone heard from someone and saw a post somewhere. I somewhat doubt this is prevalent at all. I'm going to live dangerously and continue to enjoy a cup of tea in my room. I've also just booked an AI flight departing AMD. Let's see which gets me first.

I might have to boil my undies in a hotel kettle one day, just to make it all true!

It’s not like tea can be made worse by mixing a bit of poo in.

 

[AIRwin]

I've also just booked an AI flight departing AMD.

B787-8?

 

[Berlin]

I can agree with almost all of those and have learnt many of these lessons myself over the years, sometimes the hard way…

But a genuine question re 40 as it puzzles me: How does one manage to keep the passport (and ideally wallet too) on oneself when traveling on a long haul flight? I understand that this would be ideal, especially in the case of an emergency evacuation, but how can it be done feasibly? Especially the Aussie passport is extremely flimsy, having that on you while seating inevitably will make it crease and bent and, worst case, not readable in the automated machines. The European ones are much sturdy but would also be more uncomfortable on a long flight. And I got BOTH so I’d ideally carry them both on me, depending where I go. Would appreciate any tips- put it all into some sort of special wallet that you keep in a nook by your seat during the flight (I never fly in Eco for long haul so that helps)? Any other hot tips?

 

[Quickstatus]

Someone mentioned Bragging rights? HLO?

Nah I'll call and raise
The Quickatatus family of 5 once arrived home with just over 600kg luggage. We managed to fit everyone + luggage in a Standard Chevy Suburban . I should also add -no excess luggage fees.

2. learn a few words of the local language and use it
3. Forget resting on the Sabbath. Every third day is a rest day

 

[Daver6]

B787-8?

Ex UK A320. Was tempted to select seat 11A but that's not in Y+.

 

[drron]

A warm welcome to AFF @Travellin Wilbury . I do agree with the packing cubes. amazing what you can fit in a carry on with the help of the cubes.
and the travelling Willburys are one of my favourite groups and perform my personal motivational piece - I Won't Back down.

As to HCO we are late converts. We have had a few instances of our checked luggage travelling via connections when we travelled direct. Has been over a week on a couple of occasions which caused problems. yes we would travel with a change of clothes in our carry on but no fun having 2 outfits for 10 days. No such worries with carry on only.

I am 78 with mobility problems. Dragging a 20KG bag around plus a carry on is a real pain in the back. We went 6 weeks in Bangkok over Christmas and in May 4 weeks in Singapore, Batam and Bangkok. Both times HCO. And we did have lunch in a Michelin starred restaurant in Singapore In 2 weeks time we are off on a 3 week trip Sydney, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Darwin again HLO.

We enjoy being able to check in on line, skip the check in queues and at the other end stop at Immigration then straight out of the airport.

Now in the next 18 months we have 4 cruises booked and for those we will take a 20KG checked bag.

 

[Mrsfefe]

When travelling in a non English speaking country, write your hotel name and address on a small ( business size) card to show to taxi drivers and follow the trip on google maps to make sure they are going the right way.

We always take a kettle when travelling overseas as we are tea drinkers and you really need boiling water to make good tea. Coffee machine warm water just doesn’t cut it. We have a 220 v one and a 110 v one depending on which continent we are heading to.

 

[ADLhighflyer]

I always pack a spare pair of shoe laces. Knowing my luck, if one was to break it'd be at the most inconvenient time and finding replacements is always an issue at short notice!