Question regarding packing for trip and European car sizes??

[SASM]

Hello all,

I am trying to figure out our packing situation. Our family of 5 is going to the UK for 15 days in July (mild weather...smaller clothes): London (1 small flat), Scotland (1 small flat and 1 hotel), and Ireland (3 hotels). My husband wants to bring 2-3 medium-sized suitcases, whereas I would prefer for everyone to have their own small suitcase (and carry-on) and be accountable for their own items (plus, if a suitcases is lost or delayed, it'll be easier if it's one person instead of 1/2 of the luggage IYKWIM). We have several issues:

1) We have several small accommodations. The hotels should be okay as we will have two rooms BUT the very small flats might not have the space for 5 suitcases.

2) We are afraid that bulky luggage will not fit in the transportation. We will have 2 cars - one in Scotland and one in Ireland. My hope is that it'll be easier to squeeze 5 smaller suitcases into a car that can accommodate 5 passengers than 2-3 larger bags. I am worried about these "larger" European cars.

I would appreciate your travel suggestions. We haven't travelled abroad with our brood yet and it's been 20 years since we were last in Europe.

Thank you (I hope!)...

[nfceagles]

No answers but I’m following because we are going to the UK this summer too.

One idea I might consider if you go with 5 smaller cases is to make some of the soft sided bags like duffels maybe. I can see it being easier to squeeze those into a trunk than 5 rectangular cases.


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[Philly Mom]

We travel with one smaller roller bag and one bigger bag for the four of us. It takes up most of the trunk of my FIL’s English BMW. Individual bags sounds like way too much unless duffles but then hard to transport.


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[SASM]

THANK YOU!! I will look into rolling duffles!

[SnuggleBuggles]

Can you pack the bare minimum with plans to do laundry at some point?


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[SASM]

Can you pack the bare minimum with plans to do laundry at some point?


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Yup...that's the plan...fingers crossed. Planning to pack for 7 days with no stuffed animals, blankets, slippers, etc etc etc

[jgenie]

We went to London last year and packed 4 small rollers. One for DH, ME, DC and the final roller had my camera and a bit of my overflow. We had a flat in London that had washer / dryer so I did laundry every other night. In contrast, we were in Rome and Portugal this year and we had to pack 1 large suitcase in place of one of the smaller rollers because we didn’t have a washer / dryer.

[marinkitty]

Smaller bags are always easier to manage, IMO. Do you get checked bags free on your flights? If not, that would factor into my decision too. DD and I did London for four nights in a hotel in one US-sized carry-on wheelie with a small daypack carry-on each last summer, so you may be able to combine some of the kids so you don't need the full five cases too since you have laundry. I was surprised how little we actually needed to have with us.

[Neatfreak]

We rented smaller SUVs in the UK and Europe last summer (Nissan Juke, Nissan Qashqai), and we could fit three medium suitcase in the cargo area, and the duffle bags and carry-on backpacks at our feet.

Do you use packing cubes? In smaller accommodations, whether hotel rooms or AirBnb flats, we often just pull out our packing cubes and whatnot and leave our suitcases stacked in a closet or wherever there is more room.

[hillview]

smaller bags are easier expect you will need some at the feet of the people in the backseat