Family of 6 traveling internationally via carry-on luggage- an update and a review!

[gatorsmom]

Rather than giving an update to this thread: https://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/sh...-for-this-trip I thought it might be easier to start a new thread about with reviews of the luggage, packing cubes and other stuff i tried.

After reading reviews at ebags and Amazon, we ended up purchasing 6 of these in different colors: https://www.ebags.com/product/ebags/...uctid=10362788. We wanted spinner wheels but spinner wheels leave less space for packed belongings and I've heard that spinner suitcases can run away so we opted for these bags. I got them with a coupon code for $109 each. They barely fit in United Airline's carry-on tester at the airport (the wheels got stuck) but I shoved and they fit. As long as the bags are not unzipped to extend, they fit. They do unzip to allow for another 2 inches of space but then they don't fit in the carry-on tester. I read a lot about using packing cubes and I was hesitant. It's true that using the cubes means that area around the cubes get wasted. But on the way home I fit tiny souvenirs in those spaces so it worked out fine. I loved the cubes for keeping organized. I bought each kid a set of these packing cubes in their own colors: https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-...-2-spons&psc=1 and for each kid I rolled up 2 days worth of clothes in one cube (they had to wear their pants 2 days in a row and they wore their hoodies several days in a row.). I bought some of these compression bags for additional heavier sweatshirts and rain jackets: https://www.amazon.com/Packing-Trave...-1-spons&psc=1 I tried both the Eagle Creek brand and the Amazon knock- off brand "Tripped." Eagle creek bags were lighter and the zippers never caught but it was so much more expensive. The Tripped brand was fine and worked as well at compressing the sweatshirts and jackets. We even had room to pack 3 alter boy cassocks so the boys could serve mass with our pilgrimage group. Those fit in 2 of the Compression cubes as well.

The kids brought their school back packs to fit in the underseat area of the plane and they brought persona snacks, electronics and books in them.

In order to reduce liquid toiletries, I tried shampoo bars, conditioner bars and toothpaste tablets from LUSH cosmetics. I LOVE them! They smell amazing and they work well. I particularly love the tooth tabs. I also reduced my makeup to a Trish Mcevoy stick foundation and Trish Mcevoy cheek and lip stick. I brought a sample of mascara and a small eyeliner pencil but never used them. I reduced all my facial skin care to the tiny sample packets from Paula's Choice and tried out those dry Oil of Olay daily facial clothes (dry until you add water to them). I did bring some Oi oil for my hair, a travel gel and travel hairspray and fit those in my quart liquids bag. I also tried those lotion sticks from Bubble and Bee and LOVE them as a replacement for liquid lotion. I also brought sunscreen stick and Repel Deet stick. Both are mini and easily fit in my backpack (love that they are not liquids!). I still brought all the same medications we use, I just brought less of them in a smaller LLBean cosmetic bag. With the Large LLBean cosmetic bag, and 4 of those Amazon packing cubes, I still had room for 2 additional pairs of shoes, my liquids in an easy-to-access compartment of my carry-on, and room for a coatigan for me. Those carry-ons fit a ton of stuff!

I found a travel scarf/poncho at TJMaxx that is basically a smaller poncho which can be looped around the neck to make a scarf. That was my favorite new travel clothing accessory. The kids ended up needing it on the plane because they were cold. They wore it laid out flat like a blanket.

For our next trip to France which is 14 days (I don't know why i was thinking it was only 8 days), I plan to pack almost exactly the same clothes and items but a few extra sundresses and pretty clothes because we have tacked on 6 days in Paris at the end of our trip. For 4 of the wheeled carry-ons I bought the matching TLS motherlode junior backpacks which look like I can bring some more clothes and will have more room for souvenirs to bring back. It will be cooler in France at that time of year so will bring maybe another layer of clothes for the kids. Those backpacks look amazing. My only concern is that they won't fit under the seats in the airplane. I think for the big international planes, it won't be a problem. But we make a connecting, domestic flight in France via AirFrance and I've heard they can be more picky about carry-ons and personal items. I guess I'll deal with that then.

Thank you for all your advice on that previous thread. I helped TREMENDOUSLY! And thank you, Frugalmom, for encouraging me to downsize. The kids only needed one pair of shoes! You were so right!

[frugalmom]

Yay. I am glad it all worked out.

Such amazing tips you have in here. I have never heard of all those things in bar form (shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste). I will have to look into that.

Not sure about the backpacks you are looking at. I was concerned with the small flights we took around Europe too. But we have never been checked. We flew lots of different airlines like Ryanair, Easy Jet and so on.

Traveling light is the way to go. Makes me cringe at how much we used to bring on trips.

[jgenie]

I’m glad to hear it all worked out. We just returned from 12 days in Italy and we were able to pack us all in carry on luggage and backpacks. I’ve been tempted by the lush bars but never bought them. I’ll have to get them for our next trip! The junior backpack fits under the seat just fine. I stuck it under DS2’s seat and put his smaller bag in front of me. We didn’t have any trouble with the airlines out of NYC but we did when we were leaving Rome. We checked all our bags on the return with exception of my eBags bags and our backpacks. The airline said I was over my limit and made us move things around within my bags. It was silly since we were clearly under our limit with the other seats in our reservation but whatever.


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[gatorsmom]

Yay. I am glad it all worked out.

Such amazing tips you have in here. I have never heard of all those things in bar form (shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste). I will have to look into that.

Not sure about the backpacks you are looking at. I was concerned with the small flights we took around Europe too. But we have never been checked. We flew lots of different airlines like Ryanair, Easy Jet and so on.

Traveling light is the way to go. Makes me cringe at how much we used to bring on trips.

Switching all the kids to LUSH toothtabs meant that 3 of my kids didn’t travel with any liquids. That made things so much easier. And they really work! The LUSH shampoo bars work well. I’m not thrilled with the conditioner bar I tried because I thought it left my hair a little limp feeling. But I’ve only tried one and they have several. I really like the LUSH avacado body bar. I slice it into smaller rounds and put it into these loofah pouches. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07...b_b_asin_title. They allow the bars to air dry. Before we travel, I put them in small Ziploc baggies in my toiletries bag.

I also tried sink washing some clothes and drying by clothesline. I specifically packed clothes for me and the kids that were polyester, nylon or synthetic so they would dry quickly. I brought a 2 gallon size Ziploc baggy for washing in the sink and tried this detergent. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00...b_b_asin_title. It takes more than one detergent sheet for a couple of shirts. The sheets don’t suds up much. But the clothes rinsed out easily and smelled clean once they were dry. I bought this clothes line and it worked so well. NO NEED FOR CLOTHES PINS! The suction cups were useless but the hooks worked well.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00...b_b_asin_title. The clothesline, detergent and Ziploc baggie all fit in a box the size of a deck of cards. It made life so much easier.

Dh and i agreed that we really like traveling lighter. Lugging those huge duffle bags around was really a PITA. It helped though that the clothes we needed were light weight for a warmer climate. None of us packed jeans. I’m not sure how easy it will be to travel light when we need warmer clothes.

[gymnbomb]

I am going to check out those shampoo bars and toothpaste tabs!

I got the Motherlode junior backpack and love it! I have taken it on 2 trips so far and had no problem at all putting it under the seat on the plane, though I have only flown domestically.


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[frugalmom]

Switching all the kids to LUSH toothtabs meant that 3 of my kids didn’t travel with any liquids. That made things so much easier. And they really work! The LUSH shampoo bars work well. I’m not thrilled with the conditioner bar I tried because I thought it left my hair a little limp feeling. But I’ve only tried one and they have several. I really like the LUSH avacado body bar. I slice it into smaller rounds and put it into these loofah pouches. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07...b_b_asin_title. They allow the bars to air dry. Before we travel, I put them in small Ziploc baggies in my toiletries bag.

I also tried sink washing some clothes and drying by clothesline. I specifically packed clothes for me and the kids that were polyester, nylon or synthetic so they would dry quickly. I brought a 2 gallon size Ziploc baggy for washing in the sink and tried this detergent. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00...b_b_asin_title. It takes more than one detergent sheet for a couple of shirts. The sheets don’t suds up much. But the clothes rinsed out easily and smelled clean once they were dry. I bought this clothes line and it worked so well. NO NEED FOR CLOTHES PINS! The suction cups were useless but the hooks worked well.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00...b_b_asin_title. The clothesline, detergent and Ziploc baggie all fit in a box the size of a deck of cards. It made life so much easier.

Dh and i agreed that we really like traveling lighter. Lugging those huge duffle bags around was really a PITA. It helped though that the clothes we needed were light weight for a warmer climate. None of us packed jeans. I’m not sure how easy it will be to travel light when we need warmer clothes.

I love all the extra tips.

We have stayed in Airbnbs and they had all the laundry things so we skip that stuff.

We did Rome and Athens in March last year. It wasn't warm, but we did it with only 3 roller carry on suitcases for 7 people. Which includes diapers and pullups, which take up a ton of our room. Same kind of thing as to when it is warm. We maybe had the kids bring 2 pairs of pants. We each brought a coat that we wore on the way over. Then had a lighter weight coat/pullover to layer if it got really cold. They wore one. We did the same and pack clothes that dry faster. No jeans. Every place we have stayed in Europe or Africa has not had a dryer. Same with long sleeve shirts, maybe 2 or 3. We did bring a few t-shirts and shorts. Used those to sleep in in the colder places and if it did get really warm some place we were set.

We do either 2 or 3 week trips where we had 3 roller carry on suitcases for the 7 of us. That was it. Or 6 small school sized backpacks for the 7 of us.

Yes, I laugh at our first airplane trip with the kids. We only had 4 at that point. Dh and I almost killed ourselves with all the bags. Each person had multiple ones. Plus 4 carseats. Other bags of things. It was insane. But you get better at packing and realizing what you do and don't need. Now when we go with only 3 roller suitcases lots of us are not carrying anything at all. So we can trade off and take breaks.

[Happy Mommy]

Gatorsmom:
Are the Junior backpacks considered personal or carryon? Are you just planning on checking the wheeled motherlodes?

[gatorsmom]

Gatorsmom:
Are the Junior backpacks considered personal or carryon? Are you just planning on checking the wheeled motherlodes?

No, the wheeled motherlodes we will put up above in the overhead compartment as soon as we get on the plane if all goes as planned. If there aren’t any overhead compartments left, I suppose we will be asked to gate check them. I’m kind of fine with that. It happened on our way to Mexico last week. We picked them up right outside the plane near the wheelchairs. But the backpacks we plan to bring on the plane as our personal item and put under the seat. Dh and I have measured them and discussed at length the likelihood that we will be told they are too big for under the seat and he (who travels almost weekly) thinks they will be fine for our international flight in a month. On this last flight I was particularly interested in the size of some of the personal items other travelers brought on. Some of them definitely would not have fit in the metal airlines tester. I think for international travel the backpacks will be fine brought on as a personal item and stowed under the seat as long as they aren’t totally full. On smaller domestic flights, they’d probably have to go in the overhead bin. I plan on bringing a smaller, packable backpack (likely the Ikea $5 Knalla backpack https://m2.ikea.com/us/en/p/knalla-b...hite-90330483/ ) to put some stuff in for easy access under my seat if I’m asked to put the Motherlode Junior above.