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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask for your most unhinged packing lists?

507 replies

badhabitsleadtolate · 05/08/2026 15:17

Trying to cover all bases.

I’m not talking the “oh yeah I whack a teabag in my baggage”, i’m talking the type of stuff most people would never dream of taking.

OP posts:
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9
Shinyhappyapple · 07/08/2026 16:14

saltnpepperchips · 07/08/2026 14:50

i took the tumble dryer to Haven once . It was during Covid and they were only offering very expensive service wash on site!

A tumble dryer?! Ok that one wins. How did you have room for your cases?

unsync · 07/08/2026 16:21

ZippyPeer · 05/08/2026 17:06

I know someone who takes an extension lead. They hate not being able to charge their phone by the bed

It's not daft though. A big multisocket extension lead means you only need travel adapter. All the other electrical equipment just plugs into the extension bar, no need for multiple adapters.

ParsleySageToiletDuckAndBinBags · 07/08/2026 16:40

We always take a box of random kitchen stuff, as it's amazing how many holiday lets don't have lots of the normal stuff you expect to be there. Decent sharp knives, potato peeler, potato masher, scissors, cheese grater stick, slotted spoon, wooden spoon, bottle opener, tin opener etc.

ParsleySageToiletDuckAndBinBags · 07/08/2026 16:44

This is a really random one, but if you go to the seaside and you your kids like to spend time in the arcades on the 2p falls machines, take a tub or two with you. It's so much less faff than bank bags or holding them all in your hand, and when you use the change machine, you just put it there and let it catch them all.

Some places give them away, but many don't; so if you take a couple with you when you leave if you go to the former, you have them ready for when you go to the latter!

likelysuspect · 07/08/2026 19:13

riceuten · 07/08/2026 10:56

People who take a whole suitcase full of English food, because they don't like what's on offer there - a specific flavour of Monster Munch is one I remember, but tins of Heinz Baked Beans, sealed packets of bacon to Turkey. I recognise this is sometimes related to mental health issues, but it still amuses me greatly - you wonder why some people actually leave the UK.

Theres lots of people from abroad who travel here with tons of their home food as well, bottles of this, packets of that because they dont want to eat food from the UK.

Dutch1e · 07/08/2026 19:32

likelysuspect · 07/08/2026 19:13

Theres lots of people from abroad who travel here with tons of their home food as well, bottles of this, packets of that because they dont want to eat food from the UK.

And those three specific foods (Monster Munch, Heinz baked beans, and bacon) are the things I load up on when I'm in the UK. Or ask people for when they go there.

I'm not even from the UK, they're just fkn delicious!

Let people like what they like hey.

LimitedBrightSports · 07/08/2026 20:05

I take a fire blanket in my hand luggage on plane journeys to wrap around me and the DC in the event of a survivable impact crash where fire is likely to be the main cause of death.

There wouldn't be room for my husband also, but since he chooses to sit separately from us so he can relax during the flight unbothered by the kids, he can take his own chances, as far as I'm concerned.

Auburngal · 07/08/2026 20:50

riceuten · 07/08/2026 14:18

I can understand perhaps if you are staying in a gite in the middle of nowhere - but, as I have said many, many times - Spain, France and Italy are not third world countries, you can get 90% of what you want in their supermarkets, and if you can't do without a suitcase full of stuff from home because you don't like Spanish, French or Italian food, why are you going there?

I have seen men in tears because a cafe in Majorca doesn't have Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

I am also talking people that stay at hotels and don't even look at the local dishes. They turn up their noses at it, even though never tried it.

My parents saw a box of decaf PG tips in a Spanish supermarket - €8 for a box of 40.

Sometimesitsmyownfault · 07/08/2026 21:13

When I remember I take my big plunger if I’m staying in a French property. I live mainly in France and our plumbing is atrocious!

When went to the Alps for winter, my partner packed his 3D printer - not the small one - the big bugger!
Also :
oyster knife (and a couple of dozen oysters packed in ice).
Battery starter pack
Full tool kit
Our King & Queen mugs 😆
The dogs pushchair.
Last season he took a load of wood to build a ski rack in our rented apartment!

Used to take hours to load the van - and unload it! I’ll miss all the random stuff this season as he died earlier this year 💔

CupidsPysche · 07/08/2026 21:25

LimitedBrightSports · 07/08/2026 20:05

I take a fire blanket in my hand luggage on plane journeys to wrap around me and the DC in the event of a survivable impact crash where fire is likely to be the main cause of death.

There wouldn't be room for my husband also, but since he chooses to sit separately from us so he can relax during the flight unbothered by the kids, he can take his own chances, as far as I'm concerned.

Wouldn’t the smoke get you

Oscillating · 07/08/2026 21:40

GoldMoon · 05/08/2026 20:17

Yes of course they do but obviously not pillows , hate the thought of someone dribbling all over something I put near my face clean or not .

LOL. Just imagine the bodily fluids on the mattress you're sleeping on and the sheets...

Changingnameagain · 07/08/2026 21:53

Oooo am loving this thread!
I take a satin pillow case from home everywhere (to reduce my.hair frizz), extension lead abroad so you need fewer plug adaptors, travel washing line with a few pegs (especially handy for caravan holidays where you can't guarantee they will have a hang out the window airer thing). Also take a wine bottle stopper and decent corkscrew/ bottle opener because nothing kills a holiday faster than getting to end of stressful travel day with 2 young kids, finally unpacked and gor them to bed and then realizing you have nothing to open that lovely bottle of wine you've brought along!

Katigee410 · 07/08/2026 22:21

Coffee pot. As in espresso maker. Sorry not Sorry but we go self catering and I just need my special morning coffee. Also DP laughs at me because I must do a spreadsheet of what goes in the case !

Auburngal · 07/08/2026 22:27

likelysuspect · 07/08/2026 19:13

Theres lots of people from abroad who travel here with tons of their home food as well, bottles of this, packets of that because they dont want to eat food from the UK.

You see them (usually from China and SE Asia) on these airport programmes. They try to bring in a whole suitcase of dried meat and fresh noodles with meat

dunkery · 08/08/2026 02:30

Baby Powder for seaside trips. (The largest, cheapest container you can find) Just sprinkle over wet and sandy feet and it brushes straight off.

PollyBell · 08/08/2026 02:48

Sink plug and a doorstop

StarlightLady · 08/08/2026 03:40

The additional benefit of the carbon monoxide alarm is that it has a test button. This can also be used as a call for help alarm too in the event of danger or attack.

l always take one of those plug in nightlight thingies with me as well. It saves stubbing your toes on bed legs or walking into a door if you go for a wee in the night and it’s pitch black.

likelysuspect · 08/08/2026 08:10

Auburngal · 07/08/2026 22:27

You see them (usually from China and SE Asia) on these airport programmes. They try to bring in a whole suitcase of dried meat and fresh noodles with meat

Well Im thinking about my Spanish family members who wont eat 'UK food' and bring a load of stuff with them.

Sometimesitsmyownfault · 08/08/2026 12:03

likelysuspect · 08/08/2026 08:10

Well Im thinking about my Spanish family members who wont eat 'UK food' and bring a load of stuff with them.

Thats nothing - try imagining what a lost suitcase with bush meat smells like when it’s been in the BA baggage warehouse a month.
Trying to get my head round someone deciding to pack half a dead monkey or antelope joints in their Samsonite..

TheDevilWears · 08/08/2026 12:43

When my DDs were small … food stuff 😂 packets of mac and cheese type pasta. Things I knew they’d eat. A small beach tent. So many times we’ve been on the beach and it’s rained for a little while.

FrancesFlute · 08/08/2026 13:05

My DH is a medic. He brings a spare stethoscope, finger oxygen monitor thing, otoscope and thermometer. We have used the thermometer and stethoscope once when baby DS woke up poorly in the night when we were in Dorset.

Heathertrott2 · 08/08/2026 13:48

This thread reminds me of the guy innocently taking tools through his hand luggage 😂 I remember watching this on TV at the time. This was obviously post 9/11

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Shinyhappyapple · 08/08/2026 16:03

LimitedBrightSports · 07/08/2026 20:05

I take a fire blanket in my hand luggage on plane journeys to wrap around me and the DC in the event of a survivable impact crash where fire is likely to be the main cause of death.

There wouldn't be room for my husband also, but since he chooses to sit separately from us so he can relax during the flight unbothered by the kids, he can take his own chances, as far as I'm concerned.

That’s brilliant.

I now need to look on Amazon for a carbon monoxide detector, something to cut me out of my car when it falls off the road and a fire blanket!

Mandarinclementine · 08/08/2026 17:10

I don’t think a fire blanket would save you in the event of a plane crash and it catching fire.

ScotiaLass · 08/08/2026 18:29

ZippyPeer · 05/08/2026 17:06

I know someone who takes an extension lead. They hate not being able to charge their phone by the bed

Someone at my work pulled one of these out of his luggage in a meeting where a number of people needed to charge their laptops and explained that he always travelled with one because his wife likes to be able to plug in her hair straighteners and dryer next to a mirror and there often isn't suitable plugs to do that, which is so true. It's simple genius and I've done it ever since. Also helps in the situation where there isn't enough sockets in a room too.

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