To think we could get away with just one 20 kg...

[42isthemeaning]

...suitcase for a family of four going on a 5 day city break visit? Dh thinks we can; I'm not so sure. The dc are 8 & 11 if that helps!

Many thanks for your thoughts on this!

We usually manage with just hand luggage.

With your hand luggage too you'll be fine

We managed 5 days with just hand luggage. You wear your heaviest clothes and tie your coat round your waist. Toiletries buy there. That was basically with everyone just wearing short and T shirts though - I'd imagine would be trickier if you wanted formal outfits.

Get a little weighing device and see how much stuff you can fit in a case for the weight. It also depends weather you pack clothes or more entertainment things into hand luggage (my hand luggage is reserved for my soft toys so we have to book extra cases). Just packed our cases and 4 of us beach holiday has come out as 28kg

We did a 5 day trip with 5 and 2 year olds with two 20kg suitcases and only two handluggage bags, and that included a load of nappies (which were replaced by overpriced Disney tat on the way back). Very doable.

Oh, and it was in the depths of winter so we all worse 6 layers of clothes at all times. Forgot to mention that!

That should absolutely be do-able. Remember you'll have hand luggage as well.

We are a family of 5 (DCs aged 12, 9 & 6) and we managed a week in a city / beach location in spring (so jumpers and jackets required as well as shorts & tshirts) with hand luggage only (school bag sized rucksacks). We were staying in an apartment though so were able to do a load of washing half way though the week.

It was rather liberating to only have small bags and not have to lug a big suitcase about.

Easy - we did two weeks in the states with only carry on luggage and two weeks in Sweden so 5 days on 20kg case for 4 no problem.

Just come back to be heartened by the significant amount of you who think it's possible. My dsis is coming as well but she will have an entire 20kg case to herself! I'm already envious of her several changes of outfit. Dh once went inter railing around Europe with a bum bag containing: one pair of pants, one pair of socks, a t shirt and a small tube of hand wash. I kid you not. He did look very samey in all the photos though.

One 20kg suitcase - no I don't think so.
One 20kg suitcase plus two (or more) cabin-sized cases/hold alls - yes of course.
But that's just my opinion.

Of course you could! For 5 days you don't even need hold luggage. A good size rucksack each and you could just take your clothes etc in carry on bags.

I went on a 3.5 week trip to the US with my husband last year with just carry on luggage - we had Cabin Max rucksacks which can fit plenty. For a 5 day trip there's no way I would bother with a big suitcase!

Probably, but Prague in summer can be hot and humid so you'll probably need to change before going out in the evening, you can always rinse stuff out and rewear

No I don't pack suits.

Coincidentally I just got back from Prague and took following in my hold luggage:

Toiletries
Make up bag
Ghds
One pair jeans
One jumpsuit
One pair culottes
One dress
Five tops
One cardigan
Two pair heels
One pair flats
Longline but light tailored jacket
Clutch bag
Scarf
Jewellery
That came to 16kg

Frankly I'd rather pay the £30 for extra hold luggage and
a) not have to faff with decanting toiletries and taking them out of case at security
b) be able to take a couple of "spare" outfits in case of a change of heart and
c) avoid the stress of will it all fit on return leg if you've bought so much as a fridge magnet

With kids that age I'd just be taking 3 or 4 wheeled cabin bags. No hanging around at the airport then. If it's only one bag each then take 3 cabin bags and put everyone's handbag/rucksack into one large lightweight bag (even a supermarket bag for life) just for the purpose of getting on the plane.

Yes we could as long as we maxed our hand luggage

Just check what weight of cabin baggage you get as it differs with various airlines. We only had 6kg this year with Thomas cook. There are 4 of us DC 10 and 13. I booked in an extra bag so had 2 x20kg in the hold then 4 x 6kg hand luggage for 14 days beach holiday. We used the full allowance but probably took extra trainers and shoes that weren't used. Incidentally even though Thomas cook allowance was so little they never looked at the hand luggage or weighed it xxxx

Do you WANT to though?

We only took two hand luggage bags for five of us going to Efteling for five days - and that included the boys three swim best things! We had a pair of shorts for every day, t-shirt for every day, one hoodie and one pair of joggers, underwear, pair of trainers and pair of sandals each. Swimsuits for all, pjs for me (everyone else just wore their pants in bed. Make up for me, sun cream, and we bought small toiletries in the airport. We also took an iPad which was sandwiched between the five towels we also took! Incidentally, if anyone needs towels buy some of these from Decathlon - they fold up tiny and dry really quickly.

Totally doable!

We've done this a couple of times. Easy peasy. Just be sensible about what you pack. One big case for everything then I had a large handbag, the kids had a small Skip Hop backpack each with toys, snacks etc and DH had a backpack with random things like iPad chargers etc in it.

But then I like travelling light. A cabin size case is what I take for a week away.

Our big case included things for the toddler eg pull ups, bedding etc.

This thread is a window into a whole other world...

It's like the magic MN chicken, but in suitcase form.

mumontherun14

YY to checking what the hand luggage allowance is, as the OP doesn't actually say who she is flying with and it can be as little as 5/6 kg with Thomas Cook or other airlines - is usually 10 kg with Ryanair, Jet2 etc.

Your post reminded me of the only time I have flown with Thomas Cook and they did weigh my hand luggage, which was found to be over 7 kg so I was told to sort it out. So I took my phone, kindle and purse and put them in my coat pocket, which made everything totally fine and I was given the little tag and sent on my way.

Of course I stopped at the first bench I saw round the corner and put said items back in my rucksack.

We have 3 dc and only do hand luggage usually on family holidays. Means packing light and thinking about what you'll actually wear. We do a quick hand wash in the morning if needed and job done :)

we could (and have done) this easily. But both DP and I take a minimalist approach to things.... you just need to pack clever and you'd be amazed how many cloth you can fit. And you don't need extra shoes for example if you only go 5 days. just clothes and toiletries. or am I missing something.

It is more of a challenge in the winter but with summer clothing I don't see why not.