Why do people act like it’s a moral failure to not pack light? AIBU to enjoy taking stuff on holiday with me?

[igotitbadforyou]

I’ve noticed this on a lot of packing/holiday threads. Lots of sneering and looking down on people for packing more than is “needed”.

Technically you could go on holiday with the clothes on your back and a spare pair of underwear and that be that, but I enjoy having options and taking some of my home comforts with me.

Why do people act like it’s wrong to do this? It doesn’t impact anyone else.

I do that with knickers. If I am showering before going out, I am not putting the sweaty pants I have been wearing all day back on.

Well I go on cruises with no weight limit except that a single suitcase can't be over 24kg, so probably a terrible person. I dont have DC or a car.

I always take enough for a least one fresh outfit per day but I realise reading this thread I can pack lighter as I am not a shoe or handbag person.

I literally own one handbag. So that the one that is coming with me.

Summer holidays I take one pair of Birkenstocks - that is it. City breaks I wear one pair of trainers and take a pair of ballet flats for evenings.

Also don't I don't wear PJs or slippers or bring a hairdrier.

I’m not sure it’s a moral failure - I just look at people lugging huge amounts of luggage around with pity. I assume that those people are indecisive, probably disorganised and don’t travel that frequently. My view is travel often, travel light, take a credit card and use hotel laundry :)

I agree, it's odd. But I almost always buy either a package with bags included or travel on a full service airline with bags included. I don't always use my full quota, if it's two or three nights I prefer to pack light but if I'm going for a fortnight I want all my nice things. I enjoy clothes and fashion. I'm not indecisive, I have every outfit planned but I'm not rotating things and sink washing.

To be fair I do prefer to do holidays I can afford, not put them on a credit card

I agree with you OP. For me, it depends very much on the type of holiday Im going on. If we’re going to an apartment or hotel and staying in the same place for a fortnight, then I tend to pack far more than if we are travelling round on trains or internal flights, which is very rare now were older. I like to take my best clothes with me when I go on holiday and would never usually dream of doing any washing, so pack enough of everything to last me for one wear for two weeks.

Part of the fun of going away for me is planning my wardrobe
I always pay for 20-24kg hold luggage if not going on a package holiday
Take enough underwear for 2 changes a day in hot country - lots of swimwear a variety of sandals and enough day and evening outfits for the length of holiday
Summer clothes don’t weigh much anyway
This year I’ve lost a bit of weight so am having fun scouring the charity shops, vinted etc for new outfits for summer holiday

I pack lighting because with two kids to coral I don’t want to be burdened either too much luggage as well. So going away for two weeks I aimed for one checked in bag and a carry on or two. Still there’s clothes I don’t wear, and in a hot country the kids just lived in bathing suits and a couple T-shirts/shorts. But moral failure? Nah - if you packed like Alexis Carrington for a weekend stay then maybe. I don’t pay attention to what others do, just what works for me.

I don't understand why the airport experience is easier when you are lugging one of those small wheels cases around as well as your handbag or rucksack. For me I drop off the case so I'm free of carrying stuff until I get there.
Those who think it's quicker on arrival,are you sure? You must have to go through the same queues at passport as the people with checked luggage who don't have to drag it around with them. On all my holidays in recent years my luggage has been waiting as soon as I got through.

packing 2 weeks before your holiday. Do you have enough knickers and T Shirt to have 2 weeks worth out of action for all the family.

Yes I do have enough. In fact I always buy new pants for a holiday. When we were taking children as well they might have to wear old stuff in the week before a holiday but more likely they wore school uniform.

I’m traveling around and I’m taking more 😁😁 I have such limited time in each place, I need to be able to not worry about washing

Having done a hand luggage only trip lately, and been forced to check my bag at the gate as the overhead lockers are full, I don’t see the difference!

don't understand why the airport experience is easier when you are lugging one of those small wheels cases around as well as your handbag or rucksack. For me I drop off the case so I'm free of carrying stuff until I get there

A lot depends on how often you suffer the airport experience.

If you are travelling through airports frequently all the time stood in line at bag drop starts to add up, as does hanging around at the reclaim belt...

Also as others have mentioned travelling HBO reduces the risks of being left short if the bag doesn't travel or doesn't make a connection if there is one.

I'll happily pack a case for a holuday but when I was flying frequently for work purposes I'd do anything possible to avoid checking in a bag..

I guess it's horses for courses, different strokes etc...there's no right or wrong.

I think there is a happy medium. I am into fashion and like having nice clothes on holiday but I don’t need to be changing three times a day. If going for longer than a few days I take a medium sized suitcase. For me the number one rule is: can I carry this myself?

That's still 2.5% less emissions though, which would not to be sniffed at.

There's bigger problems than your extra luggage, but at the same time if everyone had the attitude of "it's only a tiny contribution to something bad so what does it matter", the problem would be much, much bigger.

Same for most problems in the world.

If I tried to pack 23kg of clothes I'd be taking everything I own and have to buy more lok

You weren't queuing at bag drop to check it in

People can pack as much as they like but don't try to take half of it as carry on and use excess space in the overheads. The non-budget airlines are very poor at monitoring this

I used to pack everything but the kitchen sink and regularly got “heavy” stickers on our joint big case.
When we retired and started using low cost airlines like Ryanair things had to change if I wanted to go away 5/6 times a year so I started to learn to pack light. We started having 2 x10kg carry on and the underseat bag but have now got it down to 1 x 10kg carry on between us. The key for us is the max size underseat bag as you can get absolutely loads in there especially if you use vacuum bags for underwear, pyjamas and socks. (I take 14 pairs of small knickers lol)Always do a boots click and collect for toiletries as they can go on board in addition to your luggage allowance. Decant stuff like Elemis cleanser and hair products into one week pots. Always book places with a hairdryer and that provides pool/beach towels. The only thing I rinse out is swimwear . Travel in trainers and pack pool shoes and for me a going out metallic pair of sandals that go with everything. Just got back and there are one or two things unworn so I definitely packed enough.
Its definitely a cost thing for me, I refuse to pay more for the case than my seat, but having perfected the travel light I find it difficult to get out of the habit when we do a package with 23 kg each included.

If we are travelling around I still take enough clothes so that I don’t have to do any washing but I take fewer shorts, shoes, and trousers which coukd be worn more than once.

I'm an indecisive idiot. I can never decide what to bring or what to leave, so naturally the result is bring everything and decide when I arrive what to wear! So ridiculous, because (as I'm sure it's the same for others) I end up wearing the same things and bring home a suitcase full of unworn stuff!

As for rinsing things, yes I do that (for the repeat wears as above ha ha). I just use shower gel/shampoo to freshen things up. I make sure I get a hotel room with balcony and throw a few pegs in the (bursting) bag to clip the washed things on the back of a chair out there. Dry in an hour in the heat. Obviously I only rinse stuff that doesn't need an iron. I draw the line at that. But either way, any wrinkles fall out quickly when the item is worn. Pity that doesn't work on my face! 😊

To be fair with BA now I expect to have to check my large cabin bag in so treat it as more of a second suitcase, but you know it’s definitely getting there!

No, but if you get there as soon as it opens it’s not a problem!

But then you have to get their earlier. So it makes a difference

Do people sneer?

We are about to go on a four week holiday across two different climates and have three suitcases between four people. Plus a small back pack (carry on) each for the flights.

Where does that put us on the spectrum? I know we use everything we pack.