Luggage help please!!!

[mrspitt]

Rather stupidly or naively have just checked our luggage allowance for going to Mallorca in 5 weeks time. We are a family of 5.
2 adults, 3 teens, DS is v v tall (6'5). We only have 35kg for the hold between us. Flying with Ryanair and have went to add on more bags. £135 for 20kg and £90 for £15!!!!!!!!
Apart from the shock of the price, I don't know how much to add on making it the cheapest but still enough weight for us. We are allowed 10kg carry on each. So my question is what would you do? How much would you add on?
First holiday abroad for us all. Can you tell!

I just got back from a weeks holiday flying with Ryanair and I just used a small suitcase for carry on luggage, you also get to bring a handbag under 35x20cm. Depends how long you are going for and how much stuff you bring though.

Just pack light. You can all have a little wheely suitcase (check the measurement on Ryan air website), and put loads of stuff in there. Buy your sun cream at the airport as that can't go in before security. Just take light flip flops and light sundresses, shorts etc.

I just went on Ryan air for 4 days and just took carry on and it was fine.

Check if your hotel provides beach towels (with a deposit)

Take miniatures of all toiletries, some hotels supply shampoo/shower gel anyway

You can do it, just pack light. some hotels even have a laundry service (for a fee)

I think you can do it for 10kg each. For us, it mainly sun tan lotion/shampoo/conditioner that weighs a ton, so buy that there?

Also trainers are heavy, so if people are taking them, they should wear them.

You will be amazed how much you can get in the trolley dolly 10kg cases that Ryan Air allow on plane and now you can take a "handbag" that also helps. Don't take any toiletries buy them all out there. No dearer than UK and saves loads of weight and space in case. Wear your heaviest shoes and jackets for plane/airport. I personally try and make sure everything can mix and match so lots of navy and just different colour tops. My 6ft 4in teenage "fashinesta" son threw a fit when I told him he had 10kg for a week in Spain. In the end everything he wanted fitted in perfectly apart from one extra pair of trainers he put in his man bag. He even bought clean stuff home !!! Cheapest place for the lightest trolley dolly is primark. Have a great holiday.

Just shoes for giant teen boys can nearly fill a suitcase. But I am not an advocate of travelling light.
We usually get 20k each for 4 of us including two teens. We don't carry much hand luggage. Last year the cases weighed around 16k each.

I don't understand why, having paid for a nice holiday you should have to survive a week with hardly anything to wear

Unless you have a teen dd who is obsessed with shoes and determined to bring every pair she owns 10 kg carry on each plus 35 kg in hold will be more than enough. We have World's Lightest Luggage RyanAir size cabin bags, they're fantastic. This was the first result I came up with for it -

www.argos.co.uk/product/4833163?cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59156|cid:189949525|agid:18074417725|tid:pla-163034344405|crid:77627774245|nw:g|rnd:7147314599541573881|dvc:c|adp:1o1&gclid=CjwKEAjwse7JBRCJ576SqoD7lCkSJABF-bKundCJDBXtstjg_BmhidK68kfR09v3WB-D5j1l9UFKZBoCc47w_wcB

A weeks holiday in the sun is doable with hand luggage as long as you don't have small children or lots of formal dos to attend.

We've only got one hold bag + hand luggage booked for our summer holiday (2 adults, 2 kids) and we're taking a toddler and all the crap that goes with them!

Practice packing light (I usually just take sandals & one nice pair of shoes , wear layers / the bulkiest stuff)

I would bite the bullet and spend the extra on hold luggage. It's your holiday. Too many stresses trying to pack light.imo.

Oh thanks for the quick replies!
You've made me feel so much calmer! Really didn't fancy spending £££ on extra bags.
We are only going for a week @PutThatPomBearBack.
@Mrstumbletap I never though about checking hotel for beach towels and some toiletries thank you. Good advice.
DP says he's only wearing trainers however if that's true he'll be rationed to one pair!
I did notice the handbag thing now @everyonesmom I'm away to measure all mine now 😂 and I think my big teenager will strop too when he's told what he's allowed lol. Thanks for the heads up about the Primark trolley dolly I'll be visiting one soonish.
@HelenMcHelen I'm terrible for taking too much, I like to have a selection too, thinking if I do the mix & match thing I might just manage but I've 2 teen DD's to contend with so may add on another 15kg so they can carry all their MAC make up 😂
It's usually me that has a pair of shoes for every outfit @AlpacaLypse but thanks for the link I'll check it out
@wonkylegs no small children and you have given me hope it can be done on what we have! Def be practicing packing lightly!
I think I'll compromise @LesLavandes as it's an expense I hadn't accounted for so add another 15 which should give us 60kg plus 50kg in carry on.
Thanks again for all your advice

I wouldn't go with hand luggage only. I do pack light but I like my stuff so always book extra baggage. I know lots who do manage but I'd buy toiletries when you get there. I couldn't be arsed arriving on holiday and the first thing I need to find is a chemist for supplies though.

Is £135 really the price for one extra 20kg bag??

Please check that they are not adding extra bags onto all the people booked for that price. I was adding bags to a Ryanair flight recently and was thought the price seemed excessive to what it normally is, when I looked closely it had auto added and then added again!

So you've got 85kg between 5 of you? That's loads. Honestly. 5 of us (3 adults, a teenage girl and baby) went away for a week and we took less than 70kg between us, including two set of scuba diving equipment, nappies, toiletries etc. And came home with clean stuff. Everyone packs their clothes into their hand luggage, take a hold bag for shoes and toiletries.

If I were going away for a week, I would have looked at and paid for a hold bag per person at the point of booking, and factored that into the cost when comparing airlines.

I think of it not as £XX for my bag, but an £XX discount for people who don't want to bring luggage.

No they don't. I don't take much hand luggage. Can't be arsed with a trolley bag through the airport. I have my handbag. DH has a rucksack with electronics in it. That's it.

85kg is loads for a week, even for 5 of you. We do 2 weeks for 4 on a 40kg allowance. Flip flops and sandals are light, other shoes/ trainers are worn. Sun cream, buy when there or once through security, kindles or iPads instead of books. You will almost certainly get towels when there ( or buy some, cheap ones to leave behind?) .

Have you got any decent scales? I was surprised how little our bags weighed when we travelled at 1/2 term. I reckon 35kg is 3 fair-sized suitcases for check-in. CabinMax rucsacs are good for maxing out your cabin quota (they do other formats too, I've not tried).

I've had to travel light for safaris so am a bit of a packing diva: never underestimate the weight/bulk of bloke's boxers. I am sure you don't want to do it, but we have been known to travel with 3 pairs of undies (hand wash, roll in a towel...jump on it...they are pretty much dry overnight depending on the humidity).

If you need towels, microfibre ones are fine and tiny. They are fine for hair washing back home.

Sending my sympathies to your 6'5'' DS (I am 5'2'' and, whilst it can be annoying, I wonder how on earth taller people can cope with planes and trains etc).

Not read while Thread but just had this convo with my friend. Wear heaviest. But sun tan lotion and any specific toiletries you need (allergies etc) at chemist airside once you've gone through security. You can buy beach towels in resort for about £5 which is cheaper than checking in a case. We went in Oct for a week and bought 100 ml sun tan lotion and toothpaste. Then just took make up, small perfume and recanted shampoo/conditioner through. Hotel provided showergel and we bought mossie spray in resort. Teenage ffs need to be ignored and teenage ds' with giant feet get trainers and 1 pair of flip flops!!!

10kg hand luggage, 7kg hold luggage and a handbag with no weight restriction is more than enough for each person, believe me. Especially for a beach holiday. I always fly hand luggage only with Ryanair, and for two weeks on the beach the only things I need to buy air side are sun screen, shampoo and conditioner (because of the liquids rules). But you have hold luggage, so you won't even need to worry about that.

Some ways I keep the weight of my cabin luggage down are:

• Buy a lightweight case. I have this one: www.argos.co.uk/product/3057926
• Wear bulky items like jackets at the airport rather than putting them in your case
• Take eBooks instead of paperback books (I prefer regular books but they're so bulky)
• Put heavy items into your handbag if necessary, as they're not weighed
• Decant toiletries/make-up into smaller containers. Not just because of the liquids rule, but so you're not carrying excess stuff that won't be used. I also take products that are nearly empty (like deodorant) so they can be chucked away at the end of the holiday rather than carried home.
• Check whether the hotel has hairdryers before bringing your own
• Microfibre beach towels take up very little space
• Co-ordinate your wardrobe carefully so that you can mix and match everything. That way you'll need to take fewer items with you.

We never have hold luggage, even when going away for Christmas, but we have three off these carry on rucksacks. Cabin max now do a maximum capacity ryanair handbag too. We do not have one of these, but might consider it in the future.

Each rucksack holds 44 litres - this is absolutely loads, when mine were new I fitted a whole (dry) load of washing in one and then several towels. Just to see how much it held, you understand...

Second checking the price of another hold case. It's usually about £40-50 for a 20 kg suitcase, which is still a lot of money, but not £135.

Could £135 be the price for a hold suitcase for the 3 people who don't have one - 35 kg of hold luggage sounds like you already have one 20 kg bag and one 15 kg one. Three more would be £45 each for 20 kg or £30 for 15 kg.

If you already have trolley cases you can take on board or are happy to buy some, that will help enormously - if you pack carefully and wear your heaviest clothes a week's sunny holiday is fine on the allowance without having to wear the same clothes all week or do washing on holiday. The IT world's lightest cases are good - they are designed to maximise internal space, and relatively cheap - check the size to get the right one for the cabin. They sell them in Argos or Matalan.

That will still leave your two hold cases for some of the heavy bulky stuff like shoes and toiletries. I think it's a false economy to buy all your toiletries at the airport or abroad if you already have it all at home.

Boots is more expensive than supermarkets, Wilkos etc especially for suncream, and abroad you will waste most of what you buy if you can't bring it back, and who wants to traipse round looking for decently priced toiletries on holiday - lots of resorts only have small expensive shops and things like suncream are usually much more expensive than UK supermarket brands.

I used to advocate having check-in luggage... until one day my suitcase got lost. I was stuck in the clothing I flew in in a lovely but isolated tropical paradise (think no shops). For the entire holiday. It was crap - the fact of being stuck in clothing I had to wash daily, not the holiday . I learnt to pack light thereafter and hardly ever check in luggage now. In fact, last time I did so it was unavoidable as we were travelling with DS (2yo at the time) between Europe and States. And yes, my bag was delayed for several days again. By then I didn't really care as all my "can't live without" stuff (incl toiletries in mini size or in tiny plastic jars - some pharmacies sell them) - was in my carry on anyway and "my" bag had non-essentials + extra supplies for the toddler.