How many suitcases are you taking ?

[Mumishappy]

I'm curious how many suitcases people typically take on long overseas trips. Our family of four adults is heading to Japan for three weeks, but we're only packing three days' worth of clothes into one large suitcase. The other large suitcase is entirely dedicated to souvenirs for family back in Japan, with a smaller bag nested inside the clothing suitcase. We often see people with many bags and wonder why they need so much! How many suitcases are you bringing ?

I usually bring just the one cabin size, + underseat bag. That would be for a week. If going for two weeks or more it's the bigger hard shell one. If it's a long weekend, the underseat bag only does me.

I always pack incredibly light. One 15 kilo bag for 10 days holiday as a family of 3.

It would entirely depend on the length of the trip, where to and the baggage allowance by the airline. Bog standard Ryanair flight for two of us for a week/fortnight = one case between us. If I book, I go for the 20kg allowance, if he books, he goes for the 10kg.

We usedto live abroad in a popularsummer holiday destination. Our luggage used to look excessive at Gatwick.. it was actually things like birthday presents, school uniform, winter clothing, English children's books, random bits of English treat food etc.

1 medium sized one for just me, 1 week, beach holiday. I pack light, but toiletries and books take up lots of space the annual internal debate about a Kindle has started.

I presume you can do a wash then if you’re staying with family so you’re not actually wearing the same 3 outfits for a week each! If you’re staying in a hotel then there either might not be laundry facilities or it might be expensive to use them so easier just to take clean clothes for every day than devote a day of your holiday to finding and waiting in a laundrette…. We’ll probably do 5 days worth PP for a 10 day trip and do a midweek wash during the part of the trip where we stay in an air bnb. So I reckon that’ll be 1 large and 1 carry on sized suitcase. Skiing though earlier this year- all the bulky winter clothes and equipment, no ability to do a wash - we had so much!

If you're visiting family, I assume that you are easily able to wash clothes while there. When I visit family for a lengthy period, I will take about 3-4 days of clothes for me, a week's worth for the kids (still young and likely to get dirty frequently). It all fits into a medium size case. Same size case if we go on holiday without washing facility.
Cabin bag if I'm travelling solo.

Always one per adult.

Most people going on a standard holiday don’t want to wash clothes while they are there. So for up to two weeks you would perhaps want a 20kg suitcase per adult. It’s different if you are travelling, visiting family or going on a long trip.

We normally take one 10kg each (x5) but this year were going for 2 weeks so I am thinking about booking a 20kg in and take all our full size toiletries and suncream as there will be 8 of us. But it's only a thought.

I try to travel light and it’s obviously easier if visiting family as you can wash clothes while there.

Having said that, even if I am going to be staying in hotels, my rule of thumb is to only take what I can carry myself. So for even a longer trip I would take a medium sized bag. So bigger than cabin sized but not one of those huge suitcases.

Three days of clothes for a three week holiday? That’s just silly. We pack light but take a case each. Do you ou really want to have to do laundry so much on holiday? It’s rainy season too isn’t it. I think three outfits is woefully under packing.

2 adults 2 teens, 2.5-3 weeks - we always take 1 x 22kg case and 3 x 10kg cases plus 4 under seat bags.

We did do 4 days in a European city at Easter with an under seat bag each but it was tight!

You are going to get fed up wearing the same clothes with that small amount I would think . I take according to my allowance so if 2 x 23 I will take as I know I will buy a lot. Suitcases on way out are usually full of stuff which is not brought back - toiletries, tea bags, coffee, biscuits etc. For a three week holiday I will take about 12 dresses. I always holiday in hot spots.

I take as much as I can and am alwayson the weight limit. And I curse myself because I like to buy things on holiday and never have any space

I dont understand the need to go as light as possible. Its a holiday, I want to wear all my nice clothes, have changes of clothes, have changes of shoes, have my nice hair and make up things, have my creature comforts.

One suitcase each...medium size. Even that I find a struggle! I

Long distance to visit family (2-3 flights either way, stay nearly 3 weeks) = 1 extra-large suitcase, and a backpack each. Edit: this large suitcase is mostly for bringing gifts, and for bringing back food/souvenirs!

Europe holiday = backpack each, but if it’s over a week stay then it’s a paid-for cabin backpack (larger than the underseat free one). We’d rather have a suitcase, to be honest, for more space but try to keep costs low and less time worrying about lost luggage etc.

I love my Kindle but I take physical books on a beach holiday. You can use them to hold down your towel/ other flyaway things on the sunbed, and you can swap them in the "library" section that most hotels have. If I just borrow one of those, it feels like stealing, even if I return it before going home.

Long distance to family: 2 not very full medium cases, with one stuffed into a larger suitcase, plus a smaller case for DH to come come early. Kids and I fill the empty case with school shoes, bras, mini eggs (if a Xmas trip), books, toothpaste for DS2 (cannot convert him to the foreign toothpaste....).

4 of us on holiday-holiday. 2 medium cases, and one smaller case. About 40kg total.

I thought I was a fairly light clothes packer - but 3 sets of clothes has me twitching!

I am not a light packer at all. I like to have enough stuff not to worry about laundry wherever possible or at least do the bare minimum if needed. Otherwise I feel super stressed! If we have direct access to a washing machine in accommodation I’m a bit less OTT but if it’s a public/site laundry situ then I am packing like I’m moving country.

We like European driving holidays though and have a big car and 500L roof box so we have the room.

Yes, I wash our clothes while we're on holiday, and we also buy new clothes there. Once the souvenirs are gone, I can fit all those clothes and any remaining souvenirs into the other big suitcase for the journey back to the UK.

When we go to Japan we take one medium sized suitcase each (just two adults) on the way out. Mine is never more than half-full on the way there. DP tends to fill his, mainly because he wears large size shoes and one spare pair of trainers takes up a fair amount of space. He’s also just a lot bigger than me so his clothes take up more room. We tend to pack enough for about 6 days to a week and do laundry where we can.

The other half of my case gets filled with snacks and other souvenirs on the way home. We also take a packable holdall that can be checked on the way home with clothes in to make space for souvenirs in DP’s case. We fly JAL, so get two checked cases each but have never needed anything close to that much. We could get away with just taking one larger suitcase and the packable hold-all but we’d rather have one modestly sized case each than have to deal with oversized baggage on the Shinkansen.

We don’t really pack much in the way of toiletries but do like to have enough clothes to easily adapt for the very changeable weather in spring.

It really depends where I'm going. 6 weeks in Indonesia took cabin bag rucksack only as just sent clothes to be washed once a week for few quid.
1 week in Greece where we change for dinner and want to look smarter take 15kg hold luggage.
I find those underseat baggage allowances although ok can be cumbersome to lug about so tend to avoid just having them

Always the competitive under packing on MN.
I dont understand the need to go as light as possible. Its a holiday, I want to wear all my nice clothes, have changes of clothes, have changes of shoes, have my nice hair and make up things, have my creature comforts.
Same. For two of us for 7-10 nights I take two cases. I take minimal hand luggage which makes the journey more pleasant, just a small bag with medication and a book.
I don't want to be doing laundry on holiday and I don't want to be re-wearing the same outfit. I walk a lot and get sore feet so I take plenty of shoes.
It's a myth that it takes hours longer to reclaim suitcases especially in the EU. The longest bit on arrival is passport control, on my last few holidays the luggage has been waiting when we got through. I was in a taxi 30 minutes after touching down last month.

My underseat bag is full of medication so cant fit anything of merit in there.