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 ?

No, that wasn’t aimed at you!!

I’m v envious of your trip! Hoping to go to Japan year after next 🤞🤞🤞

I couldn't be bothered doing the washing every other day! Maybe twice in three weeks would be fine.

We’re going for 8 days to Hungary and are packing 2 large cases. My teen dds are sharing one and I’m having one which will include presents for family. Probably bring stuff back in that half. We’ve got a hire car and will be only 2 days in Budapest, the rest at my family’s.

Well, well, well... I just hope they don't think I'm a cheapskate. I actually really like this tea though.

Just shows it truly is different strokes for different folks. People are appalled at the idea of ruining their holiday by ‘having to do’ washing, but I would feel quite stressed at not having a washing machine/laundry room pretty much to hand. In Asian countries I scope out the local laundry and chuck a bag in to them on the way out of a morning and collect on the way back in. I’d rather do that than take 14 pairs of knickers that all have to come back and be hot washed for hours along with another two weeks worth of clothes x4. But I’m also a person who is happy washing everything at home as soon as it hits the laundry basket. It doesn’t even register as a big deal to me to do washing, I don’t feel like I’m having a shitty holiday because the clothes need washing. We also get home and hit our normal stride again straight away due to not having mountains of clothes to wash, and bags to sort out.

Question to the non-holiday washers, how do you cope with the pile at the end of the two weeks? Is it not huge and gross? Genuinely asking as I’ve packed so light for years and have potentially issues with washing things very quickly so I’ve never seen a weeks worth of washing for my family. Genuinely never. Even if I’m ill like today, I’ve still done washing and dried it without much thought.

You should definitely visit Japan! Korea is so close that you could easily visit both countries if you have enough time. Feel free to PM me if you need any information for a future trip to Japan

I have become master of packing the underseat bag for flights. Anything up to a week that's all I take. If there will be laundry facilities where I'm staying, that's all I take for longer trips too.

I love that it makes packing, unpacking and the subsequent laundry such a non event.

Most of our trips are usually max 10 days and we are a one suitcase family, usually pretty much at 20kg capacity for the 4 of us. Plus of course a couple of rucksacks as carry on. Have deviated from this when doing warm and cold trips, e.g
Asia stopovers en route to winter in Sydney, but stick to 2 cases (1 big and 1 medium) even then. We are heading to Japan on the way back from Sydney this time, so suspect we will need extra space for souvenirs, imagine it will be a trip with 2 cases again.

Depends, typically one 20kg case each for sun holidays that will last for 2 weeks without washing, I check all but my handbag, hate hand luggage. For motorcycle trips I have space for about 8-10kg clothes as the top box is need for waterproofs, tools, water bottles etc and the tank bag has our valuables. We wash every 4-5 days

1 20kg suitcase, 1 rucksack/similar, used as hand luggage and also as a daypack each. Being slightly larger, I can't easily buy clothes while away, so I need to ensure I'm fully prepared, and of course, larger clothes also take up more space in the first place. There's usually a little space in each case for souvenirs and lots of toiletries etc don't come back.

I don't see the big deal in doing laundry when away. Throw in the washing machine the night before, out and dry in the sun in about 30 minutes the next day if in a hot country.

Ok, it could be worse. It could be Tetley!!!

And I see you may have salvaged the situation with those lovely waffle things.

@EverybodyLTB

most the places I stay charge a lot for laundry and no way am i looking for a launderette. For travel by motorcycle i specifically book somewhere on the right days where I have access to a machine and have made arrangements with the hotel this year to use the staff laundry facility for no charge

We are taking one 20 kilo hold bag for two weeks for a family of four, plus a small cabin bag each. It’s tight but we can do it. Will buy a lot of our toiletries there. Well, that’s not true. I’ll buy their toiletries there. My specialist hair care products, perfumes and favourite cosmetics will be coming with me!

Oh please, let’s run away together….. with tiny bags! The non washing because it’s a holiday is genuinely perplexing to me 😂 still keen to hear how big the washing pile is for washing refusers, after a two week holiday for a family of 4 who change 3 times a day.

Yes, much much better than bringing a big laundry pile home!

They would not, unless you’d been paddling in dung. They’d just need a wash.

I no longer pack for more than a week because I hate having to put stuff away when I get home that I’ve not used.

Only if you have a washing machine in your accommodation and somewhere to dry it. Some countries have easy and cheap laundry (eg Thailand) but in others laundromats are rare and hotel laundry extortionate. Self service laundromats also require wasting time waiting.

I do mind just chucking everything in the washing machine when I get home.

When we went to Japan as 2 adults we took a ‘medium’ suitcase (it was pretty big in my eyes but sold as medium size) and a carry on between us. Plus small personal item size bag each. We packed an extra carry on hold all bag that folds up quite small and so we had that as extra luggage for things we bought on the way back.

We go on the type of holidays where we are moving round/sightseeing every couple of days so Canadian roadtrip with new hotel every 3 days, this year is Thailand for 2 weeks in 4 different places with trains/flights in between.

Our time is spent travelling, sightseeing, lots of hiking. I absolutely don’t have time for laundry and we stay in hotels for convenience to maximise our time sightseeing and because I hate air bnbs so no way am I paying hotel laundry prices. For example in Canada we might hike in the morning, spend the afternoon driving to our next destination with scenic stops, pull into hotel at 6pm. Swim in hotel pool + dinner. Next day off to explore National Park/hike all day, drop car back at hotel, freshen up, out for dinner in local town. NeXT day explore local town in morning, back into National Park in PM, pick up dinner on way back. Final morning, walk along beach, spend afternoon driving to next destination. Absolutely no time for laundry or clothes to dry. Any downtime we spending reading/journalling/organising photos. I’m shocked by how many people do laundry on holiday though I can see on a beach/villa holiday how there is plenty of time and it’s easy to dry stuff.

So an outfit per day + any specialist clothing for particular activities + a couple of nice dresses for meals out. The rule I have those is no more than 1 case per person because moving around with any more is an absolute faff! So a day rucksack with camera, guide book, waterbottle etc. clothes in one holdall with wheels that I must be able to carry myself.

Weight depends on the holiday type! For the Maldives and Dubai I was about 13kg because it was mainly swimwear, some coverups and some midi dresses for Dubai and I still overpacked.

2 week Canadian roadtrip followed by Alaskan cruise was tough due to the variety of stuff needed! I had everything from hiking boots and shorts for the warmer parts to chunky thermal trousers, knitwear and a proper coat for Alaska. Then it was a cruise so also needed a couple of formal dresses and my heels…. That was a challenge and I squeaked under BA’s 23kg!

Well, yeah, I filter out places with no washing machine. I'm not sure I have enough actual clothes to pack for a couple of weeks with no washing 😃

@EverybodyLTB

I normally have 5 piles:

underwear
dark
white
white-mixed/cream/beighe
red

That's sorted in 2 days. I don't like doing a load of washing unless the machine is full anyway or it's a special item which needs a different care/emergency wash.

Why should it be gross? Unless someone has a condition which means soiled clothing, everything is just sweat and a bit of dirt.

If we do a walking holiday we normally self-cater and then I only book with a washing machine as it normally means we have dirt/mud splattered trousers and sweaty tops which needs washing more often as I don't have an unlimited supply.

Do you really want to bring 2 weeks of dirty washing back with you? How many times do you wear things?

l take one overhead cabin bag. Each to their own but it works for me. I travel a lot for work and do the same then as well.

For that sort of trip, I'd take a medium hold case and a rucksack. I'd expect to have enough clothes to not have to do any washing or perhaps just rinse a couple of things.

I happily rewear things but don't go to the extreme of only taking 3 days of clothes and having to organise/do multiple loads of washing. Although if you're staying with family in their homes you can obviously use their washing machine.