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 ?

You can’t imagine you going on a holiday that needs a 20kg case, or anybody doing it?

We travel independently, if that’s what arranging everything separately means, and easily take 20kg each, plus hand luggage and usually a laptop. My husband’s camera gear takes up virtually all his hand luggage allowance. Plus, if you add in snorkelling gear, maybe a bit of camping gear, gifts for friends, a couple of long evening dresses, day to day shorts, skirts and dresses, a couple of pairs of shoes etc. It soon adds up. We also buy and often get given stuff when we are away, so the cases are usually heavier on the way back.

Maybe not what you need to take, but it’s what we need to take.

The "stuff a pair of pants and bikini on your pocket" packers should have seen DH when I dropped DH off last week.

I could barely lift his backpack... and he had a smaller one as well. But it contained a tent, food, camping chair, sleeping bag etc, clothes for a week (no washing machines in fields!) Toiletries... everything.

@reluctantbrit I never heard of a laundry room in a hotel.

They do exist. The last hotel I stayed in even had a washer and tumble dryer in the room.

@330ml why do you need long evening dresses on holiday? What sort of things are you doing? They aren't required at La Scala nowadays - and that has been a "holiday" treat for us. Perhaps you are accompanying Royal tours?

Maybe it’s not about need but choice?

Evidently not everywhere is as progressive as La Scala (I had to Google what it was. Not my thing at all) and I like dressing up. Turning up in flip flops and a bikini I have been wearing for a month really isn’t an option.

3 pairs of trousers, 5 tops, 1 dress, 1 lightweight fleece if necessary, I swimming costume, walking sandals and trainers or walking boots (I wear one of these to travel in), 3 bras, 7 pairs of knickers, 7 pairs of socks. Toiletries, Kindle, cables, adaptors.

If it’s going to be cold, I add a jacket, hat, gloves and lightweight overtrousers.

It all goes in my rucksack, and weighs between 8 and 12 kgs. I carry a day pack too, which has a book, spare undies, phone, paperwork etc.

i pack the same if it’s for a week or 6 months.
If it’s a short break, I take a bit less, but don’t do laundry.

For 3 weeks somewhere with variable weather conditions I'd want 2 cases just for me. I like to have familiar clothes and be prepared is case I got cold and not have to stress about doing laundry.
However a beach holiday with reliable hot weather, I could go with carry on luggage.

Turning up where though? Wouldn't you look a bit of a wally in a long evening dress at a local restaurant/taverna, even a smart hotel restaurant?

But not at a yacht club annual dinner. For example.

The next day I could be wearing short shorts and crop top all day, or nothing at all. Who knows. Not everybody’s holidays follow a rigid set of rules.

I've just read the thread properly. People put underwear into the hotel laundry? I was brought up never to do that.

Do you mean the pay by item laundry or the laundry room available?

DH went to work in Japan for 6 weeks in the winter. He took one largish medium suitcase. He took bath and hand towel because they weren't provided at the self catering accommodation. His cabin bag was a fairly big backpack. He ended up buying a cabin sized suitcase because he needed one for weekend and work trips away while there. He's not one for packing suits in a backpack. When I visited I took handbag, backpack and 55cm/large cabin suitcase.

As a family our longest recent hols have been UK and by train. Trains are a bit hopeless even with tallish medium suitcases. We can easily do a fortnight with a rucksack and 55cm suitcase each. Substituting body boards bag for one ruck sack and also transporting the beach shelter tent has been done by train London to Cornwall.

Hotel laundry service, not a self service machine.

It's not hard to imagine. A week at a beach resort for me will mean packing 2-3 pairs of sandals, 3-4 bikinis/swimsuits, 5 day dresses/kaftans, 5 dresses for the evening, a cardigan, a hat, 5 books, shampoo, conditioner (the hotel provides it but I like my own!), styling products, make up and make up remover, skincare, sleep headphones. DH and the kids take 4-5 pairs of shorts, 10 t-shirts/shirts, 3-4 pairs trunks/swimsuits, hats, books, medication, inflatables, sliders. And then we all take a couple of pairs of pjs/sleep tees and probably 10 pairs of underwear. They'll take socks as well, I'll take a couple of bras. I think that's about it, but it adds up to two cases each weighing 20kgs, or three lighter ones in my previous experience.

Of course some people hate the idea of that kind of holiday and some people would pack much lighter for it. But I like to wear different things day and night, I like everything clean and fresh on, I like to read physical books - and I read a lot on holiday! - I want to spend a week relaxing by the pool or sea with everything I want on hand.

If I was backpacking for three months, I'd do things very differently. I have! But it's easy enough to imagine packing differently and taking different types of holiday.

I wouldn't use hotel wash service but if I were staying in a hotel with no laundry would wash my pants in Travel Wash if I knew it was going to be a while before I had laundry access.

I just use the shampoo in the hotel bathroom. Once you have clean underwear it's all good. Matter of fact I buy cheap n cheerful knickers for hols and leave them behind me. Well I put them in the rubbish bin I should say!

With a long summer dress on a warm day, l often don’t wear any (unless I’m on a period), but don’t tell anyone will you? 😉

Hope you're never caught by a gust of wind a la Marylin Monroe! 😊

Nope! I don’t do cartwheels either, but l do like an air conditioned under carriage on a summer’s day. It’s not a winter spirt though 😀.

I don’t usually bother with a long dress either. Winter or summer. I don’t like VPL.

We are a family of over packers so 1 suitcase each, generally around 25-30kg. I love clothes.

Children, too, a suitcase each.