The Carry-On Traveller: The Ultimate Guide to Packing Light

by Erin McNeaney

Have you ever struggled with packing for a trip? You can’t decide what you’ll need, so you pack for every scenario and take far too much. You struggle to fit everything in your bag, you get stressed lugging it around, and you pay a fortune in airline luggage fees.

The Carry-On Traveller will teach you not only how to lighten your load, but how to pack everything you need into a single carry-on-size bag. You can apply these strategies to any trip, whether you are travelling for a week or a year, to hot or cold climates, alone or with kids.

By travelling carry-on only, you’ll save time at airports, avoid wasting money on checked luggage fees (which are increasingly common), and reduce the stress of hauling bulky bags.

It’s not an all or nothing approach. Packing light is a learning process, and you might want to take it gradually. Even if you don’t travel carry-on only on your next trip, this book will help you pack lighter.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

225 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 27, 2016

About the author

Erin McNeaney sold everything she owned and left the UK in 2010 to travel the world with her partner, Simon. Since then she has travelled to over 30 countries with just a carry-on backpack—her book, "The Carry-On Traveller", shares her tips for packing light.

Erin runs the popular travel blog, Never Ending Voyage, where she writes about slow travel, hunting down the best vegetarian eats, and the ups and downs of digital nomad life.

Reviews

[Evie]

What a great book about packing light! Helped me pack for my trip to Ireland. Since we’ll be there for a month, I was overwhelmed; but not to fear with Erin’s help. Her blog is also amazing!

[Negin]

I used to be a terrible traveller, carrying far too much stuff. Then three summers ago, we took a trip to Europe and I was forced to travel light. I have since traveled as light as possible, but I thought that I would read this for further motivation, encouragement, and to hopefully get some extra tips. This book is a quick and easy read.

I highlighted some of the tips that I thought to be helpful, but ignored a few others. I will continue to check in my carry-on bag. I don’t mind paying extra when needed. It’s less of a headache. I don’t need to get on the plane and put stuff on the usually crowded overhead bin. I also don’t need to worry about the liquids rule. I like to walk on a plane feeling as light and free as possible. So far, I have never lost a piece of luggage. Once, our luggage arrived a day late and the airline delivered it to us.

Here are some of my favorite tips and reminders:

“I scan our passports and email them to myself so we always have a digital copy. You could also take a photo of your passport and keep it on your phone for easy access.”

I’m now looking forward to start use packing cubes. I hadn’t put much thought into them until I read this book. Reading this book motivated me to watch a bunch of You Tube videos on packing minimally and efficiently.

“You could have one large cube for your clothes, a small cube for underwear, and another for your electronic accessories—chargers, cables, etc. You know exactly where each item is kept, and when you need it, you just take out the appropriate cube.”

“… it doesn’t matter which bags or cubes you decide on—you could even use simple zip-lock bags—but make sure you do have an organisational system. It’ll create more space in your luggage and make packing and finding items so much easier.”

[Barbara]

A useful book whose advice I have thus far completely failed to follow.

[Romany]

Sensible.

Sensible advice that was well-written and applicable for many kinds of trips. Or perhaps just to facilitate daydreaming about many kinds of trips.

[Didi]

I travel a lot and had already figured out much of her advice. But it was still useful to read the thoughts of someone's who's really thought this through and broken it down into parts.
Some of the advice, I already knew.
Some was things I already do or mostly do, but had not articulated so clearly to myself before.
And there were some new ideas that seemed good.
She also has a lot of good recommendations for products.
The writing was clear and easy to follow.
I now feel very motivated to try to travel with only a carry one.

[Cindy Dyson Eitelman]

and backpacker and bicycler and homeless adventurer, and everything elser...this book makes you think. Made me think, anyway--deep questions---

1. I have never ever read more than two books on a trip--why do I insist on having two backups in case the Kindle dies?
2. Wouldn't it be nice to have lightweight, quick-drying teeshirts and shorts instead of the mangy old cotton ones I always pack?
3. Why do I take cowboy boots for dress-up instead of tiny, packable sandals?

As you see, this is a thought-provoking book. But seriously, consider this: the big, boxy suitcases with swiveling wheels work great in airports...but what about outside the airport? You can't hop on a bus or walk ten blocks to your hotel, that's for sure. And you better make sure the friends you enlist to pick you up don't have an ultracompact car.

Before my next trip, even if I do stick with my 45-pound behemoth, I'm doing this:

- Look for a set of compression cubes
- Limit to three pairs of shoes: one general-purpose walking, one running, one ballet slippers. Plus flipflops because I can't live without my flipflops.
- One backup book (paperback) but load a couple of audiobooks on the Ipod
- Take photocopy and scanned copy of passport

The idea that you can get everything you need for an extended vacation into a carry-on backpack is intriguing, and this book shows you how to make that happen. Not just vacation, either--some of the accounts at the end are from people who work on the road. They pack their entire office into a carry-on.

I feel like an under-performer.

[Andra Legge]

A lot of the packing tips I had already figured out on my own, but what really came in handy were the pack/item suggestions. These gave me a starting place when I decided to move from a rolling carry-on suitcase to a back pack, as well as gave me some ideas for products I hadn't heard of before, such as bar shampoos and solid sunscreens. It also had some handy tips for multi-climate packing that I hadn't thought of, which were useful when planning a trip in October through multiple temp changes. The book doesn't have anything you wouldn't eventually learn through trial and error, and in fact points out that some of the choices can only be made through personal experimentation, but it does give a good jumping off point for those experiments.

[Cubbert]

Interesting read

I liked this book. I am very interested in travelling, and am a lifestyle minimalist. I found the insights and tips in the book helpful, but wish it spent more time on recommendations for men. It can hardly be called the ultimate guide with so much attention spent on fashion and makeup type things for women and not as many tips for women. Men have a hard time packing too, you know.

[shannon Stubbs]

Pretty informative

I always try to get ideas on how to pack for family vacations. I got a few ideas from this book. Usually I can get four peoples stuff for a week in one suitcase and a back pack. Maybe next time just one suitcase. I plan on trying some of the new tips on our next vacation. Especially more underwear and less pants and shirts. Makes sense. Also hang your clothes up to air out. I usually buy soap and toothpaste where we go so I don't have a mess in my bag.

[Doni Weber]

This is such a helpful book. I've traveled a good deal (Europe, Africa, Central America), but I am a TERRIBLE packer. I always drag a ton of stuff I never use. After reading Erin's book, I am determined to go carry-on only on my March trip to Italy, and I'm convinced it's totally doable. I'm sure I'll return to this book as a resource when packing time comes.

[Kristan Anderson]

Even though I already feel like I travel light, I got some really good ideas on what to pack for longer travel. I was happy with the format, I liked that there was info for both women and men as I was able to give some info to my boyfriend as well.

[Howard]

practical and well written

Being a seasoned traveler, it’s always good to see what others are carrying.
I got a couple of tips that I hadn’t known.
It was also fun reading through it.

[Janet]

Some useful info but much of it is fairly well known among regular travelers. Links to web resources are the best part of the book.

[Nemil]

Quite a lot of good tips covering quite a few areas of travel. One gripe I have though is that this is more meant for backpackers rather than business travelers.

[Christopher Gordon]

The information in the book is good if a little dated. The key is to take the spirit of the book and it’s advice and modernize it a little in your own packing.

[Kelly-anne]

Makes a good case for travelling light

Interesting book. Lots of useful tips and great recommendations. I liked the interviews with the other carry on travelers as well.

[Oliver]

Good advice on how to pack less stuff. None of the links work

[LAURA S. HERTZOG]

So practical and helpful. A great resource.

[Hope Vollm]

Some practical tips and some not so practical tips.

[Behan Gifford]

I love this guide! I'm a seasoned traveler and thought I knew a few things... but found myself taking a lot of notes on tips and brands to make my family's life easier (we're full-time travelers, and have been for 8 years). This book is a valuable primer from a traveler with deep experience, whether you’re planning a holiday week or a longer term lifestyle. Even if your goal isn't to get down to a single carry-on bag, Erin has great guidance for other traveler essentials like managing your finances, choosing electronics, connecting your phone in a new country, and international insurance.

[Jay]

I like how this book is filled with lots of good ideas -- and I like how McNeaney writes in such a way that they’re suggestions, rather than edicts she demands you follow to travel the same way she does. In addition, I admire how she gives other travelers a voice with their recommendations alongside her own, showing there’s more than one way to travel.

This book directed me to a new backpack and travel pants. Both have welcome upgrades to what I'd been using earlier. And the pants are so smart and comfortable that I often wear them to work and no one notices I'm wearing travel clothes.

[MF]

A number of years ago, I went on an around Europe voyage by bicycle, making the fatal mistake of bringing everything along bar the kitchen sink. Had I read this handy guide I would have saved on several kilos of weight and had a much happier time of it. I love the lucid, no nonsense style of the author. This has got years of collective wisdom squeezed into a very readable, compact guide. This book will save you the cost of the book many times over so worth getting.

[Alison Byrne]

I liked the simplicity of this book, a great starting point for someone who needs to be converted to the joys of small bag packing. As someone already there, most of the book's ideas I already follow but I still picked up a few new ideas.

From an Australian reader's view, most of the travel products recommended were UK/US centric and would only be available online and $$$ with conversion and shipping costs.

[D]

Excellent, well written book

My husband and I traveled with one check in bag for a year then switched to carry on for two years of constant travel. Our wheeled carry on suitcases weighed less than 25 pounds but after reading this excellent, well written book I could probably pack even lighter.

[Philip Hollenback]

Nothing too earthshaking here, but lots of good practical tips on how to travel with just one carryon bag. In particular, I've found the idea of using packing cubes to be very useful.

[Stephanie]

Absolutely nothing new here. Some useful links to useful sounding products though, if you happen to need new travel stuff.

[Cindy]

Packing Light!!

This is an awesome book that will change the way you pack for travel. Armed with the suggestions in this book and supplemental YouTube videos, I'm getting ready for a two week trip abroad using only a carry on bag. I'm very excited to be pairing down and will update this post on my return.

[Francine Gagne]

Helpful information!

Down to earth practical advice. Different perspectives included. Pros and cons given for various choices. Web links provided for further information.