Hotel's professional laundry would never ruin my clothes!

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...397d9dfb72.png

Bad: I call them at 8AM for an express laundry (4 hour). They pick my laundry up at 9:20AM and tell me that I missed the cut off.
Worse: I told them I wanted my clothes back if they were going to take 8 hours.. nope too late.
Worst: They ruined my dress

For decades, just travel w. carryons - both of us
 

We often wind up checking a bag or two coming back with purchases when overseas.

Decades ago our airline temporarily misplaced our bags. Since then, we always gone carry-on only regardless of time involved. Was quite the learning curve at first, but quickly became second nature. We've had some great times meeting people in local launderettes. Plus, we've been able to make last minute standby flights because we had no checked luggage.

EXACTLY what size carry on do you use? The international carriers seem to be really coming down hard on measurements. I would like to know what size bag you use. What we used to use as a carry on is no longer allowed on Air New Zealand.

Hello,
I have just returned from a 5 week trip in Sicily and Milan. Most of the clothing points I used have been covered, but did I miss shoes? That is always my downfall and this trio I finally managed with sneakers ( worn on flight) and 1 Birkenstock slip on silver sandals. For a working trip you would have your work shoes too. I always have a very light pair of washable cloth ballerinas that I wear on the flight. These are packed in a soft black nylon bag and they are so useful when I remove my sneakers and pt them away in the overhead bin.
Also, I did not take a hand bag this time, but a small pouchon with a phone, credit cards and some bills. This allowed me to take my Tumi carry on with the soft nylon TUMI carry bag which slides on to the handles. I packed my Pouchon, laptop, phone, chargers in a small ziplock, kindle, toiletries, airplane slippers and a warm/ light cashmere shawl in this bag.
We ( my husband and I ) always pack an extra bag which folds into nothing because we usually check in on the return since we have shopped and the clothes seems to expand on the return!
I found I had too many dresses and clothes so actually I used 1/2of what was in my small carry on. Below id what I used. I actually packed 30% more, but didn't use them.
Bras-3
Undies-4
Swimsuit-1
Sarong-1
Dresses-3
Linen-1
Slip on jersey-1
Evening sundress-1
Cashmere shawl light 1-
Light windcheater-1
Exercise tights-1
T shirt-1
Capris-1
Linen trousers-1
Shirts/ Blouses/ camisoles-3
evening-2
daytime-2
Jewelry
Pearl chandeliers-1 wear with all whites
Coral ear rings/ necklace and bracelet- wear with all coral and reds
I tend to pick a color scheme so I can accessorize easily, and this time it was coral and white.
All the items washed and dried easily except the capris, but we were blessed with sunshine and breezes everyday so I washed every 3 days. This was probably the reason that I didn't use all the clothes I took.

On my later lag of the trip, Qantas really clamped me down on 7kg weight limit. So I had to wear & move 6kg of shoes/clothes/others to my purse. :mad:

:td:

The one downside of carry-on only travel is that each piece of clothing is essential to your wardrobe. Having a single piece ruined can throw things off and sometimes getting a replacement on the road can be difficult. Most of my work wardrobe packing decisions are based on 1) reliability of hotel laundry and 2) humidity of the local area to see if sink laundry will dry in the time I need it to. For example, Myanmar and Bangkok are humid enough that my sink laundry won't dry quickly enough so I pack those boring button downs that can be sent out to be laundered and pressed. Plus, it's fabric and styles they are used to laundering so results are within the expected range.

Good points!
 

I agree with everything tcl said.

You'd think a Westin would be good with this!

Air NZ had no problems with my Caribee Skymaster 40 last year. It weighs 1.2 Kg, squashes into all the sizers I have used it in the past 6 years and had no problems coping in CDG or LHR, with three weeks in NZ in April or 5 weeks 4 continents in July (or even a fortnight in Tassie in August - brrr). The straps make it comfortable to carry in backpack mode, too.

The real key to one bag travel is the choice of fabric. For me, it's supplex, fine merino, nylon mesh, microfibre (and cotton gauze ONLY if I will be in a very hot and humid clime). All fabrics must be light weight /area, wash in a sink and dry overnight and be minimal crease. Layers are my friend in cooler/uncertain weather. Multitasking is vital.

My wife and I are packing for our three week around the world honeymoon with 2 carry-ons, and your list have been really helpful to us! Both of us tend to hopelessly over-pack so often, so we need to really explicitly decide who's bringing what. Our bra sizes are off by a cup size so we can't share :o, I am 5'10 and she's 5'2 so we can't share jeans either :o but thankfully we can share some tops, sweaters, and shorts :D

What's not helpful is our itinerary of Israel, Australia, China, Korea and Japan... since we have to pack for 100F weather and 10F weather.