A Week's Packing in Hand Luggage? Yes you Can!

how to pack light, summer packing in hand luggage    

Ever envied those savvy summer travellers who glide straight out of the airport door without the frustrating wait for the luggage carousel?

More and more travellers are restricting themselves to one small wheeled case that is just small enough to meet the criteria for ‘hand’ baggage and luggage manufacturers are now designing cases to fit the bill.  Permitted dimensions vary so ask your chosen airline for advice if you’re unsure.

So how do you achieve this ultra-compact packing?

Restrict Your Colour Palette

Firstly, to get away with the minimum of items to create maximum potential outfits, keep your colours complimentary.  Stick to a couple of key hues, or pick clothes from the same colour ‘group’ e.g.  browns with neutrals.  Then you’ll be able to mix and match everything you took with you. Add bright splashes of colour using jewellery, scarves, a brightly coloured handbag or shoes.  These take up much less room and offer much more style options and versatility than lots of different tops and bottoms. 

Choose Your Items Wisely

Lightweight clothes or accessories that can do more than one job are the capsule-packer’s best friend.  Here are some top performers:

‘Kaftan’ style summer dresses.  These can be worn with flat sandals as a cover up on the beach or with a belt, lots of jewellery and glitzy, strappy heels in the evening.  Choose polyester or polyester mixes as these dry easily, don’t wrinkle and can be rinsed through, hung over the bath to dry and worn again next day!
‘Multi’ way cargo pants or cropped trousers.  Trousers that have zip off sections or roll up sections that can be made into shorts offer great versatility.  Choose beige or khaki though rather than white if you don’t want to be washing them every day!

Glitzy thong sandals.  Choose the right ones and you can wear them on the beach by day and also out at night.  Or choose a plain pair for day time and jazz them up with ribbons, or a glitzy brooch for evening.



Sarongs.  Sarongs are the ultimate in versatility.  Wear as a cover up by day, wrap ‘halter’ style and wear with heels and jewellery as a short evening dress, double up and wear ‘boob tube’ or halter style as a top, or drape over your hips (David Beckham style) as a skirt. 
  




Tankini and/or Asymetric one-piece swimsuit.  These double up as swimming gear during the day and potentially glamorous tops by night.  For maximum flexibility, choose plain colours (that co-ordinate with your colour theme) and ones with glitzy details such as buckles.





Floaty chiffon tops or shirts.  These can be worn with shorts or as cover ups by day and with trousers or jeans and jewellery in the evenings.






Lightweight pashmina.  Much more versatile than jackets and draped casually around your shoulders a pashmini can be oh-so-glamorous.





Several plain t-shirts or strappy vests.  Great with shorts for daytime or – again – dressed up with trousers, a skirt (or sarong!) as well as jewellery and heels for the evening.