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One of the biggest problems most people ignore when traveling, is the amount of baggage we take with us. For our recent trip to Florida, I bought a new pilot case with an extendable handle, lots of pockets and at well below the maximum size allowed for carry on luggage by the majority of airlines. Although many cases are sold as “carry on” luggage, many of the ones I looked at had larger internal dimensions than the maximum external dimensions stipulated by those very airlines. The limit is usually 45″ or less when adding the length, width and height each at their widest point, and where American airlines have always been very liberal about enforcing those limits, European airlines (and British airlines in particular) tend to be total carry-on luggage nazis. I have been asked to cram all my carry on luggage into the measuring template at check in on two occasions, and it took a lot of squashing to get it in!!

Needless to say, an experience I don’t want to repeat… heaven forbid that I might overfill my carry on bag, and be forced to check it and have it hurled out of the back of a plane onto a moving conveyer because I can’t quite cram it into the measuring template. Consequently I chose a sturdy case by Swiss Gear, that is less than 40″ of linear size with recessed wheels and handle. I was hoping to fit everything I needed to take with me either into that one case, a small bum-bag (that’s a fanny-pack if you’re reading this in America), or the (many) pockets of my bike jacket. And I almost made it too, except for a pair of training shoes that had to go in one of our checked bags, and my motorcycle helmet.

This time, I’ve left my helmet in Orlando, and plan to manage without my bulky armoured bike jacket and hulking bike boots (neither of which I used on the last trip) so that I can transport my training shoes on my feet. The trick is in picking what to take very carefully, and packing it all very cleverly. Here’s what I can squeeze into the case, by tightly rolling everything:

• 1 compact waterproof rain-mac
• 4 T-Shirts
• 1 Shirt
• 1 pair of board shorts
• 1 pair of light-weight “zip-off” trousers
• 1 pair of tae kwon-do trousers
• 5 sets of underwear and socks
• Laptop in Neoprene slip-case
• External backup drive
• Cables, Chargers and Adaptors etc
• Collapsible overnight roll-bag

the bum-bag, which counts as my “small personal item”:

• Contact Lenses & Fluids
• Prescription Glasses & case
• Minimal toiletries as stipulated
• Moleskine
• Keys
• Phone
• 2 Reading Books

and worn or carried for the flight:

• Passport & Tickets
• Drivers Licence
• Cash & Cards
• iPod & headphones
• Underwear and socks
• Denim Jeans
• T-Shirt
• Shirt
• Sweater
• Training shoes
• Cap
• Sunglasses

I’m certainly wearing too much for a comfortable flight, but I’ve chosen to wear all the clothing that otherwise takes up a lot of packing space, and a rolled up sweater makes for a much better pillow than the tiny square cushion the airline gives you. And as soon as I get off the plane, I can take off the extra layers and stow them in the overnight bag to hook over the handle of my pilot case for easy transport.

Anything that I might want to access during the flight is in the bum-bag, which I can stow under the seat in front during takeoff and landing. Anything that security might want to examine goes in this bag too: contact lense fluids, and allowable toiletries etc, so that I can avoid having to repack the main case.

And absolutely everything else is in the pilot case, which means that I have no checked luggage and avoid the additional wait at the carousel, having to collect and re-check luggage on inbound flights to America, worrying about lost or damaged cases or contents, and having to use a trolley to transport everything across the airport. Life really is hugely more straight-forward with no checked luggage to worry about.

When we leave England again, we’ll be traveling through and spending time in several countries before we get back to Blightly, but I’ve been careful to take enough clothes to last for a week without a visit to the laundry at a push.

Now, if I can just persuade Octavia to do the same…