Updated February 3  /  Marisol Ferrante

Carry-on only

Four to six nights. One 40-litre bag, one small under-seat bag. Assumes you can do a sink wash once.

This is the list I have rewritten more than any other. The current version is the eleventh. Everything that survives eleven rewrites earned its place, and I have stopped apologising for the shower cap.

Wear on the plane

• The heaviest shoes you are bringingNot necessarily boots. Just whichever pair is heaviest.
• Jacket with two zip pocketsOne for the phone, one for the passport. Nothing else goes in them.
• Trousers you can sleep in without hating yourself

Clothes in the bag

• Three t-shirts or equivalentFour if the trip is six nights and there is no sink.
• One long-sleeve layer
• One overshirt or light knitThis is the item that makes photos look like you packed properly.
• Two bottoms including the pair worn
• Underwear x nights, minus oneThe minus one is the sink wash. Do it on night three, not night five.
• Socks x nights, minus one
• Sleep set that is not the plane trousers
• One dressier itemOne. Not a spare. If two events need two outfits, this is not a carry-on trip.
• Swimwear if there is any chance of waterDries overnight, weighs nothing, and you will be annoyed without it.

The wet bag

• Solid shampoo bar in a tinNot liquid, not because of the security limit, because of the leak.
• Toothbrush, paste under 100ml
• Deodorant, stick not spray
• Any prescription in its labelled boxIn the under-seat bag, never in the overhead.
• Painkillers, plasters, rehydration sachetsThree sachets. They weigh nothing and one bad meal ruins a day.
• Sunscreen, smallBuying it on arrival costs four times as much at every beach on earth.
• Nail clippersAllowed in cabin bags in most places. Check your departure airport, not your destination.

Under the seat

• Passport and one printed copySee the documents list for the rest.
• Phone, cable, plug adapterOne adapter with two ports beats two adapters.
• Battery pack, charged the night beforeCharged. Not "mostly charged".
• Headphones and the wired backup
• Refillable bottle, empty
• Snack that is not sweetNuts, crackers, cheese. Everything sold airside after 9pm is sugar.
• PenFor the landing card that half the internet insists no longer exists.
• Foldable toteBecomes the laundry bag on day three and the market bag on day four.

Odd ones that stay

• Shower capGoes over the soles of the dirty shoes. Sent in by a reader; I was wrong to doubt it.
• Two safety pins
• A metre of gaffer tape wound round the battery packHas fixed a suitcase zip, a shoe, and a hostel curtain.
• One carabiner

---

Next: shoulder season, which is this list plus one argument about layers.