Summer Travel- How We Love to Pack Light

Summer time often leads to summer travel. Whether it’s a road trip, traveling to a family reunion or a long-awaited trip to Europe, Dave and I have learned through the years the art of packing light. We don’t want to be encumbered with a lot of “stuff,” so we make what we pack count. Our goal is to never check a bag.

Maybe there are a lot of people with this philosophy, are you one of them? Or maybe you are pleased as punch to just bring whatever you want on a trip, and I respect that too. For me, the no-bag-check was just kind of engrained in us growing up. I mean, my parents would do their “around the world” book tours and be gone for weeks in different climates and only have one small carry-on with them the whole time. Dave joined the unwritten Eyre no-checked-bag policy lickety-split when we got married.

Which leads me to this question from a blog reader:

I’d love to hear your travel tips to Europe or packing and what to bring to make sure you can get around easily and use the least amount of luggage for a family of girls.

I love questions like this, because I’ll admit I am kind of proud of our summer travel light packing when we went to Europe with all four of our girls when Max was on his mission.

Oh we missed that missionary of ours fiercely, but it was a pretty magical trip. Here’s a video of the Paris part Grace put together:

Ok, and now I’m crying because I just watched this Switzerland one too:

Oh how I miss those laughs and that excitement…in the London video too, especially Lucy at the beginning. Where did that little girl go?? Sure, everyone is still so excited, but there’s a different kind of excitement in the glittering eyes of children I tell you. I miss them.

I’m really getting off topic here.

What I want to talk about is what we brought with us on that trip.

What we brought to Europe for two weeks

• Four small carry-ons for all six of us.
• Everyone got a backpack.

When I say small carry-ons, that one behind the others in this picture below was actually smaller than a backpack.

And guess what? We were just fine without extra stuff.

The unencumbered life is pretty joyful I have to say:

There’s no way we could have made it in this tiny European car with any more than what we had:

Let’s get a better look inside:

The truth is, you just don’t need that much!

We have had the chance to travel light all over the world. This one was en route to one of my most special “Thin Places“:

I can’t talk about it very much or I’ll cry again. It was one of our last trips with everyone still at home under the same roof. Before all these kids had to grow up to be adults.

San Francisco to visit my sister who lived there:

Banff with our Wellesley girl:

Not sure why those examples are the ones that came up from all the places we’ve traveled over the years, but you name the place, we like to travel there as lightly as possible.

tried and true tips to packing light for summer travel

Choose neutral clothing.

Keep colors neutral. Think white, gray, black, brown. This way you won’t get sick of what you have and it won’t date horribly in pictures when you look back some day. Also, neutral goes with neutral so you can mix and match lots of different outfits with a few pairs of pants and a few shirts.

Yes, keep things neutral, but I like to pack one or two more colorful things just to keep it fun.

Chose Hotels or Airbnbs with washing machines if possible.

Knowing a washer and dryer is coming up along your stay is a game-changer. So nice to get things washed mid-trip and feel so refreshed!

Master utilizing the bathroom sink to wash clothes.

I wash clothes (especially underclothes) in the sink when needed. Light things will dry so quick overnight, especially if you use my handy-dandy wringing out method. You just wring as much as you can, then lay out the item of clothing on a towel on the floor. Roll up that towel and put firm pressure on it (I step on it all over). Take it out and voila: barely damp.

Hang it up overnight and it will be dry in the morning. Well, except for in really humid places. But in really humid places whatever you washed will feel damp anyway, so your’e all set.

Limit shoes.

Shoes are big culprits for taking up all the room. And really, I’ve found that all we need on trips is one or two pairs of shoes. One pair of comfy walking/exercise shoes and one pair of sandals. If you’re going to a cold climate, maybe stick in an extra shoe that doesn’t take up much room. Because I’ve learned from experience that you shouldn’t ever paint yourself into a corner with only one pair of shoes. Tip: these ones can squish well into a suitcase.

Wear your bulkier clothes.

Jeans or sweatshirts are bulky and take up lots of precious carry-on room. I always wear my sweatshirt around my waist. It helps save luggage space and I like to have easy access on a freezing airplane.

Choose a good backpack.

Your backpack is your key for holding any extras. I usually put my make-up and any toiletries in my backpack because I have extra room in there. I’ve loved this one from Calpak. It is super roomy and can double as a suitcase for no-carry-on flights like Allegiant and Frontier.

Get a good roller bag.

Having a great roller carry-on bag is a game changer for fitting in lots of stuff. Over the years Dave has outfitted the kids on birthdays or Christmas with Away travel suitcases. They are pretty awesome and come with a warrantee if anything breaks or has problems. We’ve used that deal a few times. But of course, there are great knock-offs on Amazon as well.

Two things we don’t leave home without:

Cards

This isn’t really a tip for light packing, but wanted to include it. Because a pack of cards doesn’t take up a lot of room. But it is an essential travel companion in our family.

Books

Books don’t save luggage room, that’s for sure. But man alive, travel is the BEST place to delve into reading. Long car, airplane, or yes, boat rides are the best places for kids (and you!) to dive into a good book. Audible saves Lucy and I on trips, and doesn’t take any extra room. But sometimes it’s just so good to have an actual book to read separately or together with your “captive audience.”

If you need young adult book ideas, I’ve got you covered!

Ok, and with that, there you go! Some tips for packing light for summer travel.

Happy trails!

Other posts you may like

• How to Make Family Travel Work
• An “In the Arena” Podcast all About How to Travel with Your Family
• Travel that Creates the Best Kind of Family Bonding
• Travel and Getting Out of Personal Ruts