If you’ve ever wanted to embrace the freedom of traveling carry-on only but felt it wasn’t feasible, I have a solution that worked for me!
After a frustrating experience losing all of our checked luggage on an international flight, my husband and I decided we didn’t want to go through that again. We were determined to pack lighter and stick to carry-ons for our future trips. But our next adventure presented a major challenge: a 16-day, 7-city journey through Italy. Could I really fit everything I needed into just a carry-on and a personal item?
I gave it my best shot, carefully packing and managing to squeeze all my essentials into a carry-on suitcase, with my backpack holding a few transit must-haves. Success! Or so I thought. One big question remained: where would I put souvenirs and other purchases? There was no space left.
I do not earn a commission if you purchase this bag. I am writing this article based on personal experience, hoping this hack helps you as much as it did me!
The Simple Solution That Made it Happen
I found an answer that worked perfectly—a foldable duffle bag! This compact bag fits easily into my carry-on, allowing us to travel light on the way to Italy without worrying about lost luggage or waiting at baggage claim. On the way home, we had the option to use the duffle to check our extra items. If it was delayed or lost on the way home, it wouldn’t impact our trip. Bonus: it doubled as a laundry bag, keeping the dirty and not so neatly folded items separate for extra organization in our carry-ons.
To give you an idea of what this looks like in practice, I’ll share more about the specific bag I used, which I purchased on Amazon. While I don’t earn commissions from it, I highly recommend it based on my experience, and I’ll explain why it worked so well for us.
WANDF For Spirit Airlines Personal Item Bag 18x14x8 Foldable Travel Duffel Carry on Weekender Overnight for Women Men
This bag has the following features:
- Folded, it measures 7 X 7.5 X 1.5 in
- Full, it measures 18 X 8 X 14 in
- Carried by the strap, the handles, or the slot that fits over your luggage handle
- At the time of this writing, the bag is $19.99 on Amazon
If you are more visual than numerical based like me, here are some photos to show you the size of this bag, both folded and full. The filled bag is easily holding my King Sized Duvet in this photo:
Benefits of using a foldable duffle bag like this to travel lighter
- This bag folds up so small, taking barely any room in your other travel bag. It even has a loop you could use to clip onto the outside of other bags
- The fabric is water-resistant and tear-resistant so you can count on durability
- When unfolded, there is a large capacity (40 L for this specific bag), essentially giving you another suitcase
Things to watch out for with a bag like this
- The bag doesn’t have rigid sides or any protection for fragile items, so it is better used for things like clothes, blankets, jackets, and durable or soft items
Packing It Up
Traveling carry-on only is absolutely doable, even for longer trips. Using a foldable duffle bag on the travel-out leg, utilizing it as a dirty laundry bag (or just all-purpose), and then checking it on the way home has been an absolute game-changer for my family.
What do you think?
