I like to pack light. Especially if you’re traveling in Europe, you need to be prepared to fly 17 hours and then carry your suitcase up 40 stairs, across cobblestones, or have a closet with precisely five hangers at best. I am not encouraging anyone to “overpack.” (But also, you do you, and if you are a fashionista, no judgment from my corner.)
However, I am also 53. My shoulders have seen better days. I am 5’4” and I am pretty sure that is a used to be thanks to a couple compression fractures. Hoisting a suitcase above my head and up plane stairs — yes, some European airports still board on the tarmac — even if it’s only 12 kg, was not on my list of “This will be so great” items.
I also wanted my Hask charcoal dry shampoo. I cannot find this in a travel size.
I had a lot of anxiety about this. Would my suitcase show up in Bulgaria? Would it be hard to go through immigration, get my bag, and recheck it? Did this make me a “bad” traveler? If you research travel enough on Instagram you will be pretty sure it does.
Let me help quell your fears.
💼 My bag did show up in Bulgaria.
Much less baggage gets lost now than it did years ago. The airline had its own tracking app, which I could have checked at any point had I been feeling nervous. I also had thrown a tracker in my bag.
💼 Bag rechecking is not hard.
It was nerve-wracking to go through customs, to baggage, get my bag, and recheck it in Munich. It was my first time ever doing this. Make sure your translation app (I like Google Translate) is ready just in case. In Munich, Airline A thought I should recheck with Airline B, and Airline B sent me back to Airline A.
It was so much easier in Houston on the way home. It wasn’t just the lack of a language barrier — I felt like a pro, even after doing it only once.
💼 This does not make you a bad traveler. It makes you an excellent traveler who knows when to value comfort.
Since your personal item won’t be resting on your suitcase anymore, make sure it’s comfortable to carry on your shoulder.
I definitely still encourage packing a carry-on size suitcase. There are multiple benefits to checking it:
✅Not worrying about different measurements across different airlines (especially switching from domestic to international).
✅ Being able to pack that favorite toiletry that cannot be decanted and does not come in travel size.
✅Not carrying your suitcase up slick stairs in fog to a plane on the tarmac in Munich.
✅ Not hefting the suitcase overhead three times on travel day or hoping you look like someone’s mom or grandmother and they feel compelled to do it.
So, place me on Team Check a Carry-On.
