Let’s face it, traveling can be a pain. Flying comes with it’s own unique set of headaches that would stress even the toughest globetrotters. How do you know that airfare deal you found is the best travel deal?  Simply click on the picture below to see all the various costs and rule for each airline at a glance.

Whenever possible I pack light and use carry on to avoid the hassles of checking bags and lost luggage. The new checked bag fees serve as additional incentive to pack light. There’s been a lot of anger about the airlines checked bag fees, and fees for paying the checked bag fees. Most airlines are charging an additional $15 for the first bag, $25 for the second and up to $125 for a third bag each way. If you’re traveling on a budget checked bag fees are one of the easiest fees to avoid.

There is a lot of great advice on how to pack light, some of the advice really fell short for my personal needs such as leaving behind your shampoo and conditioner. No way, no need. Here’s what I’ve learned from my travels:

It’s a lot easier than you might think. I’m a fairly frequent flier and found the smallest, lightest, most durable wheeled carry on I could find – 19 inches x 12 inches x 7 inches which will fit on board all but the smallest regional planes. It’s big enough (barely) for my 17 inch laptop which I can justify replacing with a much smaller version in about a year.

Liquids – While some people don’t mind using the hotel supplies, I refuse to leave behind my hair conditioner, body lotion, face cream(s) and cleansers. I use the smallest size travel bottles and fill them with my favorite potion. I’ve found you use a lot less than you think you do. I use the tiny jars for face cream, the 1 oz for facial cleanser, and 2 oz for shampoo, conditioner and body lotion. These sizes will last two weeks for me. All of this will fit in a quart size travel bag with room to spare for items such as a small bottle of contact fluid, travel size toothpaste, Neosporin, and sunscreen. To stretch your shampoo, use the hotel shampoo every other day or if you lather twice, use the hotel shampoo for the first lather.

Outfits – Layer. Wear a tshirt under long sleeve shirt or sweater and you can get away with just washing your tshirt. Wear as many layers as possible onto the plane. Carry your jacket or heavy sweater. Bring only two pairs of shoes, wear the bulkier pair on the plane….this works really well in summer, it’s a little tricky in winter if you are going from snow to beach, or harder still is beach to snow. Decide on one or at the most two color combinations. Navy and white is classic, or black, white and red work nicely as well. Keeping all the colors in one or two complimentary families will allow you to get away with two pairs of earrings, one pair of dressy sandals or shoes, and one scarf to change up your outfit.

We often stay in vacation rentals and generally they offer a washer/dryer in the house so it’s very easy to toss in a load of laundry allowing you to wear the same item of clothing several times. But what do you do if you don’t have the luxury of a washer/dryer? Check the hotel laundry rates, some are reasonable, some are just ridiculously high. If you don’t mind washing out your undergarments in the sink that’s the least expensive option, or head to the nearest Laundromat or drycleaners to get your clothes laundered pretty inexpensively. There are often drycleaners within walking distance of your hotel. If you plan in advance you can search for drycleaners that will pick up and deliver the clothes to your hotel.

Ten days, six flights, four climates.

Our travel plans included – Nashville, TN, a business conference in San Jose, CA, friends in San Anselmo, CA and hiking in Yosemite.

Start with a packing list:
2 skirts, 1 pair shorts, 1 pair khakis, 1 pair jeans, 3 tshirts, 1 sweater, 3 long sleeve shirts, one jacket, one lightweight fleece, one rain jacket, hat, toiletries, earrings, scarf, 17” laptop, cameras, sandals, sneakers, tea bags, vitamins, medication, 2 pairs socks, sleepwear, 4 undergarments, tide stain stick, cell phone and charger, extra batteries, sunglasses, camera charger, book, magazines, pens, snacks.

Fitting it all in:
Roll, bag and squeeze. Clothes take up much less room when you roll them. If you are really tight for space, roll, bag and squeeze out all the air using a vacuum cleaner or tool made to remove the air from bags. Most roller bags have spaces between the handle that can be filled with undergarments or other small items such as socks, tea bags (in baggies), medication or even power cords. Because my carryon is so small I roll just a few items at a time – my pants and shorts rolled together, my tshirts, my long sleeve shirts, my skirts, etc. I put the larger rolled items in first and then fit the smaller rolled items where they will fit and find a gap for my mouse, power cords, chargers, etc. I can fit everything except the book, magazines, rainjacket and fleece. These go into my backpack. With all the clothes wedged in, I put my laptop on top and zip her up. In the outer pockets I put my sandals and my plastic bag with my toiletries.

My personal item is a backpack – I replace my regular purse with a small, light but stylish over the shoulder purse from Thailand that is made from cloth and very elegantly embroidered. It’s large enough to fit my id, credit cards, blackberry, chapstick, cash and even a small camera. This of course goes into the backpack to go through security keeping my carryon to one bag plus one personal item.
The backpack holds everything that won’t fit into the wheeled bag – 2 magazines, one book (American Lion), rainjacket, pens, camera, snacks. Once through security it holds two water bottles as well.
I wear on the plane – jeans, tshirt, longsleeve shirt, sweater and carry my jacket. I wear my hiking sneakers and a pair of socks.

Living in the northeast everywhere feels pretty hot in the summer months. Our first stop was Nashville, TN where it’s often 90s even in June. After deplaning we change our sneakers and socks for sandals and remove layers. Everything fits into the backpack and or wheeled bag. You can manage four days with two skirts and three tshirts, on this trip the weather turned out to be a perfect 75 and sunny with the mornings quite cool so I also wore my khakis and long sleeved shirt. Everything went into the wash the morning we left.

San Jose was the unconference on community building so it was fairly casual. Generally conferences are pretty chilly with A/C blasting and this one was no exception. Wearing khakis, a tshirt, long sleeved shirt and a sweater kept me comfortable. We stayed in a vacation rental and once again did laundry before we left.

We visited with our dear friends in San Anselmo and headed to Yosemite the next day for three days of hiking and taking in the gorgeous sites. Yosemite is cold and rugged, there was still snow on the high peaks but once we got moving we warmed up. Dressing in layers not only cut back on laundry requirements but also helped us to stay warm. Even though our packing list was pretty short, we still managed to dress nicely enough for dinner in the Ahwahnee lodge where we were lucky enough to get last minute reservations.

Coming back from Yosemite we spent a final night in San Francisco for dinner with friends before coming back to NY with a bag full of dirty clothes, a camera full of great shots and wonderful memories.

Best of all was breezing by the baggage claim to the parking garage and home within 30 minutes of touchdown.