One Small Carryon Only - Success!

In July I went to Las Vegas for four days with friends, and two of us decided to see if we could make it without checking any bags. We both had the smaller carryon bags, with all of our stuff (other than purses) packed snugly inside.


A bit of careful planning and ignoring the impulse to carry "just in case" items made it work. I actually took 3 pairs of Bermuda shorts and wore capris and had just what I needed. (I do not know how I managed to pack a pair of shorts that was too small - I guess they were the smaller twins to the shorts I meant to take - nor did I realize that one pair had a broken zipper. All that aside, I had just what I needed and I didn't regret not having a second large bag with me.

I did have a couple of fold-away-into-nothing shopping bags with me for souvenirs. They were handy, but not necessary, as it turned out I didn't buy half of the souvenirs I thought I would. I bought T-shirts for my nephews and nothing for myself, figuring all of us adults would be okay with that. I still feel a little guilty about that, but when I was brought a T-shirt from Mexico, the cost was undoubtedly a lot different. $5 in Mexico translated to $30 in Las Vegas. Yikes....

The only thing I did special in packing was to bundle fold my clothes to make them smaller in the bag. I left out a few toiletry items that would not fit in the quart ziploc bag. I did notice one thing that was important - all quart bags are NOT the same. The one that came conveniently with my luggage held a third less than my Hefty bag with the easy zipper. That third mattered a lot!

Our plane seemed to be skimping on the amount of oxygen given to passengers. I almost had a panic attack when I realized I couldn't take a deep breath and had to promise myself I'd breathe again when the plane landed. (And I am not a fearful flier...) Other passengers complained after the flight that they couldn't quite catch their breath either. I guess they were trying to suffocate us. Flights longer than 3 hours I think I will need to take something to help me nap, from here on out....