Every item in my carry-on has been there for more than 50 trips. Nothing is in here by accident, nothing earns its spot because it's aspirational. If it's in the bag, it has saved me at least once. Here is the full inventory.
One 40L carry-on backpack — the Tortuga Travel Backpack. Clamshell opening (so it loads like a suitcase, not a hiker's bag), padded laptop sleeve, structured enough that it stands up on its own, soft enough to squeeze into an overhead bin.
Carry-on dimensions across every airline I fly: yes. Hand luggage compliant on most low-cost European carriers: yes. Weight when empty: 1.5kg, which means I have more usable weight allowance than with a wheeled spinner.
Six packing cubes, colour-coded. Tops in one, bottoms in another, underwear and socks in a third, sleepwear in a fourth, swim/spare in a fifth, and one empty cube that becomes the laundry bag mid-trip.
Total clothing for a 14-day trip: 6 tops, 3 bottoms, 1 dress (rolls smaller than you'd think), 1 lightweight cardigan, 7 underwear, 5 socks, 2 sports bras, swimwear, sleepwear, 1 packable rain jacket.
I do laundry once around day 5–6. Hotel sinks, travel-size detergent strips, and a flat rubber stopper that fits any drain — total weight under 30g and it changes everything.
Two pairs. One on, one in the bag. Walking shoe (the comfortable workhorse), and one slip-on that looks dressy enough for a nice dinner but lays flat in the bag.
Anyone who tells you to bring three pairs of shoes hasn't tried to fit them. Shoes are the single heaviest, bulkiest thing in the bag and the math is brutal — every extra pair costs you a day's worth of clothing space.
Stuff your socks and underwear inside your shoes. It saves space and helps the shoes hold their shape. Sounds obvious; almost nobody does it.
One mid-size pouch holds every cable, charger, and adapter I need. Inside: the Tessan universal adapter, a 4-port USB-C charger, three USB-C cables (because one always seems to fail), one Lightning cable as backup, a pair of small in-ear headphones, a 10,000mAh battery pack, an AirTag, and a tiny pouch of replacement adapter fuses.
Total weight: under 700g. Eliminates 90% of the "do I have a cable for this" moments that ruin the start of a trip.
Hanging toiletry bag with two compartments. Everything is decanted into 100ml bottles — no exceptions, even for trips where I'm checking a bag, because consistency means I never forget anything.
Inside: shampoo, conditioner, body wash, face cleanser, moisturiser, sunscreen, toothbrush + paste, deodorant, razor, a small first-aid kit (the one that fits in a wallet — plasters, ibuprofen, antihistamines, blister patches), and a small bottle of laundry detergent strips that doubles as dish soap if needed.
Five items that together cost about $60 and together save every long-haul flight: contoured silk sleep mask, soft foam earplugs, compression socks, a cashmere-blend wrap that's also a blanket also a pillow also a scarf, and a small bottle of lavender oil (one drop on the mask, two-mile improvement in sleep quality).
I used to think this category was overkill. Three flights without it cured me.
The one I hope I never need. Tiny zip pouch with: a photocopy of my passport, a backup credit card, $200 in mixed local currency stashed separately from my main wallet, a small power bank that's always 80% charged, a digital eSIM that's pre-activated for the destination, and a printed list of my emergency contacts plus my insurance policy number.
When the airline loses your bag, your card gets cloned, or your phone dies in an unfamiliar city, this kit is what gets you to the next morning.
Hardback books (Kindle wins). A second pair of jeans (one is enough; do laundry). A "nice" outfit beyond the dress (you'll wear what you wear). The full-size camera (phone is fine for 95% of trips). A travel pillow (the cashmere wrap does the same job and isn't useless on land).
Every item I've cut had a logic to it when I packed it. The logic was almost always wrong.
Bag, cubes, tech pouch, sleep mask, AirTags — everything in this post is on my recommendations page, with the exact brand and size I use.
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