Travel brings out the differences between you and your companions

[Vecturist]

When I meet up with friends for a girl's weekend, I usually know I can fly in 30 - 60 mins later than they do since I won't be waiting for luggage in the baggage claim.

When I pack depends on the trip - and when my flight is. I'll pack the night before when I have a flight first thing in the morning just so I don't forget anything pre-coffee. For overseas trips, I'll start getting organized a couple days before (make sure I have my passport, some currency and maybe find my public transit card from the last time I visited, but if I am going to visit friends or family I'll pack an hour or so before I leave for the airport.

I've joked all I need for a trip is my phone, wallet, and a passport, but I'm not quite willing to try going that light - at least not yet.

[bouncing]

So in all seriousness, I did see my wife pack light once. On safari.

Because they use bush pilots to get you around, they have a strict limit of (1) small (like, 30L) bags, (2) nothing hard-sided. It forces you to pack light. It's the only time I've seen my wife do it.

[TRD]

I was in Vegas for 4 days for a conference. Offered to let a friend crash with me since the room had two beds. I flew A30, she flew with two medium suitcases including a small keurig machine because luggage is free on Southwest. Seeing full size toiletries on the counter blew my mind. Four days!

[kathryn]

I've joked all I need for a trip is my phone, wallet, and a passport, but I'm not quite willing to try going that light - at least not yet.

I've used that exact line of thought to talk myself out of anxiety attacks on trips before: I have my passport, my credit cards, and my phone, so I can probably survive long enough to make it home

[ClicketySnap]

I have chaperoned two grandma's on three different trips, and have learned a lot about what one does and does not need on a trip. No offence to anyone with small children, but these two grandmas are very very needy in their own ways and I theorise that travelling with them is not all that different from travelling with small children (temper tantrums, naps, and seemingly random pickiness about food included). Pretty sure that those three trips with each grandma are the reason that I am such a minimalist traveller now (when Grandma #1 decides that she absolutely cannot navigate the airport without wheelchair service and cannot handle her two roller bags, will I still want to have this item? The answer is usually NO!)

I love love love my full-size Heys hard-sided carry-on roller suitcase. One trip where I was flying to Rome with my brother converted me to a backpack; I very quickly tired of asking him to hold on while I got the pull handed situated to my liking. I continue to pull my hair out watching my parents pack a big checked bag, two carry on suitcases, and two backpacks for 10 days in a condo that has in-suite laundry.

[BWeaves]

My husband is still bragging to his friends how we spent a month in Europe with just one backpack each (A45) and a SK for a day bag. And we still had to wait at the luggage carousel because Dad and sister both checked big suitcases. Sigh.