Packing for Two in One Carry On Bag for a Week in Europe

Oh, traveling! I love exploring new places and I’ve never felt really attached to a particular place. I can easily feel at home in new places as long as I have my basic needs filled. We started planning our trip six months ago right when we booked our flight. After booking the hotel we started to get really exited. Now it’s just few days before we land to our destination and we couldn’t be any more ready to start the vacation.

But there is one thing waiting to be done before you can hit the airport. That’s right. Packing.

Packing can be really daunting and it can feel like a real task but it can also serve as a first course before the actual trip. You get a change to prepare, you can pick your outfits before hand and know exactly what you are carrying. If you do things right.

Last time we didn’t pay too much attention for our personal belongings and I realized on our way back in the Gatwick Airport that I was carrying a small fruit knife the security in Finland hadn’t noticed. I had to throw it into a trash can because I couldn’t imagine myself carrying it through security again.

To put it simple: know what you are carrying. You are responsible of the content of your bags.

Keep it simple especially when you are packing for two

There are many great guides for packing a week or even a year worth of clothes in a single carry on bag so I’m not going to repeat those. I would like to add one golden rule that we actually learned during our Konmari process.

You need less than you think.

It’s easy to pack a clean shirt for every day of the week but keep in mind that you can do laundry. Besides if you realize that you didn’t pack the exact outfit you might feel like wearing some day, trust me, you will survive. After all, clothes and shoes are the easiest pieces to cut back.

So, two persons, one week, one carry on?

This is our second time visiting London. Our plan is to do some shopping as we wish to refresh our wardrobes and hit few museums. Right now we are in the middle of washing our favourite clothes and gathering important bits and pieces together. As we aren’t experts at packing we follow other peoples’ advice but also tune things for us. Our traveling budget is always tight so we don’t want to buy things we can easily bring. On the other hand we don’t want to carry a big load of random stuff.

Most of the packing guides are concentrating on either minimal packing (nothing extra you can’t buy easily) or budget traveling (bring everything you might need). We try to focus on something in between: minimalist packing with extra items you need and don’t want to buy in the location.

As our plan is to shop we are going to pack one carry on worth of clothes which we will divide into two carry on bags. We will take one extra bag (a messenger bag). This way when we are coming back we can check one carry on and don’t have to worry about liquid cosmetics or the weight limits.

Here is what we are packing for two persons for one week with just one carry on. Be prepared for lots of pictures!