10-05-2025
Keeping it all in hand
I'm about to try something I've never done before: travel with hand luggage only on an international flight.
Of course, I have travelled without checked bags on short trips to Sydney and Melbourne, but never when attempting to leave the country.
Travelling with just a cabin bag is a trend on social media and a popular topic in travel forums.
One friend has managed to travel with hand luggage only to Hawaii and New Zealand, but others are aghast I am going to Singapore for five nights without checking a bag.
There are a couple of reasons I decided to try hand luggage only.
First, what's the point of a cheap Scoot flight if you then add luggage? I added food because it's dinner time and I'm not that stingy.
Second, we arrive close to midnight, and I would rather be in a taxi on the way to the hotel than staring at a baggage carousel.
Two weeks out from the trip, I double check if I can take an umbrella and tweezers. Yes, on both counts.
I assess my existing packing cells and decide they're not fit for the job. I need compression cells. They won't reduce the weight, but I'll feel better if they look neater and smaller.
After reading 963 reviews on Amazon, I decide against bags that compress with a pump and buy a zipper-down set with see-through panels so I can identify socks from shirts in the squashed carnage. These cost around $33.
I also need a MagSafe magnetic power bank for my phone because my current power bank is bulky and it's not easy to take photos with it attached by cable. Cost. $27.
Another 46 hours is spent reading reviews of 20cm-by-20cm clear toiletry bags before opting for a box from the supermarket.
At this stage I must confess, I have added a 20kg checked bag for the return leg to share with my mum, which cost $60 at the time of booking.
Savvy readers will at this point realise I have spent more than $60 trying to save on checking in a bag, if you include at least $15 on new sets of various tiny jars and bottles with labels.
A few days out, I open my Singapore packing list and ruthlessly edit. But I can't adopt the trending 5, 4, 3, 2 1 method; the five tops rule doesn't factor in Singapore humidity.
Crunch time. I get out my Samsonite Upscape and Antler Lincoln cabin bags and choose the Samsonite, which looks bigger but weighs slightly less, at 2.3kg compared to 2.5kg.
I do a trial pack, and it clocks in around 8.5kg. My Uniqlo crossbody bag tips the scales at 2.5kg before I've even added my passport and wallet, never mind my 1.4kg laptop.
When my compression cells arrive, I repack and rethink. Remove shorts. Add extra swimsuit. Pray.
Now the cabin bag is up to 9kg and the 'personal item' crossbody bag is 3kg. Why is it getting heavier not lighter?!
The evening before departure, I reassess everything, from what I am wearing, to every teeny tiny jar I've squeezed into my 1L liquids bag.
Can I manage to get both bags down to the required 10kg? How many things can I stuff in my pockets? Even if I get the cabin bag down to 7kg and my crossbody bag under 3kg, can I lift it into an overhead locker? Should I ditch the 1kg Kmart fold-down bag that's supposed to be the checked back on the way home?
Departure day has arrived and with so much work to do, travel anxiety is creeping up on me.
I log in to find the cost of adding a 20kg checked bag is now $84 (I feel like it was $77 a week or two ago). On the app, it is $81. It is allowing me to add it but not pay.
Online chat doesn't open until 9am, so I phone and quickly reach the most helpful airline call centre person to who I have spoken. She advises travellers can add a bag up to four hours before departure, but can't pay online if they have already checked in.
I hand over my credit card details and utter a sigh more of relief than defeat.
I move everything except the Kmart bag into my trusty bigger Antler hard shell case, put most of my liquids into my toiletry bag, then add my trainers and an extra pair of shorts and a T-shirt. It comes to around 12.5kg.
I am no longer stressed, I don't have to worry about sweating through all my clothes within two days, and hotel room service will be available no matter when I arrive.
There's also no chance of the cabin bag being taken off me and checked in for being overweight.
