I Just Want To Live While I’m Alive

[happy2bretired]

I think that clothes have changed a lot over the last few years as well as shifts in thinking of the various generations. When my husband and I first went to Europe, we overpacked. The second time we also probably overpacked but did wash clothes while there. I remember when traveling was more of a dressy adventure and now it’s more casual wear. There are also more clothes that are being sold now that are very packable if you are willing to wear very casual clothes. If I was traveling, I would really like to wear the new casual adventure clothing that is being sold now. That’s pretty much what I wear now at home and love those clothes. Just what you get used to.

 

[brett]

My spouse spent 2 months nursing her terminally ill sister in another city accross the country. She came home at the end of Feb.

Among her first comments....

-it is so good to be home. I agreed, it is good to have you home.

-did you not wash the floor, clean the bathroom or change the bed while I was away? No comment-danger Will Rogers.

-we need to go grocery shopping...did you not eat anything? I nodded in agreement.

- lets book something ASAP. I want to get away and relax to somewhere warm. Already done when I knew the date you were coming home. Zihautanejo for several weeks leaving next Tuesday, Morocco for a month in April/May

Everything was hunky dorry after my last reply. Major brownie points. No longer on thin ice as it were. Married life can be bliss.

Next day it was back to normal.....do you have room in your carry on for an extra pair of my shoes? YES.... don't I always. Anything else?

 

[Chuckanut]

We Large guys have packing issues. Our clothing, shoes, everything are bigger. This is something the pack small and light crowd often do not understand. I manage it with one array on suitcase and a bag. I will check the bag if necessary. I know that not checking bags is a holy grail for many. But, I’ve never had a serous bag problem other than a long wait from time to time.

It’s toting them around from hotel to hotel that is my issue. That’s why I try to avoid one and two night stays if possible.

 

[brett]

We do not like checking our bags but that is not our main issue.

We are independent travelers. Often we find ourselves having to walk up one or two flights of stairs in a B&B, etc, dragging a roller along a few hundred metres of cobblestone streets, broken sidewalks or no sidewalks, humping them in and out of longtail boats, water taxis, trains, on to a ferry or into the back of a van or a rental.

By ourselves.

So now in our 70's we only travel with what we can each physically handle. Having one bag is not the only issue. Bag weight is an concern.. Our comfort zone is in the same area as many regional flight carry on restrictions in Europe and Asia. 7-8KG.

At retirement we were not ready for only the cruise, cruise transfer, 4-5 star hotel experience. We had experienced lots of that service level in our pre retirement life. We still do combine this type of travel in our plans.

We tried everything to reduce our bags. The most effective for us was simply to buy a carry on roller each and limit ourselves to that. Challenging for the first year, now it is the only way we would go....help or no help.

It is not something that I would recommend to everyone but it works for us. In our travels we see more and more retirees doing the same thing for the exact same reason. Physical limitations and/or independence. We did not have a choice. It was either reduce travel and/ or change where we wanted to travel and how we wanted to travel.

 

[anothercog]

Yes, that’s where I want to get to. Carry on and a back pack make the logistics of traveling much simpler. The most stressful part of traveling around Japan with my family was figuring out how to get our large bags around.

 

[brett]

My spouse cracked three vertabrae mid trip in Kuala Lumpur a few years ago. She wanted to continue on to Australia as planned and meet up with some friends. She could not handle a bag so this fell to me.

Had we been travelling with scads of heavy bags I would not have been able to handle them, let alone had the choice of deciding whether to carry on or end our trip and return home.

We had a fabulous month in Australia. We subsequently canceled a two week car rental in New Zealand (she could not handle that much time in a car) and replaced it with a very last minute 21 day cruise. A benefit of our spontaneous travel regime. It was all good.

 

[anothercog]

This thread is great. I’ve been crunching numbers and doing some research and I’m pretty sure I can travel the world on a reasonable budget and it will cost me less than sitting still in California.

I just circled my retirement date at March 31, 2028. Just before I turn 58. This will my youngest kids’ freshman year of college. I’ll go earlier if my work gives me a package.

Our first trip will be a couple months in Japan but back home for summer.

 

[skyking1]

We do not like checking our bags but that is not our main issue.

We are independent travelers. Often we find ourselves having to walk up one or two flights of stairs in a B&B, etc, dragging a roller along a few hundred metres of cobblestone streets, broken sidewalks or no sidewalks, humping them in and out of longtail boats, water taxis, trains, on to a ferry or into the back of a van or a rental.

By ourselves.

So now in our 70's we only travel with what we can each physically handle. Having one bag is not the only issue. Bag weight is an concern.. Our comfort zone is in the same area as many regional flight carry on restrictions in Europe and Asia. 7-8KG.

At retirement we were not ready for only the cruise, cruise transfer, 4-5 star hotel experience. We had experienced lots of that service level in our pre retirement life. We still do combine this type of travel in our plans.

We tried everything to reduce our bags. The most effective for us was simply to buy a carry on roller each and limit ourselves to that. Challenging for the first year, now it is the only way we would go....help or no help.

It is not something that I would recommend to everyone but it works for us. In our travels we see more and more retirees doing the same thing for the exact same reason. Physical limitations and/or independence. We did not have a choice. It was either reduce travel and/ or change where we wanted to travel and how we wanted to travel.

In our younger days we did a lot of travel to Mexico, and we have this soft suitcase with backpack straps. It does not have a frame, it is just a big softie with typical tie down straps inside and pockets for organizing.
It is getting a little long in the tooth, but I think I will get it back out and use it again. I can carry that on my back indefinitely, compared to any hard side large piece.
My wife is not ready for no-check travel, I will try to use this as a stepping stone to that. I remember how handy it was on some of the big brick paved streets and tall curbs in Mexico. I would see folks struggling with the big rollers.

 

[athena53]

We are independent travelers. Often we find ourselves having to walk up one or two flights of stairs in a B&B, etc, dragging a roller along a few hundred metres of cobblestone streets, broken sidewalks or no sidewalks, humping them in and out of longtail boats, water taxis, trains, on to a ferry or into the back of a van or a rental.

<snip>

We tried everything to reduce our bags. The most effective for us was simply to buy a carry on roller each and limit ourselves to that. Challenging for the first year, now it is the only way we would go....help or no help.

I agree. I learned on my first major trip (London and Paris in 1977) that you had better assume there will be some occasion when you have to drag all your stuff up steps unassisted. Even with tour groups I do that; my upcoming trip, for example, I'm overnighting in London both ways and will have no assistance available. I use the Hilton Garden Inn near Heathrow and the mega-bags of my fellow occupants (likely cruise passengers) are mind-blowing.

 

[brett]

I agree. I learned on my first major trip (London and Paris in 1977) that you had better assume there will be some occasion when you have to drag all your stuff up steps unassisted. Even with tour groups I do that; my upcoming trip, for example, I'm overnighting in London both ways and will have no assistance available. I use the Hilton Garden Inn near Heathrow and the mega-bags of my fellow occupants (likely cruise passengers) are mind-blowing.

We have been on multiple cruises. Before and after retirement

We have always been amazed at the stacks of luggage outside cabin doors on the night prior to disembarkation. Before most cruise lines went casual AND after!

 

[ProspectiveBum]

The most stressful part of traveling around Japan with my family was figuring out how to get our large bags around.

I just happened to listen to an episode of the Freakonomics Radio podcast, and the guest mentioned that there’s a well-established system in Japan for efficiently delivering traveler’s bags between hotels and airports at a reasonable cost. It’s called either Takkyubin or Takuhaibin? Apparently the hotels are very familiar with the system and can help coordinate the transfer. Obviously too late to help you, but might help someone else traveling in Japan.

 

[anothercog]

I just happened to listen to an episode of the Freakonomics Radio podcast, and the guest mentioned that there’s a well-established system in Japan for efficiently delivering traveler’s bags between hotels and airports at a reasonable cost. It’s called either Takkyubin or Takuhaibin? Apparently the hotels are very familiar with the system and can help coordinate the transfer. Obviously too late to help you, but might help someone else traveling in Japan.

Yes, it Takyubin. It's quite amazing once you figure it out. Hands free travel is highly encouraged and you need to reserve a few special seats on the shinkansen if you have large bags and there are only a few seats on each train.

It works very well when staying at hotels or sending your bags to the airport. It's a little less great when staying in Airbnb but we did manage that once too. What's nice is they give you a pretty short arrival window so you don't need to sit around your Airbnb all day waiting for delivery. I think I had picked a delivery at 8p and they showed up exactly on time.

Still, it would have been a lot easier if we just had small bags.

I could not quite figure out how to get any of the delivery persons to come pick up from our Airbnb. Many of the convenience stores will take your bags for delivery but not all do. Finally I found a Yamamato (black cat) store front and dropped off our bags there. We did have to lug them along uneven ground in 95 degree heat which sucked but at least we didn't have to lug them up and down the train station steps.

 

[old medic]

I really try to travel light, but I'm curious how you take enough clothing for 8 days in Europe in just carry on. I'm willing to wash out clothes in a sink, but most women (heh, heh, like DW) will not want to wear the same couple of outfits for 8 days.

LOL... We are 3 weeks into our camping trip with our 12 YO Grandson. DW is heading to a laundromat today. My clothes all fit in a 1 foot cube.

 

[Toocold]

This thread resonates with me. Between DW and me, I'm the planner, so it is usually up to me to decide whether or not to loosen the purse strings.

Now that our second child is entering college, I have been thinking about how we plan to spend our time . I told my wife that we likely have 15-20 years of good active life (we're 53), so we are planning to travel alot more.

Are there places that people visited that truly stand out? We've been mainly traveling to Mexico and Caribbean. Prior to having kids, we also spent alot of time in Hawaii. We'll going to be focused on Europe and Asia, now that we are less tethered to our kids' schedules.

 

[Teacher Terry]

too old, I have been to Europe 6 times and every trip was wonderful. I enjoyed it much more than my trips to the Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico or Thailand.

 

[neihn]

too old, I have been to Europe 6 times and every trip was wonderful. I enjoyed it much more than my trips to the Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico or Thailand.

+1
We did Europe twice 2019 and 2023, and really enjoyed both times. We recently spent 6weeks in Vietnam (our motherland), mostly visit friends and families and we enjoyed it too

 

[brett]

This thread resonates with me. Between DW and me, I'm the planner, so it is usually up to me to decide whether or not to loosen the purse strings.

Now that our second child is entering college, I have been thinking about how we plan to spend our time . I told my wife that we likely have 15-20 years of good active life (we're 53), so we are planning to travel alot more.

Are there places that people visited that truly stand out? We've been mainly traveling to Mexico and Caribbean. Prior to having kids, we also spent alot of time in Hawaii. We'll going to be focused on Europe and Asia, now that we are less tethered to our kids' schedules.

It has been 13 years since we retired. Don't forget about South/Central America, Africa, SE Asia, and Australia. Lots of great places to see and things to do.

We divide it between Spring/Fall destinations and winter destinations. We live in the cold north we have a bucket list for target snowbird locations.

On more than one occasion a great airfare or travel offer has made the travel decision for us. Had lots of travel and planned travel when I worked. Now it is mostly spontaneous travel once we have the basic destination area selected. Last time in Portgugal we decided at the last minute to scratch Lisbon (we had been there before) and spend three days by the ocean in Nazare. Same for last month in Morocco, and every winter in SE Asia.

We pack for 7 days. Does not matter whether it is 7 days or 8-10 weeks. All the same to us. 39L capacity soft side carry on roller each. The trick is shoes and personal care. For me it is one comfortable pair of walking shoes on my feet and a pair of lightweight Teva sandals in my carry on. DW changed her hair style, color, etc to make travel easy. And she deep sixed most of the the other costmetics, etc. Not needed for travel.

 

[Koolau]

Yes, that’s where I want to get to. Carry on and a back pack make the logistics of traveling much simpler. The most stressful part of traveling around Japan with my family was figuring out how to get our large bags around.

Something I've noticed since the airlines started charging for luggage is people coming onto aircraft with a suitcase they call a carry on and a huge back pack they call their under-seat bag. Of course, neither fits the rules of the airlines but I've not seen the airlines clamping down yet. Occasionally, on short flights from hubs, the airlines ask people to bring their "carry on" to the gate to be put in the hold for free - to be reclaimed at the gate upon arrival. I've seen many people carry as much "carry on" as I've ever carried when I checked bags. It's truly astounding.

I've mentioned a pet peeve of mine which is folks waddling through the aisles on the way to their seats with lethal-weapon back packs they flip back and forth as they look for their seat number or over head. I've had people drop their overweight carry on on top of me because they didn't have the strength to lift them. A couple of trips back, one young woman dropped her suit case on me and then had the nerve to ask me to help her put it (and her over-sized) back pack in the overhead. I told her I would like to help but I have a recent concussion.

 

[anothercog]

It’s the make up that will be a challenge for my wife on an 8-12 week trip.

I’m easy. I’m fine wearing the same thing every day. Heck, that’s most days at home.

 

[brett]

Something I've noticed since the airlines started charging for luggage is people coming onto aircraft with a suitcase they call a carry on and a huge back pack they call their under-seat bag. Of course, neither fits the rules of the airlines but I've not seen the airlines clamping down yet. Occasionally, on short flights from hubs, the airlines ask people to bring their "carry on" to the gate to be put in the hold for free - to be reclaimed at the gate upon arrival. I've seen many people carry as much "carry on" as I've ever carried when I checked bags. It's truly astounding.

I've mentioned a pet peeve of mine which is folks waddling through the aisles on the way to their seats with lethal-weapon back packs they flip back and forth as they look for their seat number or over head. I've had people drop their overweight carry on on top of me because they didn't have the strength to lift them. A couple of trips back, one young woman dropped her suit case on me and then had the nerve to ask me to help her put it (and her over-sized) back pack in the overhead. I told her I would like to help but I have a recent concussion.

Absolutely agree. But keep in mind this is primarily an issue on NA airlines that do not enforce carry on limits and have no apparent weight restrictions.

I gave up helping some of those people who look at me doe eyed assuming I will help lift their bags or move mine from the bin to under my feet. I am not going risk a back injury for the sake of someone else no matter their age or sex.

The reality is that most European, Asian, and Oz regional carriers have strict size AND weight restrictions. Slightly smaller international size carry on than in NA BUT with a 7-8KG weight limit that is more often than not strictly enforced. We stick to 8KG max and use a luggage scale to confirm prior to leaving home. Neither of takes a backpack. Besides...the weight restictions on some of those airlines INCLUDES a purse, backpack, etc as well as the carry on. They do this for an obvious reason.

The result, boarding an Asian or European flight is so much faster than on a NA carrier. In Australia, for example, we have had a bag weighted at checkin by Jeststar and again as we boarded the aircraft. You have to buy extra carry on weight allowance over 6KG, they restrict the number of people on each flight who can do this, and they charge more to do this than they do to check the bag.

 

[Koolau]

Absolutely agree. But keep in mind this is primarily an issue on NA airlines that do not enforce carry on limits and have no apparent weight restrictions.

I gave up helping some of those people who look at me doe eyed assuming I will help lift their bags or move mine from the bin to under my feet. I am not going risk a back injury for the sake of someone else no matter their age or sex.

The reality is that most European, Asian, and Oz regional carriers have strict size AND weight restrictions. Slightly smaller international size carry on than in NA BUT with a 7-8KG weight limit that is more often than not strictly enforced. We stick to 8KG max and use a luggage scale to confirm prior to leaving home. Neither of takes a backpack. Besides...the weight restictions on some of those airlines INCLUDES a purse, backpack, etc as well as the carry on. They do this for an obvious reason.

The result, boarding an Asian or European flight is so much faster than on a NA carrier. In Australia, for example, we have had a bag weighted at checkin by Jeststar and again as we boarded the aircraft. You have to buy extra carry on weight allowance over 6KG, they restrict the number of people on each flight who can do this, and they charge more to do this than they do to check the bag.

Yeah, as much hassle as it is for the airlines to find room for all the carry on, the big issue is actually weight. With density altitude issues, extra "undeclared" weight or unaccounted for weight could actually be deadly. I don't know if aircraft have load cells which give their take off weight, but I don't notice anyone really caring about weight except on checked luggage (Last I checked - a long time ago) the limit was 50lb per checked bag. We could get that to within half a pound back in the day when we checked baggage.

I don't like nit-picking carry on. If you're an inch off here or there, no big deal. But really! A full sized suit case? But since they don't nit pick, folks are taking advantage with resultant issues to fellow passengers.

I mentioned in another thread that I was sitting in the aisle seat and some huge young guy came waddling in with a huge back pack as well as an oversized carry on. He got hung up beside me and was animatedly talking to his companion. As he would sashay to and fro in the aisle, his back pack was hitting me in the face. I put my hand up to stop it. The guy glared at me like he thought I was trying to steal something from his back back. I told him if he was gonna hit me in the face he was gonna do it with his fist and not his oversized and unauthorized carry on back back. I could see the wheels turning. For all I know he was considering taking me up on my suggestion. Instead, he hesitated and then grudgingly said "sorry." I'd be okay if they "nit-picked" carrying TWO carry-ons. Sorry for the rant. Returning you now...

 

[brett]

I believe this is a basic passenger safety issue that North American domestic carriers have been ignoring for years. Pity the the airline crew that have to deal with this issue.

I continue to be amazed that NA carriers have not en masse stopped this practice.

More than once, just past the check in counters/self serve terminals and right before security Air Asia in Kuala Lumpur had staff stationed with two scales. Air Asia customers did not even get a chance to go through security with oversize and/.or overweight bag. They were sent back to check those bags. No gate checking.

There is a tolerance on most of these airlines Typically we go go as high as 8.5kg, wearing jeans and our heaviest shoes, with no issue. If your carry on is bulging at the seams chances are it will be weighed.

One carrier that we have flown on that seems to do it by sight has been Olympic/Agean in Greece. At the other end of the sprectrum Hong Kong Airlines in HK weighed DW's carry on and her purse together.

 

[Flieger]

There are major safety factors with major airlines for altitude density, balance, etc.

Flieger

 

[brett]

There are major safety factors with major airlines for altitude density, balance, etc.

Flieger

I believe that this is why Jetstar Australia limit the sale number of 'carry on upgrades' from 6KG to 10 kg on each flight (thereabouts) Once a certain number of these upgrades are sold, the option is closed to others.

Our practice is for one of us to pay for this carry on upgrade. Then we put all our heavier items in that one carry on.

Last time we entered Australia at Gold Coast Airport the customs person asked us if we had any checked bags. Then asked where we were from, followed by (smiling) 'are you smuggling any maple syrup in your bag? Next was enjoy your month in Australia. We were through in five minutes flat! One benefit of being a couple of fossils with little luggage.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Because my cpap machine is fairly large I have a small carry on suitcase and I check another the same size for a 2 week trip. It’s impossible for me to have a carry on only. I can easily handle both myself.