Carry-On Travel
Intro
Travelling with less luggage can make a short city trip simpler, cheaper and easier to manage — but only if the bag still fits what you actually need.
City Trip Lab focuses on practical carry-on and personal-item travel for short European trips, based on real packing behaviour rather than minimalist travel for its own sake.
Start with the basics
Before choosing a bag, start with the trip itself: destination, weather, planned activities and the baggage rules of your airline.
For many three-day city trips, a small cabin bag or even a personal-item-sized backpack may be enough. The goal is not to force everything into the smallest possible bag, but to avoid carrying space you immediately fill with unnecessary items.
Personal item or cabin bag?
A personal item is usually the smaller bag that must fit under the seat in front of you. A cabin bag is typically larger and may be stored in the overhead compartment.
The exact dimensions, weight limits and whether either bag is included in your ticket vary by airline and fare type. Always check the current rules directly with the airline before travelling.
What we want to test
- Can a normal 3-day European city trip fit into one personal item?
- Is a 20L backpack enough for three days?
- How much does a realistic 3-day carry-on actually weigh?
- Which items take up the most space?
- How many packed items remain unused?
- Do smaller bags actually reduce overpacking?
- Which personal-item bags genuinely fit European budget-airline limits?
Our current hypothesis
Our reconstructed trips suggest that available luggage space strongly influences how much we pack.
When we travelled with a suitcase, small trolley or plenty of room in a car, it was easy to add extra clothes, a second pair of shoes or larger toiletries simply because they fitted.
Our next planned city-trip tests will deliberately use smaller luggage and measure whether that creates any real loss of comfort.
What carry-on travel is not
City Trip Lab does not treat one-bag travel as a competition.
A larger bag can be the right choice for winter clothing, specialist equipment, formal events or personal needs.
The useful question is not “How small can my bag be?” but “How much of what I carry do I actually use?”
Upcoming carry-on guides
- Personal Item Only for a 3-Day City Trip
- How to Pack a 20L Backpack for 3 Days
- How to Pack a 30L Backpack for a Weekend
- Personal Item vs Carry-On
- Ryanair Personal Item Packing Guide
- easyJet Cabin Bag Packing Guide
- How Much Does a 3-Day City Trip Bag Actually Weigh?
These guides will be added as City Trip Lab completes more planned tests and real city trips.
Pack less because it works — not because it sounds impressive.