| Brief Guide to Holiday Packing |
| First choose your bags |
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Well, even before that, check the weight limits and size restrictions that apply to your flight. Look under 'baggage' on your airline's website.
With the major international airlines, the baggage restrictions should not present a great problem. Adults and children should each be allowed 23 kg (51 lb) or more of 'checked baggage' (i.e. cases that will be checked into the hold). There will be a maximum weight limit of about 32 kg (70 lb) for any one item. Hand baggage (or cabin baggage) will usually be restricted to one standard-sized bag measuring 55x40x20 cm (22x16x8 in), weighing no more than 6 kg (13 lb). Allowances are usually greater for first class and club travellers. The difficulty comes with the discount airlines, which are introducing increasingly draconian baggage restrictions to curb costs (and increase revenue). Some now impose a weight limit of 15 kg (33 lb) for checked baggage. If you go over this limit, you may have to pay an excess baggage charge of more than £5 per kilo. Note also: this limit may apply to the luggage of each individual passenger: so families travelling together cannot distribute their weight limit over the group as a whole. Infants (children under two years old, sharing a seat with an adult) may get no free baggage allowance at all. Furthermore, you may be charged extra for putting bags in the hold. Hand baggage is likely to be limited to one bag measuring 55x40x20 cm (22x16x8 in) - or sometimes, to confuse everyone, 50x35x23 cm (20x14x9 in) - and weighing no more than 10 kg (22 lb). Bear in mind that a small case of this size, with wheels, may already weigh 25% of this permissible total. |
| Make it personal |
| These days many bags look very similar. There is a strong possibility that someone may inadvertently pull your bag off the carousel at your destination, and walk away with it. It is strongly recommended that you make your bags distinctive in some way - by using eye-catching luggage tags, for instance, or attaching coloured ribbons to the handles. |
| Not in your hand baggage |
| In our era of heightened security, remember that you cannot carry anything in your hand baggage that might conceivably be used as a weapon. This includes anything remotely sharp (such as scissors, penknives, darts, metal nail files, corkscrews, carpentry tools and knitting needles), or weapon-shaped (such as cricket bats, snooker cues and toy guns). If such items are found in your hand baggage by security at the airport, they may well be confiscated. |
| What-to-pack checklist |
| Here is a list for you to print out and tick (or copy, personalise and print). Every journey and every traveller is different - so you won't need all these items. But at least it will make you think about them. Bon voyage! |
| Clothing |
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| Toiletries and medicines |
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| Other items |
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| And don't leave home without your... |
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| Comments, copyright and linking |
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