9 Life-Changing Travel Hacks If You’re Only Bringing A Carry-On
by Marissa Pomerance
We’re traveling again, which means we’re starting to remember that packing is a hellscape.
And though most of us dream of throwing a few items in an easy carry-on, jumping on a flight without checking a bag, and being one of those people who “packs light,” we usually have no idea HOW.
Should be rolling our clothes, or packing them flat? How are we supposed to survive for 48 hours with ONLY 3 pairs of shoes? How do we fit our 15-step skincare routine into an appropriately sized weekender carry-on, especially in light of the ragingly misogynistic TSA 3oz liquid policy? (Has this policy even saved lives? Fine, probably).
We know it’s daunting. So we’re here for you. With 9 carry-on packing hacks to make all our lives 87% easier.
Mini Fresh Soy Cleanser, $15
This is one of our favorite cleansers of all time, and this size is perfect for travel.
We also stash one in our car, our gym bag, and our makeup bag in case we ever need a quick refresh while out and about.
Bare Minerals Mini Complexion Rescue Tinted Moisturizer, $19
Trying to keep your makeup minimal for a short trip?
You need a tinted moisturizer. And there is NO better one than this.
Augustinus Bader’s The Cream, $85
I honestly don’t know if I can live without this cream. And since they offer this adorable .5oz (15ml) mini size, I don’t have to!
Is it pricey? Yessssss. Is it the secret to the smoothest, glowiest skin of your life? Also yes.
2. Always bring a spritz.
Why is it that we always step off planes with skin so dry, it’s basically flaking off our faces?
To keep skin hydrated, stash a mini spray in your bag. We love this one:
True Botanicals Nutrient Mist, $28
It’s carry-on compliant, and you can spritz yourself throughout the flight—sure, for hydration, but also because it’s soooo refreshing and soothing.
3. Won’t my dirty clothes intermingle with my clean ones and ruin my life?
Finding a place to store your dirty clothes so that they don’t stink up your clean ones is one of THE hardest parts of packing/traveling.
So, try this:
Fling a dryer sheet into your dirty laundry bag. FYI this tip changed our lives. And THIS laundry bag is a dream.
4. Don’t bother with packing cubes—try a garment bag.
What are packing cubes solving, anyways? You still have to PACK everything, and then you have to play a game of tetris to put everything away.
We say no more!
If you want the easiest packing experience of your life, here’s what you do: put everything hangable on hangers. Put all those hung-up items in a garment bag. Fold up the garment bag in your suitcase.
When you arrive at the hotel, you take the garment bag out, hang it up, and in 2 seconds, all of your clothes are hung. 2 SECONDS! No folding and rolling and then unfolding and unrolling of each item. Can you even imagine?
These are our favorite garment bags for travel:
Away Garment Sleeve, $65
Away makes these handy, lightweight garment “sleeves” that fold up easily into any of their bags— they even have one sized perfectly for carry-ons.
Away Nylon Garment Bag, $195
If you want something bigger, they also make these sturdy, large garment bags that clip to the outside of your suitcase.
Which means you can pack MORE clothing in this garment bag, and bring all the shoes you could ever want inside your basically-empty carry-on.
5. Avoid jewelry tangles with this hack.
If spending 57 minutes sitting on your hotel bed, meticulously detangling necklaces as if you’re performing surgery is your personal hell, you should try this.
Lay out all of your necklaces on Press’n Seal, and then…press and seal them, like this:
Kinda insane, but also genius?
And if pressing and sealing all your necklaces is not for you, we recommend THIS jewelry case, which will keep your necklaces separated so less tangling occurs.
6. If you can’t part with your micellar water, try this.
Remember how we said that minis are always better than decanting? We have one exception to the rule, and it’s this.
We know makeup wipes are the gold standard of traveling, but if you just can’t with all the dry rubbing and tugging of a makeup wipe, and are firmly in love with your Bioderma, but don’t feel like shoving one of their (still giant) round “mini” bottles into your tiny carry-on toiletries bag, this is the (very niche, specific) hack for you.
Get THESE cotton pads: Will normal, cheap, 600-pack-from-Amazon cotton pads also work? Yes, of course. But these are the greatest cotton pads known to woman. And if you’re looking for a more eco-friendly, reusable option, go here.
Soak them in micellar water: Squirt any micellar water—we prefer Bioderma—onto as many cotton pads as you’ll need for the duration of your trip. Make sure they are fully soaked.
Seal your soaked cotton pads in a plastic bag: Seriously, seal them TIGHT. Make sure there are no air bubbles. If you loathe single use-plastic, try a reusable Stasher bag. If the cotton pads are properly soaked, they’ll stay moist, and you can just pull a few out of the sealed baggie for an in-flight cleanse or in-hotel makeup removal. The thin, compressed baggie of soaked cotton pads saves SO much space, and you need not go anywhere near a dreaded makeup wipe.
7. Get one AMAZING travel jacket that folds up into nothingness.
Bringing 100 sweaters and jackets and layers to cold weather locales can take up the entirety of our carry-ons. So save room by bringing this travel jacket:
Uniqlo Ulta Light Down Jacket, $70
Whether you freeze on planes or need extra insulation under your winter coat, there is no better travel jacket than this.
It packs into its own compact, traveling bag, it can be worn on its own as a light jacket, or under heavier coats as a thin, warm layer.
8. ALWAYS travel with a mini set of sanitizing wipes.
Traveling with disinfectant wipes has been a game-changer for me—as someone that would always get sick while traveling, wipes have been my savior.
These wipes from The Honest Company come in a pleasant lavender scent and compact 15-pack for a reasonable $3.
You can wipe down your airplane chair, tray table, seatbelt--anything you touch--before you sit down, and it never hurts to have them in case of spills or mess.
We’re still living in a semi-post-covid world, after all.
9. If you NEED to decant your beauty products, try these.
If your favorite product doesn’t come in a mini, and you can’t possibly part with it for a weekend, ban.do offers the cutest selection of refillable travel bottles that we’ve ever seen.
Honorable mention to THIS set by Kitsch.
I honestly wasn’t even planning on showing a picture of travel bottles in this article because they’re usually so hideous, but I HAD to show you these:
Ban.do Getaway Travel Kit, $20
I meaannn, not just cute, but FUNCTIONAL, right?
The pump tops come with a STOPPER so they won’t just pump product all over your toiletries bag.
There’s a FUNNEL for easy decanting, AND, labels so you remember what’s what.
The whole thing also comes with its own bag. Smart.
Bonus: this is our favorite carry-on of all time.
Away The Carry-On
We know— you’ve seen this brand all over your Instagram feed for years now. It’s on every list. We really didn’t even want to choose it.
But it remains the perfect combination of function, style, and price. And there’s no getting around the fact that they offer the most gorgeous colors of any luggage brand on the internet.
Both of their Carry-On sizes offer ample space, because clearly we need all we can get.
Marissa Pomerance is the Managing Editor of The Candidly. She’s a Los Angeles native and lover of all things food, style, beauty, and wellness. You can find more of her articles here.
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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