With summer finally back again, now is the perfect time to plan a decent getaway. Especially if you have kids, summer is the perfect time to go on holiday, seeing as they won’t be a school for quite a while. But family holidays can be a nightmare while you’re trying to pack. Not only because you have limited space in the car, but for families planning to fly to their destination, airport luggage weight restrictions can pose a problem.

Packing for Your Flight – General Considerations

Booking a flight? When it comes to packing before a flight, there are some important things to take note of.

For starters, you’ll have to check an airline’s luggage allowance before you start packing. While different airlines tend to give you similar luggage allowances for similar flights, they won’t be exactly the same. And when it comes to avoiding penalties, those small details matter.

Some airlines will give you a little more weight in your hand luggage, but then subtract approximately the same amount from your main luggage. Others will allow you two items of hand luggage (like a backpack plus either a laptop or handbag) whereas there are airlines will force you to choose only one item of hand luggage. This could mean that if you were planning to take your laptop case, it will be your only hand luggage item, so any toiletries and other extras you wanted to take with you on the flight will have to be packed in there.

And if you’ve never gone anywhere by plane, you might not be aware of this yet, but no containers with liquids or gels packed into your hand luggage may exceed 100ml. All in all, the liquids and gels packed into your carry-on suitcase aren’t allowed to be more than 1 liter.

Please take note, these volume restrictions only count for the luggage you’ll be taking with you on the plane. In your main luggage (which will be transported in the luggage compartment, away from you during the flight), you’re allowed to pack bigger containers. Just remember to squeeze out all the air from your lotion, sunscreen and shampoo bottles when you pack them, as this prevents air pressure changes during the flight causing them to pop open and spill in your suitcase.

What Do You Really Need?

If you’re going to go on a family vacation, packing all the suitcases before the flight can seem very daunting. There are a lot of things you can potentially forget, so make a list of the most important things before you even start to think of any extras. Often times, you might forget something important like sunscreen because you were so focused on packing your kids’ favorite toys.

But how much toys will your children really play with while you’re on summer vacation? Chances are, they’ll be too busy swimming and playing around to care about toys. Before a vacation, children sometimes insist they’ll need certain toys, but these things often become dead weight, and by the end of the vacation, they weren’t even taken out of the suitcase and played with even once. So remind your children to be realistic and set a limit of how many toys they’re allowed to take.

But your children aren’t the only ones who can be unrealistic about what they need. Grown-ups are guilty of doing this as well! So remember to be equally strict with yourself about the things you pack. Think about what you’re likely to do while on vacation and then ask yourself if you’ll truly get around to using something.

For instance, you might feel tempted to take five books just so you’ll have more than one option of what you can read, but if you aren’t even expecting to finish reading one book, there’s no sense in taking five. Books are heavy, and that weight could be used for better things.

The same rule applies with your clothes. Think carefully about what you pack. You’re going on vacation, so chances are you’ll only want to wear comfortable things that don’t need ironing (because who wants to spend vacation time in front of the ironing board, right?) There’s no sense in packing your high heels. Even if you wear them once or twice while on vacation, more shoes will take up a lot of space and weight, so unless you aren’t planning to go somewhere formal, it’s best to leave your fancy clothes at home.

Vacation Transport

If you’re going to a holiday resort that has everything you need, you might not need to have a car while you’re on vacation. But what if you want to drive around a lot? If you’re holiday destination is in another state and you’re planning to fly, and then arranging transport for while you’re on vacation is something you’ll need to plan ahead of time.

A great option you might not be aware of is car shipping. With Suncoast Auto Transport you can easily arrange to have your car shipped to and from your holiday destination before you leave. This saves you the hassle of driving all the way, while also allowing you the luxury of having your own car while you’re on holiday.