Carry on Only Travel Hacks! How to Stop Over Packing!

All of this fits into this. This is everything that I take with me when I'm doing carry-on only and I want to show you one special hack at the end of the video that's going to help you get a little extra bag onto the plane. Ah, air travel. We all wish it could be as glamorous as traveling on your own private jet. No TSA, no luggage restrictions, just comfort and your own seat by the window. Welcome to travel reality, where things are just not quite as nice as flying on a private jet. I actually need some theory. It's simple. Thank you for coming to my channel and checking out this video. If you're new here, my channel is all about things travel and organization, so welcome if you're new. For those of you returning, thanks for coming back. Today's video is all about carry-on only packing. I just recently traveled and when we were on the plane, there were three people who could not get their carry-on luggage onto the plane because they were too large. It's not that the luggage itself was too large, but they had expanded it and stuffed it full and they couldn't get the doors to the overhead bin to close, so they had to be pulled off, put into cargo, which delayed our flight. I like to avoid that as much as possible, which is why I carry a hard-sided suitcase when I'm doing carry-on only. The piece of luggage I've chosen as my carry-on is the 20-inch all-aluminum piece of luggage by Level 8, and I've chosen this for a variety of reasons. Number one, it is quiet and smooth, even fully loaded, and a backpack on top of it. This thing moves literally with my fingers and I can get it through the airport so easily. And it comes with these beautiful packing cubes so that if they have to get into my suitcase and check for anything, it's easy for them to pull things out, put things back the way they were, and I don't have anything messed up in my suitcase when I get to my destination. I love this aircraft aluminum. Soft, sturdy, it looks amazing. And these TSA locks, what can I say? These locks, all right, now open, you can see that this is all metal. There are no zippers going around, so there's no one going to be able to break into this thing with a knife. It's solid aircraft aluminum, great solid framing all around it. This has two of these wonderful panels that allow you to hold things into place, and this one has a zipper pouch that allows me to keep things like my laundry bag and my extra hangers and things like that that I carry along with me, my laundry wash and stain remover, and those stay right in there. And then, of course, these unhook from these little metal hooks here and this opens up to reveal, of course, I have other things like I have an extra hat, I also have a flat purse, and a rain jacket in here. Then this piece of luggage comes with four luggage cubes. You'll see three of them here. You can use these, for example, I have electronics in here. So I am a YouTuber, so I take things like lights and mics and chargers and batteries in here. This has bras and underwear and socks. This has shirts, but they fit so nicely. All of these little tags are removable, so they come with little different tags, you'll see here. They come with these little tags. I can move them around to whatever it is, and I can let myself know, for example, this is electronics, this I just know is bras and underwear, and these are pants and shirts. Again, all of that fits so nicely and beautifully in this side of my luggage. And I still have room then for a full rain jacket, a nice purse, and a hat, and all of that closes right in over here. Also, if you did not want to use these things at all, they're removable. So they snap into place here with four little snaps. If I didn't want to have this in here, I could take it out and remove it like that. Both sides will snap out and allow you to remove them. So you just snap them out, and that way if you don't want that, because you feel like it takes extra room, just take them out and remove them. All right, we'll go to this side. Again, this has that nice mesh area here, so if you pack a little bit more, it has a little bit of expansion. And here is the larger piece of their packing cubes here. In this, I have all kinds of pants and other shirts and things like that that I may need on the trip, and it holds quite a bit. It keeps it nice and organized, as you can see here. Everything's rolled up and nicely organized. So if I want to just leave my suitcase open, this acts like a little drawer for me. Or if I want to take out the whole unit and put it into a like a drawer or something, I can take this whole thing out. As you can see here, I have my slippers or my flip-flops packed on the side, and then a curling iron. And because this is pliable, it's able to keep all of this in place. So if the TSA needs to get in, everything's really easy for them to get back into place and not mess anything up. I love that about this suitcase, that it comes with these. And like I said, it comes and is so easy to pack. And again, little removable stickers and things like that to let me know what is in my bag. All of that just seals right up nicely. Keep my TSA locks, soft close handle, love that. This is my favorite piece of carry-on luggage. All right, now let's take a look at what's in my Mary Poppins backpack. Here we go. All of this fits into this. Next thing I carry is my Level 8 backpack. When I'm traveling for work, I've got laptops and power cables and things like that. And I'm usually having to get right from the airplane into an Uber, into a meeting. And sometimes I'm going from building to building in a meeting, and I need to be able to carry something on my back. This Level 8 backpack does the trick for me. This backpack opens completely up. So that way, when I'm going through TSA, I don't even have to remove my computer from this bag. They usually allow me just to leave it open like this. But if I need to, I can take it right out of here and then let it sit here or put it in the bin. As you can see, this is a 13-inch, and it'll hold up to probably, I think, like at least a 15-inch, maybe even larger laptop. In here, I can keep things like my fan, which, you know, hey, this thing's great, by the way. I'll have to do a video on just this someday. And then, of course, my charging cords are in here. The next main pocket of this backpack has quite a few things in it. And I'm going to go through that here right now. This is my toiletries bag. And for those of you who have seen that video, you know what's in it. If you want to know what's in it, I'll put a link below to what's in this. This is my little snack bag. And inside of here, I have some things. This will allow me to have, like, hot soup or whatever. I also have another video where I've covered these kind of things. So I'll put that link below too. But a little snack bag. This will go into the seat pocket in front of me along with my thermos. The next thing I pack is a pair of slip-on work shoes. I wear tennis shoes when I'm actually going through the airport. But when I'm ready to go into my meeting, I'll sit down and slip these on. So I like to keep these right in my backpack so that I can get to them quickly. They're just nice little ballet flats. The next thing I bring is my tech organizer. Now, I like a good tech organizer. This is something when I'm going and I'm going into a meeting, I want to be able to get to my stuff easily. I love, you can see, I could pull that out with this handle. It was stuffed down in here pretty good. But by having this handle, I can pull it up. It's waterproof. This is also by level 8. I love this. And then inside of all of this are different cords and things like that that I will need. For example, I have this long three-prong cord that allows me to charge three different things with three different ports at one time. I also have in here some of my computer connectors for if I'm going to do things like HDMI to do presentations. That is in here. On this other side, I have my lights and stuff. So I have a light here that I carry around my chrome light. I always have that. I use that as a little night light. I also have a large, nice extension cord because when I want to plug in things like USB-A, USB-C, plus computers, a lot of things all at one time, this cord will allow me to do that. And it's a nice, thick, heavy cord. And I also carry around this little plug, which is something that if you get to a place and they don't have the grounded plug, all they have is a little two-prong plug. I can plug this right in here and still get access to plugging in my devices. I also have my little, this is for my phone and my ear pods. And this is also then for my watch. So I love this. It charges all three of these devices for me. Folds completely flat, just like that. Love this thing. And also the cord for that is in here as well. So let me get that out, that cord. I also carry around, because I do videography, I carry around a solid state drive and all of the connecting cords for that. What I love about this Tech Organizer is it does have space here to put things like cords or pens or things like that. It also has a little pocket here that allows me to go ahead and put some smaller things that I don't want lost. And all of that fits right, all of my tech stuff fits right into here. The last thing I have is my safe and security system. And I'm not going to take this apart today because it's a video all on its own. So if you'd like to see a video on what's in here and what I take and why, leave me a comment below saying, yes, show me your security system and I'll go ahead and make a video on that. But that is also in here. There's a small zipper pouch here in the front that's easy access. So I keep my scarf, my large scarf in here. So if I'm hot, I can put it away quickly. If I'm cold, I can get it out quickly. And then this nice big pocket in the front carries, yep, my everyday carry purse, which those of you who have seen that video know how much stuff is in there. They're not going to allow me to carry this on the plane as my third bag. So this just gets stuffed right like this into this pocket and I have access to it if I need it. But then I can get onto the plane with just two items that is going to allow me to get on board. There are two smaller pockets on each side. This one carries another little smaller tech thing. So I have another little USB-A, USB-C smaller port. And then I also carry my car charger in case I'm renting a car and I need to car charge, as well as a couple of little converters that convert from USB-A to USB-C, as well as from USB-C to USB-A. Always important to have a couple of little converters with you. Those go into this bag here. And then on the last side over here, I just have a little scarf. So when I'm, you know, in business and I don't necessarily want to have my large scarf, I just carry another scarf. It just gives me another little way to change my outfits and it stays right in here. Now they're going to tell you, you could only bring on two pieces into the airplane, which is your, generally your luggage, like your 20 inch and a personal carry on. My backpack is my personal carry on. And quite honestly, it's almost as big as my luggage, but it does fit under the seat in front of me. But I do carry this one extra bag with me. The third piece of luggage or a bag that I bring on me is actually this fanny pack right here. And I can wear it this way, or I can pull it across my body and slide it to the back. With a jacket on, you really can't notice it. And I keep it on this way. So when I'm on the plane and I get situated and I put my little snack and my water bottle in the seat pocket in front of me, all the other little doodads I want are here. I call this fanny pack my flight bag because many of the things in here are things I'm going to want to use during my flight and things that I don't want to be bending down, reaching into my backpack, digging around in the dark type of thing. And so with my food and my little drink bottle in the seat pocket in front of me and this around my waist, I can still get my seat belt on, get myself secured. But all of those little things like lip gloss or other little things that I want to have on me are secured right here. And that way I know I can get to them. I know where they are. They're not going to go falling all over the place. And if my tray is down and there's a meal or I'm working, I don't have to worry about trying to finagle getting all that stuff situated to get down in my bag. Because many times there's someone sitting next to me and I can't just say, oh, can I just use your tray table to put my stuff on while I get into my backpack? This keeps me really secure and allows me to just stay in my station, not bother anyone else, and get everything I need. Next, let's take a look at what's in my Mary Poppins sling. There's not as much in here as you would think because I'm trying to keep it low profile, trying to keep it thin. So when I swing it along the back behind me, it's a little less obvious that I have another bag on. So not a lot, but some essentials are in here that are going to make my flight a lot more comfortable. This little nylon sling carries a few things. Let's start here. The number one thing I have is my earbuds. So I like to have my AirPods Pro so I can listen to music or a video. And I also carry an extra little carabiner and a pen because, you know, you may need to write something if you're doing some international travel. It's one of those pens that writes in water, writes upside down, writes all kinds of ways. So that stays in this pocket. My next pocket has a battery. And I like this battery because I have two different ways to charge. And I also keep charging cords in here, a couple of different ones. The first one is this shorter one. This is about a three foot cord. So if I need to plug in, I have a lightning, a USB-C and a micro USB cord here. But I also have this little gadget, which is nice. It's held together magnetically. And I can also plug it in with different ways. This allows a few different charging options here. So you'll see here it has a lightning cord and a USB-C as well as a USB-C and a USB-A so that I can plug in to here and plug in things like my phone or another USB-C device. Or if I have USB-C where I want to plug it in through there, I can also use it and plug it in USB-C to USB-C. So a lot of different options with this little plug here. And again, it's magnetic, closes together. And that allows me to keep power on my devices when I'm on the plane. I also have my little stand. It'll hold an iPad and or a phone so I can watch something on my tray table. I also have a little light. Now this is a selfie light. It has a lot of different modes, you'll see here. And I mostly use it if I have to look around in my bag or under my seat. I one time lost my ear pod. It fell out and I had to look around underneath. So I was able to use this little light to do that. It has a lot of different modes. It's also good for selfies. It also clips onto my phone this way so I can put the lens through here and do selfie mode. And it tilts. So if I want to put it, let's say, on my computer and I want to just light the area of my tray and not turn the overhead light on, this allows me to do that and not disturb the person next to me. I also have wet wipes, obviously, to wipe down the tray and everything else that I'm going to need. My pop-up fan. This is really useful. If it gets hot on the plane, and at my age it can not be hot, but I'll feel like it's hot, this little pop-up fan is a lifesaver. And it just fits right like that in my little pouch here. There's a little pocket right here. This pocket has a few goodies in it. And one is a shout wipe, which I'm always getting something on me, always, especially if I wear white. It's like a magnet for stains. This is a little bit of salve for my lips and over my cuticles because it gets so dry. And it's mango. It smells lovely. And this is, oh, my little tooth picker. If I get something from eating stuck in my tooth, I want to clean it out. That, you're going to just laugh at this. You're going to laugh. This is a little mini back scratcher. Yeah, you're sitting on the plane and something's itching, you can't quite get to it. This is just long enough to get into my back or something and scratch something if something needs a scratch. And it's so little. Look at that. It just folds right in there and fits right in there. So that is in there. And in this last pouch I have just, I have a doggie bag and I carry these a lot because if I'm sick or I'm getting sick or left over a piece of food or garbage, these are always just handy to have and that fits right in there. Now, if the gate attendant says, hey, I'm flagging you for this, you're going to have to go ahead and put this away into your carry-on baggage somewhere because you're only allowed two, there's a trick that you can do. And that is to wear things with lots of pockets. This jacket, for example, has six pockets. Two here at the top, two here at the side, and then two here inside. And then I also have four pockets, two in the back and two in the front, that are going to allow me to take all of this stuff out of my pack, put it in all of these pockets. This pack is thin enough I can fold it up and then all I have to do is stuff that in my pack, in my backpack. Once I get on the plane then I'll be able to take my backpack out, take everything out of my pockets, put it back in, put my waist pack back on and sit in my seat and be comfortable. The reason why they usually flag you for this is because they figure you don't have a place to put it, it's going to end up on the floor, someone's going to trip over it. But if you have a waist pack on, no one's going to trip over it, it's going to be on your waist. So if you have it where you can either put it in the seat pocket in front of you or put it around your waist, it's something they generally don't flag. Just like when you bring food bags on, they generally don't flag that because they know you're going to eat it and then throw it away. So I don't like to be deceptive and carry a food bag when there's not food in it. I'd rather just have the waist pack on and if they miss it, they miss it. And if they do catch it, I have ways, all kinds of pockets to stuff things in quickly and then I can just fold this up and shove it into the backpack. So that's my little hack for getting that third little item that's crucial for me to be comfortable on the flight, on the flight with me. Well, I hope you enjoyed that video on how I pack carry-on only and how I got that little extra bag on the plane. If you like this luggage and this backpack or the tech organizer from Level8, there's a link in the description below and there's also a code for 10% off so you can go and find yourself something new for your next travel adventure. Also, there are links to many of the things you've seen in this video. It's on my Amazon storefront and if you shop there, it does help support my channel. So I want to thank you ahead of time for doing that. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you'd like to see more videos, please hit the subscribe button. Oh, and the notification bell because it's going to let you know when I do another crazy packing video. Until the next time, juice life, drink the joy, keep life simple. I'll see you in the next video.