The Benefits of Travelling Hand luggage Only

Travel can be as cheap or as expensive as you make it and when it comes to flying, carrying large suitcases in some cases can easily add up to a third of the cost on top of your flight. Low cost airlines are infamous for doing this. They prey on travellers looking for a good deal by luring them onto their websites with very low flight costs and as soon as you get to the checkout they add on extortionate baggage costs, making a flight that seemed affordable on first glance, not as cheap as you would have imagined. A lot of travellers are getting savvy to this behaviour from airlines and are now adopting to travel with hand luggage only. Many airlines offer a free small suitcase in with the flight price as long as it fits in the overhead lockers. This is particularly common on short haul flights, hence the rise of many cash-strapped millennials grabbing themselves a bargain and checking themselves into destinations all across Europe.

Travelling hand luggage only was something I never thought I would consider. I'm an 'overpacker'- I can't stay one night in a hotel 10 miles away from my house without bringing my entire wardrobe, nevermind going abroad where I don't know what I will be doing from day to day or what the weather would be like. My friends would often tell me how much money I would save if I cut back on some of my luxury items while travelling and I didn't listen until recently. Last month I booked a weekend in Ireland for my husbands birthday and after seeing that it was going to cost nearly £100 for  full sized suitcase, I decided to throw caution to the wind and just take carry on. It was the best decision I have made.

After finally forcing myself to just take carry on luggage on holiday, I noticed how it easy it was to pack, when I got on holiday it made life more simplier - I didn't have to spend forever trying to figure out what to wear because I only had limited clothing with me and the money I would have spent lugging a suitcase of clothes around with only half of the clothes that I would have worn, I was able to convert to Euros and spend more time enjoying myself.

Benefits

It's liberating

Once you have finally taken the plunge and travelled hand luggage only, you will realise how liberating it is. Firstly you do not have to go through baggage reclaim unless you are asked to check your bag and it's easier to carry hand luggage around a big city while trying to find your hotel.

More places to visit

Travelling hand luggage only opens up a lot more places for you to visit because it brings down the cost of many flights, especially in Europe.

You only pack the things you need

When I take a large suitcase on holiday I often pack a lot of unnecessary items and only wear half of the clothes I pack. When travelling hand luggage only you are forced to take only the necessities due to the space available.

You can save money

Last, but definitely not least is that travelling hand luggage only can save you quite a lot of money off your flights, giving you that extra money to spend on a different holiday or some extra holiday cash to enjoy yourself. 

It's always nice to take plenty of home comforts on holiday with you, but the most important thing is enjoying the holiday itself and getting as much out of the travel experience that you can. I'm definitely a 'hand luggage only' convert.

Do you ever travel hand luggage only?