Just curious.. when you travel Paris-London-Dublin, when will you take a Ryanair flight?
You probably will take the train from Paris to London?

Prices for first checked baggage with Ryanair vary, €25-30 for 15kg or €35-40 for 20kg suitcase.

If you need/want to fly London-Dublin you can still check Aer Lingus or other airlines for fares and usually lower fees for checked luggage.
www.whichbudget.com
Or take the train/ferry from London to Dublin.

I was in Europe for seven weeks last summer, dressing for work weeks as well as vacation, with the amount/arrangement of luggage you are describing here and it worked fine - it's a welcome simplify your life thing in a way. I took several EasyJet flights with similar tight baggage rules and had no problem. Enjoy!

Glad to hear you did it easily, Texastrips! I have to remind myself I left for a 6 week around the world trip with the equivalent of a gym bag....but I had accumulated two more bags by the end of that trip.

My son just wants to figure a way to haul home half a luggage bag of Walker's crisps (potato chips) from London. That is what my light empty bag is for; I will wear most of my clothing on the ryan air flight and put the chips in the luggage and then once off, I will use my second bag for the chips and repack what I wore.

I already bought my ryan air tickets, cowboy, so it is a done deal. It is London (or Stansted, somewhere near London) to Dublin. I am flying Aer Lingus NY to Paris, train paris to London, and then Aer Lingus back to NY. I think the flights were about 39 euros each, less than the baggage check fee.

Actually, our fare was 31 GBP per person with all taxes and fees.

Is it really worth the effort? Why not just pay the nominal fee and check the bag? What you propose seems like way more trouble than it is worth.

So, actually, this baggage fee is just an issue on ONE single flight?
BTW.. you should check the fees again. A SECOND bag may cost 50, but a FIRST bag would be 25 or 30 GBP. And you could take 15kg plus the 10kg of your cabin luggage.

As TG said.. isn't that a bit too much trouble for still a rather small amount of money?

My religion doesn't allow me to incur baggage fees.

Just kidding..... I generally travel light so it is an ouch to pay 30-40$ for possibly being just 5 lbs over. I won't sweat it if I have to check it in but would prefer to avoid it. It is not an affordability thing; more of a challenge.

I certainly don't want to be penny wise pound foolish and will willingly pay the fee if it compromises what I want to buy overseas and my trip in general. Thanks for the thoughts.

It's not about the money. It's a contest between Ncounty and Ryanair and she isn't going to lose. And don't play poker with her either.

I wrote that as Ncounty was posting. I see we both know her.

LOL cold!

Hmm.. understand.. sort of
I often had Ryanair flights where the CC fee was higher than the fare.
But, seriously, a total of 61 GBP (fare+ 1 checked bag) still would be a pretty good deal for going London - Dublin by plane.

Even if you managed to get all your belongings in your checked luggage wouldn't that make you somewhat inflexible during your travels when you could not buy whatever item en route cause you were already travelling at 100% of the allowance?
Anyway.. as you mentioned restrictions in your OP, you probably have seen on Ryanair's website that they exist for length, width and height. They do measure that at the gate frequently with a carton cover that must fit all around the carry-on with no tolerance for wheels etc.
Happy gambling

P.S: I've seen old Ryan's mansion in Ireland.. you don't get such an estate from losing the game

It is definitely still a great deal, cowboy. I just would like to try to do this just as a challenge.... I think I can, I think I can. There are 3 of us traveling. One option is that we travel so light that all our clothes together fit in one bag, all our nonclothes (entertainment, ipad, nook, toiletries) fit in another, and the third suitcase is left empty for purchases. I was looking for tips I may not have thought of to achieve this.

If it was meaningful for me to have a lot of stuff with me, I wouldn't even try since as travelgourmet and you pointed out, what is the big deal? The cost is small. It is just that I like the challenge of minimalization without compromising my travel experience as texastrips was able to do as well.

Just watch out for the charges. The charge for checking luggage when you book the ticket is one thing...the charge at the airport if you are over and have to check your bag is MUCH higher!!!

The answer is yes, it is perfectly doable if you are willing to do a bit of washing in your hotel bathrooms during the trip. Take basic garments and a few blouses, t-shirts and scarves so you don't get bored. Limit shoes severely and wear the heavier pair.

Mu husband and I do the method you described of putting all clothes folded flat in one case, everything else (shoes, books, chargers, toilet bags, etc) in the other. Make sure you can get your handbag into one of your carryons just for boarding.

1. It can be done. I certainly have. Be prepared to do some laundry or to use the same unwashed clothes two or three days in a row.

2. When Ryanair says one piece of carry-on luggage they actually mean ONE piece. Not a backpack plus a laptop bag, or a backpack plus a large purse.

3. You say there are three of you travelling. Please keep in mind that Ryanair does not allow you to combine the total luggage weight and divide by three to magically get under the weight limit. Each bag must be under the limit, by itself. Most airports have luggage scales (although they do cost money to use) so you can make certain.

4. Ryanair does not always weigh or measure every bag. I've seen them do spot checks and they usually look more closely at the larger roll-aboard bags.

5. If you do get caught with a too large or too heavy bag they will force you to check it and that gets a lot more expensive than if you had paid to have it checked when you did your booking.

I totally relate to the game--and consider myself an expert . I always travel with carry-on only. After having all my luggage fail to show up during an 8-day trip I learned how very little I really needed.

My greatest achievement was four days in Rome--followed by a ten day cruise--with carry-on only ... although I admit, I didn't have Ryan Air's size and weight restrictions. I wore a wrinkle resistant sport jacket on the flights--and that jacket was worn on the ship for all the "dress-up" dinners. I specifically chose the lightest shoes.

Some additional tips ...

If needed you can buy a sweater or jacket in a thrift store -- and leave it behind. (I love rummaging through thrift stores anyway--especially in Europe.)

I have been known to have my very heavy laptop & batteries tucked under my arm--inside some of those layers of clothing--along with a book. I've since purchased an exceptionally light laptop.

I don't care to go to fancy restaurants so I'm able to avoid the weight of extra shoes (which tend to be the biggest challenge) by wearing sneakers and not taking any additional shoes. But I realize this is not everyone's style.

In addition to the game, it really does become an issue when I travel in New Zealand and Australia every year. These trips include multiple short flights, and with two of us traveling, we're talking about hundreds of dollars in savings.

Good luck!

Great tips, thanks!

I also did the 14 day triip to Rome with cruise with my son with carry on only, songdoc. That was easy, lol. The Ryanair restrictions are more severe and a bit of a squeeze. I've got to step up my game. It is as they describe above, absolutely ONE bag only (I had a backpack in addition to my carry on before); so it practically cuts my capacity in half.

I am planning on each bag being under 10 kg and self-imposing the severest interpretation of their guidelines so I don't get caught unawares. I have high hopes of not being a contributor to Mr. Ryan's mansion!

On the right is Ncounty arriving at the airport. On the left is Ncounty boarding the plane:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russian-Matroshka.jpg

Sounds like Ncounty and I might belong to the same church.

I've done it on numerous occasions, most recently on a round trip between Dublin and Bergamo, and then a few days later on a one way from Dublin to Edinburgh. Easyjet is much easier, as there's essentially no weight restriction, whereas Ryanair takes into account both the bag size and the weight. This trip was two weeks, mostly business with some leisure tucked in around the edges. I only did laundry by hand, and did some shopping in Edinburgh (once the Ryanair legs were all behind me).

On the flight to Bergamo the gate staff were pulling people aside for spot checks of their luggage as we were boarding. I got the very definite impression that passengers who looked conspicuously Italian were more likely to get pulled over. The woman who'd been standing next to me in line (and later sat next to me along with her husband) got hit with a very stiff last minute fee to check her bag, and it wasn't nearly as large as a number of other bags I'd seen board, but it wasn't efficiently packed and she got dinged.

congratulations, Therese! That is quite a feat, especially considering Bergamo was involved. Could have been just luck but I went on a major shopping spree in old town Bergamo, what a lovely place!

the bag has to be less than 55 by 40 by 20 cm. This translates to 21.7 by 15.7 by 8 inches.

I was a little worried because I thought that would be a 20 inch bag and my bag is 21 inches by 13 by 8 inches; plenty of room.

My bag is 19" tall and so of course I don't have any trouble with the dimensions. The real issue is weight: even my 19" bag (which is also very lightweight, about 5.5 lbs) can easily accomodate enough contents to bring the total weight to well over 10 kg if I'm packing without regard to weight. The key is to minimize particularly heavy/dense items like electronics, books, and liquid toiletries, or carry them in the pockets of your coat (which they don't weigh, thank goodness).

good cautionary point, Therese.

I have decided that for the 3 of us, we will bring one ipad (for internet stuff) and 2 kindle/nook devices. My usual big weight items are laptops and we will not bring them. I will bring lots of magazines from home and will plan to dispose/leave them along the trip as they are read so they will be gone by the time we hit this segment.

10 kg is a challenge! Who makes your suitcase that only weighs 5.5 lbs? That is a great weight.

It is a terrific suitcase, and unfortunately no longer available. I bought three of them in preparation for my kids' first trip to Europe with me about ten years ago, and two of them are still going strong (with the third experiencing a failure of the extending handle, but otherwise still in great shape). I got them at Target, and the brand is Eddie Bauer.

I actually take a luggage scale with me when I shop for suitcases. I care deeply about the weight of my suitcases.

I found a lightweight luggage that is about 5 lbs and am going to order it and try it out:

http://www.irvsluggage.com/International-Traveller-It01-UltraLightweight-205-Carry-On-Brown-Circles/IT-118820-BROWN

this one is $47 and is 20.5 inches by 14.2 inches by 7.77 inches, within ryanair's guidelines and only weighs 4.4 lbs.

do you have any specific great tips, other than the obvious plan of traveling light.

yeah, I do: plan on doing a LOT of laundry

That's looks like a nice bag, ncounty, and the review at that link you provide specifically mentions that it doesn't have much in the way of interior pockets or dividers. I find them useless, and they add to the weight of the bag.

Somewhere around here there's are a couple of threads in which I specifically discuss packing to meet Ryanair's requirements. I'll look for them later today.

I found one of the threads, Therese, and commented on it. I didn't realize you were one of THE divas of packing light! I loved the discussion in the thread:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/packing-light-an-index-of-thereses-what-to-wearpack-posts.cfm

Thanks, ncounty. I haven't started a new packing light thread in quite some time, largely because I haven't come up with any new packing challenges. I did recently sort through my trove of travel-sized toiletries (because I was moving house) and threw out some things that I doubt I'll ever need. I mean, really, how many tiny hotel shoeshine sponges does a person need? I did keep the sewing kits. One of these days I might just use one.

this one is $47 and is 20.5 inches by 14.2 inches by 7.77 inches, within ryanair's guidelines

Do those dimensions include the wheels and handles? US dimensions tend not to which means a big surprise when you try to board Ryanair flights with that as hand luggage