I am concerned about the 40 lb. luggage limit on Alitalia. Any suggestions on traveling light?
Any ideas on cost to ship goods to USA? Like a Venetian mask...
Thanks.

Hi cg,

What is your concern? That's 40 lb in checked luggage and 25 in carry on, no?

My Lady Wife and I did 3 weeks in France with less than 40 lb pp.

Re Venetian masks: If they are high quality, have them shipped.

Just put "travel light" into the search and you have many answers.

If the limit is the usual 20Kg that's 4 more pounds than you thought you could carry.

I have never schlepped 40 lbs of luggage on any trip -- Well I did back 15+ years ago before I smartened up.

But you should not have ANY trouble making a 40 lb or 20 kilo limit.

And anything fragile/valuable you can ship and have insured. The shop will ship it, take the VAT off the top and that will pay most of the shipping charges.

There are many threads on here about what to take and how to pack light . . . . .

I'm curious what is your concern about the weight limit? My normally packed 24" suitcase containing clothes, shoes, and toiletries weights about 25 lbs.

Are you traveling in winter? For an extended period of time? Needing to take along something special?

Suggestions for traveling light... don't take as many clothes, limit shoes to 2-3 pair, downsize all toiletries to travel size just enough for length of your trip, etc.

Some of us travel "heavier" than others and don't have any trouble at all. Some of us have clothing items which are heavier than others; I suspect my size 12 men's dress shoes weigh more than most women's shoes; it isn't just "winter clothes" which weigh a lot.

You did NOT say how long your trip is but I have found that a person can carry less if they are willing to do more laundry or have clothes cleaned.

My son, who is 6'5" and wears size 13 shoes, travels with a rolling suitcase that never weighs more than 30 to 35 pounds. I've never needed more than 30 pounds (including carry on) on any trip that I can think of.

40 pounds plus carry on is really a ton of stuff.

PLAN plan plan. Don't just start throwing in stuff from your closet. Bring clothes that wash out quickly, and mix and match in basic ways. Wear pants several times. Skip PJs. Wear comfy shoes and bring one extra pair. Get toiletries into SMALL containers.

Some of us pack heavier than others. Last month, I had to plan for easyJet's 20kg (44lb) limit on checked bags. I actually weighed my bag before I left and was about 10 pounds under, but I had to weigh down the camera bag and laptop bag (one carry one and one my "personal item&quot. On the way home, after I was done with easyJet and flying on NW, I weighed down the suitcase and lightened up the carryons, and my bag weighed in right at 20kg.

But as others have said, just plan to travel light ahead of time. The way I weighed my suitcase was to weigh myself on my home scale, then weigh myself again holding the suitcase. Give yourself some extra weight for the way home to bring home purchases. Don't go crazy bringing everything you might possibly need over there. If you can buy something relatively inexpensive in Europe instead of hauling it in your suitcase, do so.

Andrew

40 lbs checked and 25 lbs carried on would simply be too much for me to manage myself (aside from any airline restrictions).

You can weigh as you pack using your bathroom scale.

I lay everything out a couple weeks ahead of time and carefully think thru each piece before packing it.

I have a sturdy carryon that I have used for years, it fits under the seat so I never worried about the weight until a British Airways ticket agent insisted on weighing it. I don’t remember the weight limit, but my only bag, which again actually fits under the seat, was over the limit and had to be checked with my essentials. Like many people on this site, I thought I was a packing expert and consider air pockets wasted space, so my bag is usually a bit on the heavy side (I always travel with books). I still continue to use the bag, and have taken countless flights since with absolutely no difficulties, but there is always that chance…..

Maddie, British Air carry-on weight limit is a mere 13 lbs.

Suze,

Yikes, no wonder I had trouble. I always bring a big book along on the theory that if I am going to be miserable (I always fly coach), I might as well learn something. The Handbook of Mortgage Backed Securities must’ve weighed at least half that all by itself (and no, I did not open it during that trip or anytime after).

Hi MA,

>I have a sturdy carryon that I have used for years, it fits under the seat so I never worried about the weight until a British Airways ticket agent insisted on weighing it.<

Happened to us our last trip. The AF agent insisted on weighing the carryons.

One (the one I very carefully packed with the wine and olive oil, among other things) was too heavy. the other was OK.

Even though the sum of the two was within the limits, I had to repack them so that the heavy one was lighter and the lighter one was heavier.

Go figure.

Gosh, I guess I'm glad I flew easyJet instead of British Airways from London to Prague last month! (They were about the same price and time to Prague at the last minute when I flew.)

My carryons (laptop, camera bag) were heavy so my check-in bag would be under 20kg. easyJet may be strict about checked baggage weight but they don't care "within reason" about the weight of checked luggage - although they may ask you to check a carryon if they thin it's too heavy. On one of my easyJet flights (Budapest to London I think), a guy was struggling to lift a very heavy bag and put it into the overhead bin. A flight attendant saw him and said, "Oh, we will need to check that bag, it's too heavy! If it comes out of that bin it could take someone's head off!" So the heavy bag was checked (probably not weighed).

Andrew

Let me clarify...we are traveling to Italy for 2 weeks this fall & I plan on doing laundry. I weighed my hard-side luggage ALONE & it weighed 18 pounds - empty. We have done a 10 day trip & had 70 lb bags but we did NO laundry. I have travel clothing, plan on traveling light, and should not have problems on the trip over but coming home I'm concerned [how much "stuff" will I pick up along the way?...]. Thanks for all of your tips.

cgkpt, that is one heavy suitcase. I weigh all bags before I buy them and I won't buy anything that weighs more than 9 pounds. That is my upper limit, and I won't go over it. Have you thought about buying a new piece of luggage that weighs less?

Now, I have a suggestion: I have a friend that ships everything home. He never brings home dirty clothes, shoes, or non-breakable purchases. I travel on much too tight a budget to pay to ship things, but my friend ships everything.

An 18 lb suitcase -- empty. That is just toooo heavy. I can't imagine using a bag that heavy

Hi ckgpt, an 18 pound piece of luggage is certainly to heavy. Do yourself a favor and go buy some new luggage. You will be so glad you did.

Debbie/Tuscanlifeedit, I, about 6 years ago, did ship home a box of worn clothes etc. The weather had turned from very hot & humid in Italy to terrible cold rain storms. I had to buy cold weather clothes in Italy. Plus I had overpacked due to friends in Italy that wanted me to bring clothes for hiking, sailing and horseback riding. What a nightmare, LOL. It was the best $60.00 I ever spent. Although I will say spending the hours trying to get it shipped (ended up using the Italian PO) was frustrating to put it midly. I did receive the box about 3 months later. I sent it via land to keep the cost down.


Hope your weekend wedding went well and you can relax this week. Take care.

Agree with ditching the 18 pounder suitcase. YOu will be soooo glad on so many levels.