uppsala30

Yikes, I have a complicated trip coming up. Two weeks in Thessaloniki- staying in apartment- then 4 nights in Athens- apartment, Then my husband and I are flying Aegean Air to Santorini, very to Milos and back to Athens. Next stop Lisbon for 4 nights. Total vacation time is 34 days. I am trying to figure out if I can do this with only carry on luggage. My concern is the inter island flights. How difficult will it be if I end up with a full sized suitcase?



Recently traveled to France with full suitcase, and underseat roller bag on the plane. That worked fine, but I don’t need to bring any heavy jackets or boots on this trip.

FTOttawa

Check Aegean Air’s web site for their carry on size and weight restrictions; then you will know if you have to check your bag for those one or two flights.

yorkshire

Assuming you'll have a washer in your apartments, I'd try really hard to not check on those island flights.

geetika

We did 5 weeks between Sicily and Greece last April/May and managed perfectly with a carry-on. We took a week’s worth of clothes and mixed and matched tops and pants. We had a washer dryer everywhere, except on Santorini, so we did laundry every 4-5 days. Easy peasy 😉

Heimdall

Here is the Aegean Airlines/Olympic Air cabin baggage allowance. Note that Olympic Air performs most domestic flights for the Aegean Airlines - Olympic Air alliance.
https://www.olympicair.com/en/travel...nd-essentials/

whitehall

We often do two 5 or 6 weeks European trips per year, and we have never checked a bag. We each have a carry-on, sized to the most restrictive discount carrier standards, and we each have a backpack. And, hard to believe, but we always have stuff we don't wear. We do usually try to rent apartments with washers.

nylilly

I am a shameless clothes horse and I find a well packed carryon to be sufficient, especially for warm weather destinations. The most complicated part isn't what I choose to pack to wear necessarily, but instead keeping track of liquids. Packing sunscreen, lotions and shampoo can get complicated.

cdnyul

My luggage for 19 days in Spain.

janisj

I only use carry-on no matter the length/type/or climate the trip. Winter trips require warmer layers, summer trips require perhaps a few more garments but they are generally MUCH thinner so for both types of trip, the total volume of clothing and shoes is about the same.

Don't think of it as "OMG - I'm traveling for a month I need lots of clothes, what can I do??" - Instead . . . "I'm traveling for a month and need 4 or 5 (maybe 6) days of clothing which I can mix/match". Especially for summer trips - with the lighter garments anything you need to hand wash will easily dry over night.

janisj

ps: cdnyul's photo is a lot more than I usually take. I use a soft sided roll aboard and and a medium sized tote type handbag

cdnyul

Enough unmentionables for a week, after that either laundry or shop at El Corte Ingles.
Expected temps 18 day, 7 in the evening.

cdnyul

I have some of my wife's stuff in there....

janisj

Ah -- your are the beast of burden

uppsala30

That backpack wouldn’t be allowed on Aegean, except as checked baggage. Too large

HappyTrvlr

We have each traveled with a 21-22” carry-on and a second smaller bag, much smaller than the backpack shown in photo above for up to six weeks. Wash and dry your clothes! We had a cottage on Crete that gave us housekeeper services. The Greek woman took our laundry home every night. In Puglia a laundromat owner agreed to wash/dry our clothes for us so we didn’t have to give up precious travel time.
There are many ways to get laundry done for you. A month in Greece should not present any problems as far as bringing fewer clothes.

whitehall

These easily fit in our Aegean cabin, and, all eight of our flights in and out of Athens last fall.

uppsala30

Whitehall- thank you so much. That’s perfect, I think I can do that! My big concern right now is that the carry on suitcase I want to be is 2cm too long - when I measure from top to bottom of shells. It is fine if I don’t include the wheels. Was Aegean super picky when you boarded the planes?

uppsala30

Whoops fine until I include the “ wheels”

dreamon

uppsala30, hope you don't mind tagging along...

We're also planning a longer visit to Greece and trying to minimise our luggage. Because we're going to a number of places with no footpaths or lots of stairs, we're thinking of taking small-ish backpacks (about 40litre). Carrying a case sounds too hard. Any thoughts on backpacks vs wheelies? I know there can be a pavlovian response against packs but thoughts anyway? I'm hoping a pack will remind me of my carefree 20s and not remind me of my ageing body! The other challenge, of course, is weight - hoping for less than 10kg each. Any advice?

whitehall

We didn't notice any pickiness. However, we recollect the bins are not terribly large overhead. I don't think the bins were very deep, and most of the wheelies had to go sideways, which might give you a little more cushion They seemed more interested in getting the planes loaded quickly than inspecting bags. We did buy our suitcases as sized for European discount carriers.