WatersonFamily

After reading all your packing tips and ideas, I realize that I must try harder to convince my husband not to overpack. He says that since we are being met at airports trains and hotels by private car, we won't be carrying the luggage so it doesn't matter. He wants to take one suitcase each plus a carry on each. Too much right? We are leaving CA fro NYC on June 11, ten NYC to London on the 12th. London to Paris via Chunnel on the 17th then Paris to NYC on the 20th then home later that night. We are dropping my 12 yr. old off in NTC thus the stopover. She also wants to take one suitcase and a carry on to NYC. Any ideas or questions?
Also, is it true you have to "dress" for dinner in Paris. We booked the Seine dinner Cruise and someone said they "require coat & tie." Getting my Levis & t-shirt husband in a tie may be tricky.

Scarlett

If someplace requires a coat and tie, it is very dressy. In Paris-dressy is usually just a jacket.
I guess that is just the price he will have to pay to go to a nice place for dinner in Paris!
I always say that I don't have to carry the bag, so I don't care how heavy it is. Why not think the same way about your husbands packing?
What difference does it make if you pack a lot?

bobthenavigator

The more you travel the better you get at packing light. Go to slowtrav.com and under " Italy" and then " planning" you will find my 22 tips for Euro travel to include a packing list.

WatersonFamily

Thanks for the web link. Lots of good ideas there, but do you pack a tie for Paris? Is a Corderoy Blazer and Dockers okay for the dinner cruise on the Seine or is a tie required.

Rich

They will loan you a tie and even a jacket on the dinner cruise . . you will see some jeans and dockers.

Rich

ira

Hi

I suggest tht you pack a suitcase for hubby and yourself.

Let him pack his own suitcase.

Leave his suitcase home.

PS a tie takes up very little space. As a tie-hating person myself, i sympathize, but sometimes "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do".

HowardR

You're kidding, right Ira? I mean about leaving the husband's suitcase home!
I'm confused about the original posting. If all the husband wears are jeans and T-shirts, why does he need so much luggage?

WatersonFamily

ira, thanks for the chuckle! What a great idea! This whole thing is getting so stressful, I find myself worrying more about not having something I need than having too much, but I do want to find a balance.

Grasshopper

Madam Waterson, Don't waste another moment worrying! (easier said than done) The way you're travelling, going a little luggage heavy won't be a big deal. And if you forget something, buy it there! It's always fun when you get home to use the "fill in the blank" you bought in Paris. (ever read the tampon warning in French?)

WatersonFamily

Thanks for the advice. When this all began, I thought of myself like those college kids backpacking through London and Paris with no plan and little luggage. My hubby, however, feels that at 50 he deserves better. He wants to be picked up and dropped off and catered to so to speak. I'm comprimising cause it's my first trip, but I won't compromise my pleasure and all his little worries is beginning to
stress me out. I just want to get there and take it as it comes, but if something bad happens that could have been planned for I'll hear I told you so for the next 25 years!

ira

Dear Mrs Waterson,

Please ass the following message to hubby,

My wife and I are in our late sixties. For a three-week trip to Europe we take one suitcase and two carry-ons.

Even if you are being driven by private car, there won't be porterage on the trains.

Should there be something we have forgotten, we buy it over there. We have found Europe to be reasonably civilized (except for the paucity of ice).

Enjoy your trip, and don't overpack (except for a tie).

Christina

I agree with your husband. One suitcase plus a carryon is completely normal and what I take every time I go to Europe for a week or more and I have for years. He's especially right if you are being met at the airport. there's no reason in the world he shouldn't take that. For heaven's sake, I'm just an avg size woman and I handle all that myself without being met by a private car. Maybe your husband wants to be comfortable and look decent, for which I applaud him. I'm the same way. You'll never find me asking questions about how to wear walking shoes or sneakers at the ballet or with a skirt. I also never get blisters or have bad feet because I don't wear the same pair of shoes 24/7.

Now it depends on the size suitcase, I'm not suggesting a 30" one or anything, but I take a 22-25" one plus a carryon. Nothing terrible is going to happen if you do that because I've done it over and over again and don't regret it at all.

However, it is funny that you then say he won't wear decent clothes for dinner. That ruins my theory, which is good in general, but maybe not for him. If all he's taking is ten pairs of different levis and 20 Tshirts, then I agree, there's no point in that.

They DO require a coat and tie on those dinner cruises. If he refuses to dress in those kind of clothes, forget it and just take one without the dinner where you can wear anything. YOu are going to be very limited in where you can go, though, if he won't wear anything else but play clothes.

bob_brown

I always have one checked suitcase and one carry-on; so does my wife. We travel everywhere like that, Europe or USA.
We toss them on and off trains with ease and drag them through city streets.
That is one advantage of having wheels on the luggage.
It does not sound like overpacking to me. Of course is one of the pieces weighs 70 pounds I will reconsider my answer. I can pick mine up and carry it a short distance if I need to.

WatersonFamily

Thanks Christina. As I said, we are doing a lot of compromising. He agreed to wear his Khaki dockers and a tan corderoy blazer for the cruise. If he needs a tie, I can get him one. He is one of those guys who hates to wear the same thing twice.

RachelG

One suitcase plus a carry-on sounds fine to me. The rule in our family is you can take as much as you want but you have to carry it yourself--I don't carry my husband's bags and if he wants to take way to much, he can carry it. It's his back.

Sue_xx_yy

Luggage tests:

You try to take your suitcase off the airport baggage carousel, and:

a) wind up losing your balance such that you wind up on the carousel;

b) you manage, but pray that you find a luggage cart to get you to arrivals..

c)it's a breeze.

II. You try to heave your suitcase up onto the train luggage rack, and:

a) you can't fit in it the available racks

b) wind up dropping it on a neighbouring passenger.

c) succeed with a bit of effort

III. You try to unpack in your hotel room and

a) have to check out and find a bigger hotel room

b) have to take turns in the room unpacking

c) actually find room for your stuff in a European hotel room.

If your most frequent answer is a) then your husband is definitely overpacked; b) then he might be overpacked; c) your husband wins the argument, 19 pairs of jeans and all.

: - )

WatersonFamily

That's funny! We have a three piece luggage set (4 with the carry on). He plans to pack the largest one. My daughter will use the middle one for her trip to NYC and I get the small one. I say we can both pack in the large one, he says we'll need the small one too. So I say, he can haul around the large one, I'll take the small one and I'll have fewer muscles aches in the mroning.

jor

I agree with HowardR. Why does a husband who likes t-shirts and jeans want more luggage than his wife wants??

And since you have a "car" picking you up all the time what's wrong with the extra luggage? Your post doesn't make much sence.

Convice him that you both wear backpacks. They solve all overpacking problems, hands down.

RufusTFirefly

If you don't have to carry the suitcases around all that much, what's the problem? We always take two suitcases and have never found it any problem at all. Back in our backpacking days, we each had our own backpack. Now we each have our own suitcase. No big deal if you aren't schlepping them all over the place.

luna

My boyfriend and I each check one suitcase (mine is smaller than his - a 22" no less) and take a carryon - and I have a purse. We can each tote/wheel/manage our own luggage, too. Stick to the "each person handles their own bags" rule and you'll be fine. Enjoy Europe!