Survival Packing
 

I really do not want to check a bag this next trip.

What has been your maximum time living out of a carry-on?

11 days.

12 days. Piece of cake. :)

7 weeks

5 weeks.

15 days, 3 coutries and 50 degree temperature variations.

I very much like these answers.

Merci.

2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months - doesn't really make any difference to me. Carry-on only works, no matter the length of the trip.

One month

45 days.

We "walk" in europe every year for 3 weeks and take only a backpack and walk from b&b to b&b or hotel to hotel. Piece of cake. When our kids were 6 and 7 we all went to Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia for a month with carryons for all of us. No problem!

Friends of ours just got done with a "bike around the world" trip (took about a year or so) and had only the clothes in their panniers.

People just take too much stuff!

Anywhere from 10 days to three weeks, but I would find a way to do it for 6 months, if necessary.

We stopped checking baggage years ago, after waiting 6 days for luggage to arrive.

Just find out ahead of time (ask here) where the nearest laundremats are or get an apartment with a washer! By the way, many laundramats will let you leave your clothes in the morning and have them washed, dried, folded and ready for pickup in late afternoon at a very reasonable price--especially if you consider your time too valuable to spend sitting around a laundramat! Toss one of those completely collapsible (fold down to a small square and zip closed--I know American Tourister makes one)duffles in your suitcase to tote to the laundramat.


YOU CAN DO IT!!

Only 2.5 weeks, but it was a round-the-world trip that started in late winter (Canada), continued to wet spring in London and Lisbon (where smart casual clothes were needed for going out at night), and then on to Mumbai (40C) for business meetings (conservative suits), then Thailand (vacation - city sightseeing and diving) and finally more wet spring (visiting family in Vancouver).

Three weeks, but unless I was going to be spending several weeks in the same place, I'd stick with carry-on no matter how long the trip is. If I got tired of the clothes I had, I'd just pitch something and buy something new to replace it.

Like janisj it does not matter whether it is two weeks or two months - I always just pack a carry on back pack that can be converted to a dufflebag thing. I like to be able to easily carry it wherever I go if I have to.

Now a dissenting view - 1 week.

Beyond that, I find the stress and time consuming nature of paring down what I take simply too hard when weighed up against, to me, the minor inconvenience of waiting for luggage or the (remote in my view) chance of my luggage not arriving.

Also, I travel for work to places where it is not that easy to just go out and buy stuff - be it clothes or toiletries and I also need to take things for work - some papers, computer etc which eats into the hand luggage component.

I am in the camp who thinks some are a tiny bit obsessed with only carry on.

I'll admit it, I'm obsessed with traveling carry-on.

It's related to my obsessions for not spending any more quality time at baggage claim than necessary (including filling out forms in the lost luggage office when it happens) and for being able to adjust to glitches in the travel schedule with ease.

And once I'm at my destination I can take advantage of all possible ground transportation options.

Were I to find that packing carry-on only compromised my very high-maintenance approach to dressing and grooming, or made it difficult to travel for work I'd stop doing it. But so far it's been very, very easy.

The longest trips I've taken carry-on only to date have been two weeks, but that's because I haven't taken any longer than that. Early next year I'm doing three weeks, and yes, it will be carry-on.

I'm with eliza3 on this. I really can't see the point in carry-on only and spending time washing clothes, worrying about where there is a launderette, or whether your clothes will be dry in the morning, nor do I want to spend time finding toiletries and other things.
For the half an hour it takes to reclaim a bag I don't think it is worth it. Really I don't.
I carry my camera gear on, which takes up most of my allowance, plus reading matter and such. I never worry about my bag not making it.

How can you do it? Carry on that is..!
Honestly now, in every single trip i'm trying to put my stuff in my carry on (and we're talking now for a 3-4 day trip) and i really can't fit them all and at the end i take a normal luggage and take everything i want without worrying about 50ml toiletries or if i'll take one more shirt etc..
Do you take only one pair of shoes? Or one trouser and one jumper? Because especially with shoes you don't have space for anything else!

2 days.