Hmmm...this is certainly doable in a carry-on with a back-pack as your personal bag, so long as you don't have long flippers for snorkeling! My carry-on has two exterior pockets especially for soft shoes like topsiders and trainers. If I don't travel with Tam, I can get everything I need for a week or even ten days in the carryon and backpack. A big bonus for me is that the carryon has expansion zippers that increase interior space by over 20 percent, but turn the bag into checked luggage...not bad for the trip home!Originally Posted by gerryg123
Except for the snorkel/mask, this is essentially how I travel to Europe and JA, with no checked luggage. The only time I check luggage is on ski trips or when I have a formal affair to attend while on vacation. Hey, it happens! I take my mask and snorkel and bury it in the bottom of the backpack. I use the beach towel as a packing liner for the carryon. I wear my trainers and pack my sandals and surfshoes in the outside pockets of carryon. The lotions/gels and creams are all put into a clear ziploc, each bottle labled, and that goes in a front pocket of the backpack(Timberland) for easy security access. All my electronics, camera/charger, video/batteries, mp3/charger, speakers, cellphone/charger, headphones, cables, etc...fit in a gallon ziploc that fits in the second front pocket on the backpack. Inside the backpack are my netbook/charger, Dopp kit, first aid kit, books/reading material, notebook, pens, get-a-way gear consisting of one each of shorts/shirt/skivvies/socks/cap/swimtrunks(these are all rolled up together tight and secured with large rubber bands and then placed in a gallon ziploc). There is plenty of room left over in the backpack for other items, such as my pair of one litre plastic filtering water bottles. In the carryon goes my clothing gear.....experience has taught me that on a ten day trip I can get away with 3 or 4 cargo shorts, 3 swim trunks, 5 t's, 3 poly polos, 10 skivvies(put them together, roll them up and rubber band them together, the skivvies that is...), one pair pants(I prefer tan cotton khakis), two belts, and two Hawaii/party shirts. I wear the same clothes on travel days, since I am only in them long enough to get to and from JA! That's usually the last I see of the trainers as well! I don't recall wearing them in JA during the ten days this June...
The carryon packing is always evolving for me, esp. as electronics have become so miniaturized.
For us though, checking luggage isn't really too much of an issue. It is a nonstop flight and by the time we clear immigrations and head for the carousel and then customs(or is it vice-versa?) our checked luggage is on the carousel or only a very short wait....
YMMV, esp. if traveling with a member of the fairer sex......ten days in JA requires Tam to check AT LEAST one bag. Sheesh.
Another option is to buy the big towel and your tshirts in JA and just pack a couple of polos.....saves a ton of space!
