Super Light Packing For Budget Airlines
Why We Booked on a Budget Airline
We recently booked a trip to Iceland on Wow Airlines (no longer in service, sadly). The price was cheap, less than $200 per person round trip. It is not often you see prices like this. We jumped on it. To be able to fly a family of five at this price is a steal.
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Seats
Following the booking came the additional prices. First it was seats. It is not necessary to book seats, but if you don’t you will be assigned a seat. We did not want to be split up as a family; with young children, prefer to have them next to us.
There are four choices for seat selection: Wow Standard, a standard seat towards the back; Wow Plus, a standard seat located closer to the front of the plane; Wow Comfy, which offers fliers extra leg room; and Wow Premium, a big seat included when you book a ticket through premium plan. You can also buy these larger seats for extra.
We paid close to $7.00 for the seat assignments. Our flight was now creeping up to the $200 mark per ticket.
Luggage
The weather in Iceland is cold in Iceland in October. It hovers around 42 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and dips to the 30’s in the evening. Knowing this means we have to pack layers of clothes to keep warm. With five of us, that’s a lot of clothes to pack.
Baggage is an additional cost on many of the budget airlines. Checked luggage can cost upwards of $49.00 extra for one bag, $98.00 for two each way. That’s if you pre-book luggage online. The price goes up if you pay for it at the airport. I figured we could all easily fit in a carry on, as the trip was only 4 days. But carry-ons are also an additional cost. One bag is $39.00 each way if you book online. So, if each of us took our own carry-on, it would add an additional $400 total, for both ways, to our travel budget.
On principle (and pocketbook), we chose to pack in daypacks that would fit under the seat and not pay for checked or carry on luggage.
Under the seat bags are free (woot woot!). But wait: there’s a catch: Bags under the seat cannot be more than 42x32x25cm/ 17x13x10in (10kg/22 lbs). Wow is strict. If they notice (they do), that you haven’t checked or paid for any luggage, they will check your bag size and weight before getting on the flight.
Packing For Four Days in Iceland Only Using A Small Daypack
We were determined not to pay baggage fees for our flight. We all pulled out daypacks that fit the correct measurements and started deliberating on how we would fit in enough cold weather clothes, cameras, snacks, and electronics.
We would have to travel with layers in order to stay warm.
Long-underwear
Long-underwear are essential for layering. We brought 2 pairs, as one could be used for pajamas as well. Don’t buy cotton; it’s a poor insulator, will drain heat dangerously when wet, and takes forever to dry when you wash it. Go with synthetic, wool, or silk. Wool has the advantage of not smelling (it’s magic in that respect). Synthetic is light, packs easy, and washes easy. We are fans of both SmartWool for wool, and Patagonia Capilene for synthetic, among the many excellent choices out there.
T-shirts
We made sure we all had quick dry material (again, wool or synthetic), in case we had to do a wash in a sink or got wet from all of the waterfalls. Two t-shirts would be packed, plus the one we were wearing there. Total of three, easily foldable t-shirts. My husband loves his SmartWool 150 T-shirt but the weight and feel isn’t for everyone. The rest of us wore UnderArmour and NorthFace synthetic shirts.
Pants
The ones we wore on our bodies were the ones that carried us through the entire 4 days. We all wore hiking pants, made of synthetic material. Quick drying when wet on the trail or washed at the end of the day, non-wrinkling, and easy. My husband is obsessed with his Prana Stretch Zion pants, which he believes are the best all-around travel and hiking pants ever.
Socks
were quick-dry wool socks and we wore one and packed two. We use both SmartWool and Icebreaker merino wool socks . Again–wool won’t stink, washes easy, and insulates even when wet. We used them with trail shoes and were comfortable across a wide range of temperatures.
Midlayers
We packed lightweight, synthetic mid layers. Think fleece, but thinner. These were worn as sweaters, over the t-shirts or over the long underwear base layer, depending on the temperature.
Jackets
We wore them on the plane. We approach outerwear in two parts. The first is a lightweight, insulating layer. This can be worn by itself or combined with a waterproof shell. Many favor down for this layer (sometimes also billed as “down sweaters”), but we are partial to synthetic. These insulate when wet, and are more durable. These can also pack down into their pockets to be about the size of soda cans, so they pack easy in day bags as well. Our family is split up between Patagonia Nanopuff wearers and NorthFace Thermoball. The other jacket is a rain layer. In warmer weather this can be worn by itself as a windbreaker or rain jacket. In cooler weather, it was combined with the insulating layer to make a warm combination against cold, wind, and rain. These were easy to roll up and place in our backpacks. Tip: lay the jacket out flat. Fold over the sleeves and outer thirds of the jacket inward, and then roll from the bottom up, flipping the rolled jacket into the hood for storage. Stays compact and easy to find in your bag. A few different types of rain jackets in the family, with us gravitating towards the balance of performance and price in the Marmot Precip jackets.
Toiletries
Hardly any. Toothbrush, 2 small travel toothpastes for all of us to share, deodorant, and a hairbrush. The hair brush broke right away and our daughter and I struggled to use the bristles without the base of the brush. We made it work. The AirBnB provided soap and shampoo, as did the horse farm. All the hot springs provide soap and shampoo in their changing rooms, as well.
I packed single use laundry detergent packets. Fortunately our first Airbnb had a washer/dryer. Had it not, these single use packets are essential for washing clothes in the sink or tub.
Making It All Fit
The true test was how we would make it all fit into our small daypacks. We didn't want to get flagged at boarding (and--like I said--they do check). We laid out all of our clothing and started rolling. Rolling will get your clothes more compact than folding. Try it, and you'll see.
Once rolled, they were easily stackable at the bottom of the backpack. Now we could stack any other necessities like our balled up rain jackets on top, cameras, protein bars, books, electronics, hats and gloves.
How We Dressed For The Flight
Figuring that our bag could only be a specific size, we all bundled up for the flight. We wore our one pair of pants and hiking shoes. We had on our inner layer (t-shirt made of synthetic material), a mid layer providing us with insulation. We wore our insulating layers over that as we got on the flight. We kept our shell layers (the raincoats) rolled up in balls in the backpacks, to be used when we arrive.
It was still warm on the East Coast of the USA and the kids pointed this out many times while we were waiting for our flight. However, the moment they walked out of the airport in Iceland, they understood the reasons for all of the layers. We were blasted with a cold wind that ripped through us in the 38 degree Fahrenheit cold.
Will We Pack This Way For Future Trips?
Short answer, YES! Packing light was so liberating. Not having to worry about lugging loads of luggage around for five. Moreover, we realized quickly, we just didn't need the stuff. Need more information on what to pack for backpacking in Europe? Try this Europe packing list, to get you around on your adventure with only a daypack. We were fine with just a couple of changes. What helped was having a washer dryer to keep us clean or even a sink to hand wash.
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A Last-Minute, 4-Day Trip To Iceland
Impressive packing! I have found that I can usually get by with less than what I think I’ll need.
I really want to try to do this trip and I do not mind going in the fall. I have heard of others taking the airline to Israel for half the price of other airlines. Is it expensive to stay there? They owe you for getting the word out there!!
Totally agree. Yes, cheap to get there, but expensive to stay.
Great tips to wear many of the clothing items onto the plane! I did that on my trip to hike Kilimanjaro, so that all of my essential layering gear was on my body and would not get lost. I really want to visit Iceland and a budget airline will have to be the way for me as well. Thanks for the packing tips!
It really is liberating to pack light, but this is such a struggle for me. I loved your article and you definitely know what you’re talking about. I’m glad to see you all made it work! Side note: that airline is way too strict! Flying with them would give me a little anxiety lol
Oh they took it seriously, way seriously.
What a great opportunity to travel at such a great price. I will have to check into Wow flights. I found packing light seems less stressful. It’s the only way to go.
I’ve always wondered about these types of airlines. Great to know that it can be done! Thank you!
Very impressive packing skills. Learned some new tricks. Thanks for sharing!
I’m impressed with your skills! I’m happy to meet a fellow light packer. Glad you were able to pull it off and still stay warm. 🙂
Very impressive! My husband travels a lot for business and he can do the same thing. It amazes me I need two bags for his one backpack:)
It took a lot of encouragement for me. I had to be strong!
Thanks for these tips. I recently started traveling using a budget airline where I too have to use similar methods. I often wondered if it was just me who was skimping on the carry ons. Good to know that I’m in good company that also uses the same methods.
Ahh this is a much needed post. I always end up packing loads and have to pay for check in. Thanks for sharing.
Great tips! I would have thought you needed hiking boots as well when visiting Iceland so thanks for the information. Very helpful!
I traveled with WOW last year and both Iceland and paris and boy for a two and half week adventure what a trip. I literally wore 9 layers of clothes. And got a carryon and a bag but managed to stay within budget. Wow in my personal opinion great airlines but there are some that are good or may I say better if you look for tickets earlier. Nonetheless I loved WOW.
What a wonderful post! These are some awesome tips, travelling can really get expensive. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
My daughter recently took a trip involving several flights. She also packed super light to save from checking bags and paying extra. The only problem she ran into was during airport time. It was extremely hard to juggle the bags and a two year old in meltdown that was refusing to walk any further. She would have gladly paid to check bags at that point so she wasn’t having to carry them and the child all at the same time.
Yes a two-year old melt down is always a struggle.
This is amazing to me because our family always overpacks. ALWAYS. We should book a trip with air like this so we are forced to pack light. Great job!
When you are trying to avoid the extra baggage fees this is such an important thing to know. Good advice when it comes to packing.
Great one… Awesome post
This was smart of you all to pick a money saving trip. You are right having a 5 person family can increase the amount you spend for trips having a cheaper way of doing it will increase fun and decrease stress
I never heard or thought of it. However, this is really a great idea and great post o re-think and conclude upon.
This post is really awesome and thoughtful. I loved your thoughts and the way you have presented it. Some wonderful working tips.Thanks
Wow! Good for you. hahaha I also try to keep us four traveling light. It can be so hard with little kids because we bring art materials and food to keep them entertained. haha And well, when we travel, we try to at least have some luggage allowance so as to allow us some stuff that we can bring home 😀
You are an epic packer! I can’t even begin to fathom getting everything I would need for 4 days into a backpack. I think I may be a little too high maintenance for backpack travel!
We’re getting ready to book our tickets to Hawaii. These are great tips to keep in mind. Thanks!
Take me with you and I’ll help you pack!!!
I love packing light! And getting away with the kids, you need to go for the cheaper routes, otherwise it will cost an arm and a leg.
I love the packing list! Learning to pack light is a skill, and you offered a lot of great insight!
Amazing post! I’ve never tried light packing when traveling but this ones really helpful. I’d like to try light packing for budget airlines one day!
Thank you
Wow, that is impressive. I need to learn how to pack less. I don’t think I could go that light, but it does give me some ideas on what to pack next time I travel.
I didn’t think I could either. However, once done, it was freeing.
Holy Moly! I am impressed at your packing skills. I will be sending this post to my family that travels often.
Awesome, I hope they find it a useful guide.
I love to pack light, It is such a great feeling to have extra space in the suitcase. I prefer to buy if I need than to carry around stuff that I end up not needing.
What a way to minimize the fees and still get the excitement.
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I remember when they first started charging for carry on bags. I was astounded. I don’t like it.
It’s so frustrating they get away with charging for bags.
I love travelling and budget traveling is something I would do regularly!
Kudos to you for impressive packing! I could never that. I always pack a lot for traveling for a week or two.
That would be magic for me. I couldnt fit my stuff in one bag especially when travelling. It’s a challenge
It was a challenge especially when you are used to bringing stuff.
These are excellent tips which I intend to share with my daughters. They book budget airlines as they travel internationally quite frequently. This will really improve their packing.
I should probably work more on packing light when I travel. I end up packing everything, lol. But I am learning and thanks for your suggestions
We are a family of 6, and I struggle wwith paking light. I’ll be putting your tipis to good use next vacation! I love your tip on wearing layera … so smart.
It was so freeing.
I try to pack light, but I’m not always successful. Thanks so much for all the tips and ideas. I have a trip coming up and will definitely be saving this to refer back to when I’m packing 🙂
That is superb packing skills! Really impressive. I hate all the extra charges the airline put on things so to do them at their own game is a win in my book!
I have been looking fo rthe perfect bag for a upcoming trip of mine. I must check this one out, it looks great@
I am a light packer, but this is freaking genius!!! Using the tips for my next trip
Awesome!! I will never go back to heavy packing
Super light packing is so important and convenient! We try to always only use a carry on when we travel…so we always travel light! HA
Ticket at that price is certainly a deal! I also prefer to travel light nowadays. Less hassle and easy to move from one place to another!
Good tips when it comes to packing with limited space. I know that layers are so important on trips though. I will have to get more fleece type material for clothes.
Looks to be a great backpack for essentials. I want to see more of what you packed in there for a four day trip! xo, Suzanne
Today I get opportunity to learn how to pack bagpacks with limited clothes. I am regular traveler I need this desperately. Thanks for sharing the tip
I totally need to save these tips, if we should ever fly.
I’m all about budget airlines. I typically travel solo, so I just let them assign me whatever seat I want. I also pack pretty light! They’re also a great deal for families like you said!
This is great for the traveler who wants to pack light. I am definitely an overpacker I have to do better.
This packing is so impressive! I struggle with packing as this is one of my travel resolutions for the new year. I will be using this post as a guide to help me pack. Also Iceland is on my bucket list!
I have to say I didn’t think I could do it, but alas I didn’t have much of a choice!