One-Bag, Personal Item Only

My baggage allowance in my upcoming eight-day trip will be heavily restricted. To pinch my pennies, I'm flying Flair airlines and WestJet Ultrabasic with only a personal item.

Background

I did quite a bit of research prior to making this leap. Mostly by scanning the information on the r/OneBag and r/HerOneBag subreddits, then a handful of YouTube videos.

There are many people who successfully pack personal-item only and report feeling rather liberated by it. Not only does one save on baggage fees, but travelling with a personal item allows one to act with a higher degree of spontaneity. No need to go 'drop the bags off' before stepping out to explore the city, or to pay for one of those luggage-holding lockers.

But a major factor within the world of personal-item travel rests on which airline one is using.

• The dimensions of a 'personal item' are not standardized and vary significantly from airline to airline.
• Different airlines hold different reputations for how strictly they enforce their policies.

Flair is as 'budget' of a 'budget airline' as exists in Canada. Their enforcement is known to be incredibly strict.

• When the gate agents assess you, you can't carry your jacket in your hands. You have to wear it, lest they consider your jacket to be a 'personal item.'
• Some gate agents will charge you if you have to push down at all when your bag enters the sizer.
• They are also known to disallow neck pillows.

WestJet doesn't have the same reputation for strictness. There are a couple of stories, but not at all to the degree or frequency as the nightmares recounted by travellers who book Flair flights without fully preparing for what it means to fit the personal item dimensions. Speaking of which:

Flair

• 43 cm by 15 cm by 33 cm
• (17 in. by 6 in. by 13 in.)

WestJet

• 41 cm by 14 cm by 33 cm
• (16 in. by 6 in. by 13 in.)

Luckily, Flair and WestJet have very similar allotment sizes, varying only by two centimeters in the first dimension, and one centimeter in the second. But even more luckily, I happen to have recently purchased a bag whose listed dimensions are 40.89 cm by 11.94cm by 30.99cm. I did not at all buy this bag with personal item travel in mind. What a happy coincidence!

For this trip, another important detail rests in my destination. I am going to visit my partner. I already have a toothbrush and toothpaste there from last visit. I'll simply leech off the other items that I require-- in other words, I'm packing basically no toiletries or personal care items, with the exception of my medication and my hairbrush.

I'll also have access to laundry, but this was not as necessary. I have enough space for clothes to likely last me the full week.

The Bag

Women's Laptop Backpack 16 inch Work Travel Backpack Nurse Backpack University Backpack Teacher Handbag. It was $12.38 on TEMU.

Ultimately, my purchase of this bag was unethical, as are all of my purchases from TEMU. As someone who is concerned about climate change and ethical production, TEMU has been such a thorn in my penny-pinching monkey brain. Somebody always pays. I didn't pay much, but someone else did. And that's horrible.

I do not recommend anyone to also purchase this bag.

I'm trying to get better about aligning my values and actions this year. But this discussion is a little outside the scope of this article.

The Dress Rehearsal

A couple months ago, I threw a whole bunch of items in the bag just to see what I could fit in there. When I measured it, I realized that it was going to be difficult to actually know for sure whether or not the bag was going to fit in the sizer. My biggest concern was getting the bag to be smaller than 6 inches across. My American measuring tape was coming in at exactly 6 inches across the bottom of the bag, and there was some bulge going on in the middle that I was unable to measure accurately.

I do not do well with uncertainty. I decided it was necessary to hold a 'dress rehearsal'-- to pack my bag exactly as it would be packed on the day of, to travel to the airport, and to drop my bag into the sizer, know with 100% certainty that I would not be running into additional fees. I write this one day after conducting this dress rehearsal.

Conclusion First

So did it work, did the bag slot in? Yes!

It fit into WestJet.

It fit into Flair.

(I know the waterbottle sticks up, but I can remove and stash that in my vest to make the bag fit flat.)

And for bonus points, it fit into Air Canada too.

One of the bag's key features as a convertible totebag-backpack is the ability to disconnect the straps from the bottom of the bag. This feature allowed me to tuck the straps into the top area of the sizer and meet the depth requirements.

If the bag did not have this feature, I would probably be forced to do a bit of stuffing. But that was not the case. For the most part, the bag slid down into the sizer without much additional effort.

The Packing List

I didn't use any of the bag's front pockets, as I was very concerned about bulge.

Main Compartment

The bag's main comparment held

• Laptop (IdeaPadFlex 5)
• One very light base layer
• One medium-thickness base layer
• One pair of sleeping shorts
• Hairbrush
• Long USB-C to USB-C cable
• Faux leather pouch full of important items
• Blue pencil case full of miscellaneous items
• Medium-sized packing cube full of clothes
• Unpictured: a very small packing cube of underwear.

We'll go over the individual pouches and their contents in a moment. I want to note that finding the right arrangement of things in the bags was essential to getting this to work.

Packing cube at the bottom, underwear cube at the side, pencil case weirdly angled to the side, cable hugging the pencil case, hairbrush stuffed wherever possible, leather pouch on the opposite side, base layers and sleeping shorts stuffed at the top with whatever free extra space was left.

Medium Packing Cube

My medium packing cube initially also held my base layers and sleeping shorts, but it was causing too much bulge. When I removed the sleeping shorts and base layers from the cube, I was able cut down quite a bit on the depth of the bag.

My medium packing cube held:

• Green Kirkland Signature Women's Travel Pant
• Two black yoga pants
• Three T-Shirts

Travel Outfit

In addition to the clothes packed in my bag, I wore:

• Dark blue jeggings (jean legging, more maneuverable than jeans)
• Black yoga pants
• Thick base layer
• Money pouch
• T-shirt
• Dark blue hoody
• Carrying vest
• Rain jacket
• Puffy winter jacket
• Winter tuque (beanie)

Now, you might think that is a little bit overkill. It simultaneously is and isn't overkill. When my flight happens, I'm taking the bus to the airport, and it's winter here. More on that later, but if anything, I still wasn't warm enough; I needed gloves.

Also, the carrying vest transforms into a tote bag and is able to offload other parts of the outfit when I reach a better climate.

Blue Pencil Case

Some might call this a 'tech pouch' and I normally do use this to store mostly tech items, but you can see it's got a little more than that.

The pencil case has three separate zipped sections that are really great for organization.

Here's what each section held:

• First section featuring four slip pockets
  • Four black hair ties
  • Medium USB-C to USB-C cable
  • Birdie (Self-defense noisemaker)
  • Nipple coverings
• Second section, large and open
  • Prescription medication
  • Loose seasonal allergy medication in small cylindrical container
  • Charging block
  • Back-up wireless earbuds
  • Collapsible coffee cup, collapsed and filled with snacks
  • Personal massager
• Third section with elastics normally used to store pencils
  • Short USB-C to USB-A cable
  • Short Micro-USB to USB-A cable
  • Short Lightning to USB-A cable
  • Blue pen
  • Tablet stylus

Faux Leather Pouch

The faux leather pouch also converts into a purse. I packed the strap separately as an 'external' in my carrying vest.

This pouch features quick access and important items. I plan to wear this as a purse as I'm navigating the airport, up until I face the boarding agent.

The pouch had:

• Kobo Aura (2013) eReader in soft protective case
• Umidigi A11 (backup phone)
• Passport in passport sleeve, along with all credit cards and miscellaneous ID
• Skullcandy Dime 2 and Skullcandy Dime 3 earbuds on keychain ring, with house key.
• Clip-on sunglasses

Externals

There were also some items that did not fit into the main bag. These were carried on my person, or in my carry vest.

• Strap for faux leather pouch
• Inflatable travel pillow
• Flat water bottle
• Socks

Summary

Simulating the Route

A second important part of the dress rehearsal was to practice the route.

As previously mentioned, I live in a pretty cold city. I'm going to take public transit to the airport, and will likely wait outside for long waits in between transfers.

It was important to feel the entire weight of everything on me, to test how comfortable my outfit was, and assess whether I would be warm enough with the layers that I had.

First, I discovered that my hands were very very cold. While talking to my father about this, he suggested that if I was apprehensive to bring gloves, I could just use one of my thicker pairs of socks if I need to.

Second, I found that my dark blue hoody was way too overbearing. I'm already wearing a base layer, my rain coat and my puffer jacket. I will still be warm if I opt for a much thinner pullover instead.

Additional changes that I will need to do:

• Bring the storage bag for the puffer jacket
• Bring more socks
• Bring eyemask
• Bring luggage strap

Anticipatory Reflections

Like others, I've found this process of curating a list of true essentials to be a meditative, liberating experience.

I'm usually a chronic overpacker who brings every single thing that could possible be needed. I usually pack so much that never gets used. Perhaps this is a generational thing; my parents also overpack and have hoarding tendencies.

I have so many possessions in my room. The other day, my brother stepped into my room and was quite taken aback by just how much I manage to hide in there. "Not to be rude, but you have a lot of things," he said.

I know. I know that I have a lot of things. I know that I tend to be very messily attached to the things that I have. It is actually very surprising that a person like me was able to pull this off.

A little under a year ago, I was trying to book a very frugal flight. At that time, I immediately wrote off even the idea of pursuing personal-item travel. It was a laughable prospect to me. I ended up bringing a full carry-on and a 'personal item' backpack that far exceeded the personal item limits, stuffed to the gills. Dear Reader, I brought podcasting equipment. Why did I think I was going to use podcasting equipment? I didn't even wear half of the clothes I brought.

Restricted to a personal item, I'm not going to be able to bring my house lounger, or my little mechanical timer I use for Pomodoros, or my Thermoflask water bottle, or my second Thermoflask water bottle, or my taiko bachi that I might need in case I get invited to some taiko event, or my natural deodorent that likely does nothing anyway, or my three collapsible take-out containers, or my dedicated laptop charger, or the spacious lunch bag that I can use as a purse, or all my Luka Pona teaching materials, or my Quest 2, or the planner notebook I always swear I will use but never do, or the bullet journal I always swear I will use but never do, or my Missing Link twisty puzzle game, or my clicker counter for counting various things, or my external hard drive which I use once every six months, or my razor that I use once a month, or my selfie stick, or my phone holder, or my second phone holder, or my diabolo, or my Toki Pona books, or my Esperanto books, or my keffiyeh, or my these, or my those, or my, my, my. Oh, my. Why?

How unburdened I feel! Literal weight off my shoulders, to point at the personal item dimensions and tell that little consumerist goblin squatting in my head to fuck right off.

Chinese households commonly have their 'spring cleaning' coinciding with the New Years celebrations. Although my room is still messy and overriden with stuff, I feel like I've mentally deep-cleaned my relationships to my many possessions.

I've achieved new clarity. And now, it's time to travel!