Pack Smarter, Save More: Expert Tips for Efficient Travel Packing to Overcome Luggage Hassles

NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast

NerdWallet Personal Finance

Business, Education, Investing, How To

4.2 • 665 Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2024

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Get expert tips on how to pack for travel efficiently and effectively, including clever ways to save on baggage fees. How can you keep luggage costs down during holiday travel? What are the best strategies for managing carry-on luggage, especially for international trips? Hosts Sean Pyles and Meghan Coyle discuss efficient luggage management to help you understand how to save money on baggage fees. They begin with a discussion of minimizing luggage costs, with tips and tricks on rolling clothes, borrowing essentials from family members, and sticking to a carry-on bag. Then, travel writer Jessie Beck joins Meghan to discuss effective packing techniques, including the benefits of using smaller bags to prevent overpacking, creating a versatile travel capsule wardrobe, and dealing with potential issues like gate-checked bags and delayed luggage. They also cover the importance of miniaturizing items such as wallets, using airline apps and AirTags to track luggage, and understanding airline compensation policies for delayed bags. Check out NerdWallet’s roundup of the 16 Best Travel Credit Cards of September 2024: https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/credit-cards/travel In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: travel tips, holiday travel, packing light, carry-on luggage, minimalist packing, efficient packing, luggage costs, baggage claim, travel capsule wardrobe, international travel, gate-checked bags, airline apps, AirTags, delayed luggage compensation, travel credit cards, lost luggage, winter travel packing, sports trip packing, travel sized items, packing strategies, holiday season travel, airline policies, carry-on only travel, luggage fees, and luggage tracking. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [email protected]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Are you really bringing all that? Do you need everything in that bag? Are you sure? Couldn't you do with just one pair of shoes instead of 06? Well, if not, you're probably going to pay a pretty penny for luggage when you're traveling over the holidays. So we've got some timely advice for keeping those costs down. Once you add on the cost of paying to have a carry-on bag on that
0:21.2	basic economy ticket, you might as well just get an economy ticket and be able to be a little
0:26.3	bit more flexible. I think that's the most important thing for me. Like if I did have to make
0:30.4	a last minute change, I can do that, penalty-free. Welcome to Nerve Wallet's Smart Money Podcast. I'm Sean Piles. And I'm Megan Coyle. And this is episode
0:41.2	three of our nerdy deep dive into holiday travel and the costs they're in. Megan, I know there are
0:46.6	plenty of folks out there who are strict carry-on only travelers, and I am one of them. I've not
0:52.3	checked a bag in over a decade. Wow, so you're one of them. Okay.
0:57.6	There's a lot to be said for that strategy, as long as you can live with fewer choices.
1:02.2	And there's a whole cottage industry around figuring out the best ways to stuff small suitcases
1:07.3	and even wear multiple articles and layers of clothing on the plane so they're
1:11.7	not even in a bag.
1:13.6	I have not gone that far yet.
1:15.2	I mostly tried to roll my clothes as tightly as possible so I can still have options while
1:20.1	fitting everything in my carry-on.
1:22.4	There are multiple reasons to restrict yourself like this, though.
1:25.3	One is that your luggage will never be lost.
1:28.0	Oh man, remember that period a couple of years back when people were losing their luggage
1:32.1	all over European airports? Yeah, what a nightmare. When you go carry on, there's no losing
1:38.0	your bag, no worrying about stuff getting stolen out of it. Another benefit to carry on only is that
1:43.0	you don't have to pay usurious fees
1:44.6	to check your bags. You could put a kid or two through college for what it costs to have
1:48.3	your bag fly in the cargo hold. I exaggerate a little bit, of course. But honestly, the fees are
	...

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