How to pack carry-on like a pro

Here’s how I finally mastered the art of travelling light.

I’ve made every rookie packing mistake there is. I’ve lugged an overstuffed suitcase up the subway steps in New York, I’ve sat on my bag in a Seoul airport bathroom to get the zip shut, and I’ve even had my luggage stolen in Lyon (you can read about that sad ordeal here ).

But over the years, and many, many packing regrets later, I’ve learned that travelling light is one of the greatest travel luxuries. Not the business-class lounge, not even a glass of fizz at take-off. The true luxury is walking straight past baggage claim like you own the place.

Here’s how I’ve learned to pack carry-on only and actually enjoy it.

Step 1: The mindset shift

Packing light isn’t just about space; it’s about mindset. When I finally committed to carry-on travel, I realised most of what I used to pack was “just in case" stuff. Just in case it rained. Just in case there was a fancy dinner. Just in case I peed my pants every single day for two weeks. Just in case I suddenly became the kind of person who wears heels on cobblestones. Spoiler: I’m not.

The golden rule? You don’t need to prepare for every possible version of the trip, just the one that’s most likely to happen. Once I let go of that “what if" anxiety, everything became lighter – literally.

Step 2: Choose your bag wisely

luggage — Choose a bag that works for your travel destination. (Image: Unsplash/Benjamin R.)

Your bag is your foundation, so pick one that works with you, not against you. I’m loyal to a hard case on four wheels – the kind that glides across airport floors like it’s on ice skates. But if you’re heading somewhere with cobblestones or stairs, a soft backpack might save your shoulders – and your sanity.

Step 3: Make your packing list ruthless

carryon packing list — Have a streamlined list of trusty wardrobe items. (Image: Unsplash/Sarah Brown)

I used to start with everything I wanted to bring and try to narrow it down. Now I start with nothing and justify every item. If it doesn’t work at least twice, it stays home.

For example, for a winter trip, here is what I’d bring:

One pair of jeans (they go with everything and can be dressed up or down).

A long sleeve merino tee (I am perpetually freezing on planes, and merino wool is temperature regulating – a literal lifesaver. This is my fave ).

Thermals that are lightweight to go under everything (and are breathable/quick drying so you can wash them in your hotel if you need, like these ).

Three shirts, two jumpers.

One dress that can do both day and night duty.

Two pairs of shoes: sneakers and boots.

A scarf (the Swiss Army knife of travel accessories).

Wool socks (I know I’m rambling on about wool, but it’s truly the GOAT – see what I did there – fabric for travelling light).

A coat that I will wear at all times to avoid overweight luggage.

If I’m heading somewhere warm, I swap these for one breathable set of linen, one dress, two tops, a light jacket and some sandals.

Toiletries get the same treatment. I decant everything into travel-size containers and skip the “what if I run out" panic. Unless you’re hiking in the outback, there will always be shops.

Step 4: Master the art of the roll

Ask 10 travellers how to pack and you’ll get 10 different methods – but rolling clothes genuinely works. It saves space, minimises creasing, and gives you that smug sense of order when you look at your perfectly lined-up rolls.

For bulkier items like coats, I wear them on the plane (you can always stuff them under the seat). And for small things – socks, underwear, swimwear – I tuck them inside shoes or the corners of the case. Every millimetre counts.

If you’re packing for longer than a week, packing cubes are a game-changer. They keep things contained and make mid-trip rummaging way less chaotic. Bonus: when you open your bag for airport security, it looks neat enough to impress even the most stoic customs officer.

Step 5: Build a travel uniform

packing light — Learning how to pack light is a useful travel hack. (Image: Getty Images/FreshSplash)

Now, I think of packing like creating a capsule wardrobe – neutral colours, pieces that mix and match, and materials that don’t wrinkle if you so much as look at them. My dream travel outfit formula: linen in summer, merino in winter. You can go from sightseeing to cocktails without missing a beat.

Step 6: Don’t fear laundry

The reason so many people overpack is that they don’t want to do laundry on the road. But honestly? Doing a quick wash mid-trip is far less annoying than lugging extra kilos of “just in case" clothing.

Most hotels have a guest laundry or same-day service, and a travel-size detergent sheet can turn any bathroom sink into a washing station. I’ve even been known to use the hotel hairdryer to speed-dry my socks (pro move, if a little noisy).

Step 7: The tech tangle

tech in carryon — Always try to stick to the essentials, even when it comes to gadgets. (Image: Unsplash/Anete Lusina)

Electronics can eat up space fast, so streamline your gadgets. I stick to my phone, laptop and portable light for photos. I won’t lie, a powerboard with USB-C and USB-A ports is a necessity for me and saves me from carrying a spaghetti tangle of cords, plus noise-cancelling headphones are my sanity saviour.

Oh, and a power bank. I never, ever forget a power bank – it’s the difference between arriving refreshed and arriving at five per cent battery with no idea how to get to your hotel.

Step 8: The “airport survival" zone

The best trick I’ve learned is to pack a small pouch that lives in the seat-back pocket: lip balm, hand sanitiser, pen, earplugs, face mist, a snack and a sleep mask. This way, you don’t need to rummage through your bag mid-flight like a raccoon looking for food.

Step 9: Leave a little space

There’s a special kind of heartbreak that comes from finding the perfect souvenir – then realising you have nowhere to put it. I always leave a small corner of my bag empty for a bottle of local wine, a handmade trinket, or, let’s be honest, a new piece of clothing I didn’t technically need but absolutely had to have.

Worst case, you wear your bulkiest outfit home. It’s practically a travel tradition.

Step 10: The carry-on mindset

Packing carry-on only isn’t just about convenience. It’s freedom. It’s the joy of breezing through airports, skipping luggage carousels, and knowing exactly where everything you own is – because it’s right there with you.

It’s also a quiet confidence boost. There’s something incredibly satisfying about realising you can live for two weeks with the same seven kilograms you used to take for a weekend.

So next time you’re tempted to bring that extra pair of “maybe" shoes or the second jacket “just in case", remember this: the less you carry, the more you can enjoy where you’re going.

Liked this? Pack with us for a wild Kimberley adventure.

Video credit: Visit Victoria/Tourism Australia

The Grampians just might be the ultimate antidote for the metropolis, writes one returning Aussie ready to disconnect from the modern world and reconnect to the Great outdoors.

There are no kangaroos back in Chicago: they’re all here in the Grampians/Gariwerd . In the heart of the Grampians National Park’s main gateway town, Halls Gap, pods of eastern greys are eating grass beside my parked rental car beneath the stars. Next morning, when I see the backyard of my rented villa on the edge of town for the first time, there are kangaroos feeding beside a slow-moving creek, lined with river red gums.

Five hundred metres up the road, 50 or so of them are eating by the side of the road in a paddock. I pull over to watch and spot three emus. Yellow-tailed black cockatoos fly overhead towards the tall green mountains just beyond town.

‘Kee-ow, keee-oww’… their calls fuse with the maniacal cackle of a kookaburra (or 10). Gawd, how I’ve missed the sound of them. Far above, a wedge-tailed eagle watches, and there you go: the ‘great birds of Australia’ trifecta, all half a kay from the town limits.

Exchanging city chaos for country calm

kangaroos near Halls Gap, Grampians National Park — The park is renowned for its significant diversity of native fauna species. (Image: Visit Victoria/Robert Blackburn)

I’ve come to the Grampians to disconnect, but the bush offers a connection of its own. This isn’t just any bush, mind you. The Grampians National Park is iconic for many reasons, mostly for its striking sandstone mountains – five ridges run north to south, with abrupt, orange slopes which tumble right into Halls Gap – and for the fact there’s 20,000 years of traditional rock art. Across these mountains there are more than 200 recorded sites to see, created by the Djab Wurrung, Jardwadjali and Gunditjmara peoples. It’s just like our outback… but three hours from Melbourne.

I’ve come here for a chance at renewal after the chaos of my life in America’s third-largest city, Chicago, where I live for now, at the whim of a relative’s cancer journey. Flying into Melbourne’s airport, it only takes an hour’s drive to feel far away from any concept of suburbia. When I arrive in Halls Gap two hours later, the restaurant I’m eating at clears out entirely by 7:45pm; Chicago already feels a lifetime ago.

The trails and treasures of the Grampians

sunrise at Grampians National Park /Gariwerd — Grampians National Park /Gariwerd covers almost 2000 square kilometres. (Image: Ben Savage)

Though the national park covers almost 2000 square kilometres, its best-known landmarks are remarkably easy to access. From my carpark here, among the cockatoos and kangaroos on the fringe of Halls Gap, it only takes 60 seconds’ driving time before I’m winding my way up a steep road through rainforest, deep into the mountains.

Then it’s five minutes more to a carpark that serves as a trailhead for a hike to one of the park’s best vantage points, The Pinnacles . I walk for an hour or so, reacquainting myself with the smells and the sounds of the Aussie bush, before I reach it: a sheer cliff’s edge lookout 500 metres up above Halls Gap.

walking through a cave, Hollow Mountain — Overlooking the vast Grampians landscape from Hollow Mountain. (Image: Robert Blackburn)

There are hikes and there are lookouts and waterfalls all across this part of the park near town. Some are a short stroll from a carpark; others involve long, arduous hikes through forest. The longest is the Grampians Peaks Trail , Victoria’s newest and longest iconic walk, which runs 160 kilometres – the entire length of Grampians National Park.

Local activities operator Absolute Outdoors shows me glimpses of the trail. The company’s owner, Adrian Manikas, says it’s the best walk he’s done in Australia. He says he’s worked in national parks across the world, but this was the one he wanted to bring his children up in.

“There’s something about the Grampians,” he says, as he leads me up a path to where there’s wooden platforms for tents, beside a hut looking straight out across western Victoria from a kilometre up in the sky (these are part of the guided hiking options for the trail). “There are things out here that you won’t see anywhere else in Australia.” Last summer, 80 per cent of the park was damaged by bushfire, but Manikas shows me its regrowth, and tells me of the manic effort put in by volunteers from town – with firefighters from all over Australia – to help save Halls Gap.

wildflowers in Grampians National Park — Spot wildflowers. (Image: Visit Victoria)

We drive back down to Halls Gap at dusk to abseil down a mountain under the stars, a few minutes’ walk off the main road into town. We have headlamps, but a full moon is enough to light my way down. It takes blind faith to walk backwards down a mountain into a black void, though the upside is I can’t see the extent of my descent.

Grampians National Park at sunset. (Image: Wine Australian)

The stargazing is ruined by the moon, of course, but you should see how its glow lights up the orange of the sandstone, like in a theme park. When I’m done, I stand on a rocky plateau drinking hot chocolate and listening to the Aussie animals who prefer nighttime. I can see the streets of Halls Gap off in the distance on this Friday night. The restaurants may stay open until 8pm tonight.

What else is on offer in The Grampians?

a boat travelling along the Wimmera River inDimboola — Travelling along the Wimmera River in Dimboola. (Image: Chris McConville)

You’ll find all sorts of adventures out here – from rock climbing to canoeing to hiking – but there’s more to the Grampians than a couple of thousand square kilometres of trees and mountains. Halls Gap may be known to most people, but what of Pomonal, and Dimboola, and Horsham? Here in the shadow of those big sandstone mountains there are towns and communities most of us don’t know to visit.

And who knew that the Grampians is home to Victoria’s most underrated wine region ? My disconnection this morning comes not in a forest, but in the tasting rooms and winery restaurants of the district. Like Pomonal Estate, barely 10 minutes’ drive east of Halls Gap, where UK-born chef Dean Sibthorp prepares a locally caught barramundi with lentil, pumpkin and finger lime in a restaurant beside the vines at the base of the Grampians. Husband-and-wife team Pep and Adam Atchison tell me stories as they pour their prize wines (shiraz is the hero in these parts).

dining at Pomonal Estate — Dine in a restaurant beside vines at Pomonal Estate. (Image: Tourism Australia)

Three minutes’ drive back down the road, long-time mates Hadyn Black and Darcy Naunton run an eclectic cellar door out of a corrugated iron shed, near downtown Pomonal. The Christmas before last, half the houses in Pomonal burnt down in a bushfire, but these locals are a resilient lot.

The fires also didn’t stop the construction of the first art centre in Australia dedicated to environmental art in a nature-based precinct a little further down the road (that’s Wama – the National Centre for Environmental Arts), which opened in July. And some of the world’s oldest and rarest grape vines have survived 160 years at Best’s Wines, outside the heritage town of Great Western. There’s plantings here from the year 1868, and there’s wines stored in century-old barrels within 150-year-old tunnels beneath the tasting room. On the other side of town, Seppelt Wines’ roots go back to 1865. They’re both only a 30-minute drive from Halls Gap.

Salingers of Great Western — Great Western is a charming heritage town. (Image: Griffin Simm)

There’s more to explore yet; I drive through tiny historic towns that barely make the map. Still part of the Grampians, they’re as pretty as the mountains behind them: full of late 19th-century/early 20th-century post offices, government offices and bank buildings, converted now to all manner of bric-a-brac stores and cafes.

The Imaginarium is one, in quirky Dimboola, where I sleep in the manager’s residence of an old National Australia Bank after a gourmet dinner at the local golf club, run by noted chef and teacher, Cat Clarke – a pioneer of modern Indigenous Australian cooking. Just south, I spend an entire afternoon at a winery, Norton Estate Wines, set on rolling calico-coloured hills that make me think of Tuscany, chit-chatting with owners Chris and Sam Spence.

Being here takes me back two decades, when I lived here for a time. It had all seemed as foreign as if I’d driven to another planet back then (from Sydney/Warrane), but there seemed something inherently and immediately good about this place, like I’d lived here before.

And it’s the Australian small-town familiarity of the Grampians that offers me connection back to my own country. Even in the better-known Halls Gap, Liz from Kerrie’s Creations knows I like my lattes with soy milk and one sugar. And while I never do get the name of the lady at the local Ampol station, I sure know a lot about her life.

Kookaburras on a tree — Kookaburras are one of some 230 bird species. (Image: Darren Donlen)

You can be a local here in a day; how good is that? In Chicago, I don’t even know who my neighbour is. Though each day at dusk – when the kangaroos gather outside my villa, and the kookaburras and the black cockatoos shout out loud before settling in to sleep – I prefer the quieter connection I get out there in the bush, beneath these orange mountains.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

Sleep beside the wildlife on the edge of Halls Gap at Serenity .

Playing there

abseiling down Hollow Mountain — Hollow Mountain is a popular abseiling site.

Go abseiling under the stars or join a guided hike with Absolute Outdoors . Visit Wama , Australia’s first environmental art centre. Check out Dimboola’s eccentric Imaginarium .

Eating there

steak, naan bread and beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap — Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap serves a great steak on naan bread.

Eat world-class cuisine at Pomonal Estate . Dine and stay at much-revered icon Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. The ‘steak on naan’ at Halls Gap brewhouse Paper Scissors Rock , can’t be beat.

Dunkeld Arboretum in Grampians National Park — The serene Dunkeld Arboretum.

For Halls Gap’s best breakfasts head to Livefast Cafe . Sip local wines at Great Western’s historic wineries, Best’s Wines , Seppelt Wines and Norton Estate Wines .

two glasses of beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap — Sink a cold one at Paper Scissors Rock.