This Summer my family and I visited Scotland for the first time. We booked an 11-day trip with stops in Glasgow, the Scottish Highlands, and Edinburgh.
We’re minimalists when traveling internationally, limiting ourselves to a carry-on suitcase and a small backpack per person. Friends were amazed we’d try such a feat, but traveling with minimal luggage has major benefits.
- Portability. We can move faster and easier through airports, trains, cars, buses, etc. with fewer bags. Carry-on luggage eliminates baggage claim issues, ensuring our bags go where we go. Traveling light also enables us to live by the motto: You pack it, you carry it.
- Avoiding tripping hazards. Fitting multiple suitcases (especially large suitcases) in European cars and hotels is a major pain. Having fewer bags means less hotel room gymnastics. Tripping over a suitcase at 3AM on my way to the bathroom and spraining an ankle is NOT on my travel bucket list.
- Appreciating what you have. Packing less propels you to value the things you have. You get to spend more time reading the paperback you brought. And when you’re done reading it, you can pay it forward by leaving it in the hotel lobby for someone else to enjoy.
- Investing in experiences, not things. Having less space necessitates thinking carefully about what you buy while on vacation. For me, this means valuing experiences over “dustable” items that come home and sit on my dresser. I’ve also found novel uses for postcards. I buy postcards in gift shops of places we’ve been and then bring them home to use for various craft projects. I love the usefulness of the items, and it enables me to relive trip memories whenever I look at the postcards!
The varying weather and duration of this trip to Scotland was daunting. An 11-day trip pushed the far reaches of what I’ve done with carry-on luggage before, and I was stressing about editing my clothes down to a carry-on sized suitcase.
Copilot to the rescue!
I visited a coffee shop the week before we left so I could dedicate some time to trip preparations and research. I started looking at weather forecasts for the cities we were visiting and examining travel blogs for packing tips. Then I started piling all the information I had into Copilot to get a detailed packing list. I started with a basic prompt to build a Scotland packing list:
I'm traveling to Scotland on a tour July 18-July 26. Give me a bulleted packing list, categorizing items in groups by type with headings.I evolved the Copilot prompt to include the cities we’d be visiting (in order to get more detailed packing lists for weather and location):
I'm traveling to Scotland on a tour July 18-July 26. I'll be staying in Glasgow for 2 nights, Fort William for 3 nights, and Edinburgh for 3 nights. Give me a bulleted packing list, categorizing items in groups by type with headings.Next, I added in the limitation of taking only a carry-on suitcase:
Create a carry-on only packing list.Copilot prompted me to consider whether we’d be doing laundry during the trip, so I used additional prompts to give me updated packing lists based on whether or not I did laundry along the way:
Update my packing list assuming laundry services won't be available.I didn’t want to research individual laundry services at each hotel we were staying at, so I gave Copilot my hotel names and asked it to provide hours, locations, and costs for laundry services near or in each hotel:
I am staying at the following hotels. Recommend laundry services that will be available to me. Maldron Glasgow Hotel, 50 Renfrew Street Alexandra Hotel, The Parade, Fort William Mercure Edinburgh Haymarket, 38 Gardners Crescent.The results
I followed the Copilot-guided packing list, only adding a couple of additional shirts and pairs of socks. (Copilot and I have different ideas on the number of days you can re-wear a pair of socks before you start negatively impacting your travel companions!)
Copilot saved me the time and frustration of endlessly debating the number of items to pack.
Sarah Haase 