<p>Son will travel to a conference in a couple of weeks, and he is home for spring break, so want to make sure he has appropriate luggage, clothing, etc, all ready to go, since he will fly out from his OOS college on his own.</p>
<p>Son will spend two nights at the conference hotel. He will need a suit, since he is presenting a poster.</p>
<p>He will bring his backpack, since he’ll need to do homework while at the conference, carryon luggage, for sleepwear, extra undies and shirts, toiletries, and maybe a casual outfit for relaxing, and his poster for his presentation.</p>
<p>He will not have to change planes on the way up, though there will be stops where new travelers will come on, but he will have to change planes on the way down.</p>
<p>Hoping to get advice on how to pack, since he will only have carryons, and he will want to carry his poster on board with him.</p>
<p>He’ll be flying Southwest.</p>
<p>Thanks for any suggestions, pointers, advice, warnings.</p>
<p>How big is his poster? will it count as a personal item? Fit in the overhead? I don’t know how that works. Might put a “wrinkle” in the one personal item. Two nights honestly doesn’t require much–two pair underwear and t shirt for sleeping is fine. Pair of jeans or khakis (can be worn on plane) plus two shirts (polo type). There is a very specific way to pack coats (turn coat inside out from shoulders, but not the sleeves, fold in half lengthwise and then quarters) No wrinkles. Use dry cleaning plastic when folding things up for no wrinkles. If it’s a sports coat, it can be worn with jeans or khakis for casual.
And then one dress shirt–and maybe two ties depending.
Try to decide on one pair of shoes if possible–that’s the biggest space problem.</p>
<p>Southwest does include two checked bags at no additional charge, although it is desirable to carry everything on anyway for the outbound part of the trip to avoid delayed or lost bags with critical items.</p>
<p>A large backpack (22"<em>14"</em>9" designed for airline carryon size limits) will have more interior volume than a roller suitcase. It can also squish a little to fit in places that are slightly too small for a roller suitcase.</p>
<p>You didn’t say what kind of conference it is, but at the ones I attend, a suit isn’t necessary for a poster presentation. </p>
<p>When I have a poster, I just take it on board and put it in an overhead bin–it should fit on top of whatever luggage is there. Just don’t forget and leave it on the plane!</p>
<p>No one has ever said anything, even though is technically a third item. If they did, I’d check my rolling suitcase after repacking as necessary to make sure that I could manage if it got lost or delayed.</p>
<p>Oh, he will definitely wear a suit. He has to wear a suit when he gives presentations for his honors program. There will also be a career fair, and companies are sponsoring the conference, so he’ll want to be in career wear.</p>
<p>I did wonder if he could bring the poster as a carryon, and even though it is technically a third item, it would take up little space in the overhead bin, so I wonder if the airline would let it slide.</p>