My daughter used this backpack for a week in England in February so probably heavier clothes than you’ll likely need in NYC in May. She was able to squish in down enough to fir under her seat.
I used it for a week in St Martin but couldn’t quite fit everything - I am a notorious over-packer. Luckily we were also checking one bag as it was cheaper to pay the fee than have to buy all the sunscreen we needed there.
We had a 28 or 30 inch bag which we check (international flights often include a checked bag per person), and one of us lugged a 22 inch carry on.
We switched to using one or 2 24 inch bags, checked, with minimal carry on. Slightly smaller bag is easier to manage, tough to overpack (weigh-wise) and we get the freedom of not having to schlep the 22 inch carry on around. I have a backpack, wife has a tote, and it all works for us.
My kid is going on a three week international work trip. I can ask her what she is using.
I am a chronic over-packer but I worked really hard to go from a large hard side, down to a medium and a small wheeled carry on for my recent trip to Europe to visit my daughter.
My tips:
Shoes take up a ton of room. Since I knew I’d be walking on cobblestones most of the time, I packed one good pair of walking sneakers with a thick sole (plain white) and I wore a pair of athletic sneakers that I could use as a backup if needed. It pained me not to have shoe choices but there’s no way to do heeled booties or anything other than sports sandals on the cobblestones. Not having multiple shoes frees up a lot of room.
I chose neutral color pallets and planned to mix & match, layer and wear things multiple times (with enough underwear & socks for the whole time). I brought a travel size of fabric refresher in case I needed to freshen anything up. I underestimated how warm I would get, even in 60-degree weather, when walking everywhere, all day. Also, in the cities I visited, the public transportation is either not airconditioned or under-airconditioned, so I probably only needed to bring one light jacket. My daughter and I traveled from her home country to other countries, so I off-loaded some of the stuff I already wore or didn’t think I’d need, and left it in the other suitcase. This allowed my main suitcase to be lighter and easier to handle.
Lots of places in Europe store luggage (including the airports). My hotel stored 2 bags for me for free for 5 days even though I wasn’t checking in there until my last day. It never hurts to ask.
If you think you’ll have to wheel your luggage over cobblestones, make sure you have a set with good wheels! I noticed many people wheeling luggage everywhere. We wheeled our luggage 2 long blocks in Italy from the train station to our hotel and I was very happy that the wheels held up. My set is Travelpro and my daughter’s is Calpak.
I hated having to find bin space for my wheeled carry on. People get very irritated if you (politely) ask if you can shift their item in the bin, to fit yours. Men in particular, don’t seem to want to store their small back packs under their seat. On the way out, I could have checked everything for free as the flight was full, but I worried about lost bags, so I kept the carry on with me. On the way back, the airline again offered to check everything for free and I did (I also had an extra wheeled carry on filled with my daughter’s winter coats and boots that she no longer needed.)
I’ll never be a person with a wheeled carry-on bargaining for bin space again. I now know why people scramble to board. My credit card credits me for checked bag fees, so not a big deal.
I also noticed that in all the airports that I traveled to (Rome, Prague, Barcelona) our checked luggage was either coming out or waiting for us in baggage claim by the time we got down there. I don’t know why it takes so long to get luggage in the US (well, I can guess).
The only thing I would do differently next time is pack lighter travel pants and maybe just one pair of jeans. Jeans are hot and heavy to walk in all day.
To add to the post above. We travel in the off season so this might not be needed in the summer.
Pack a pair of waterproof shoes or boots. Whatever is most comfortable.
We’ve done 3 trips to Europe in the fall. First 2 wore hiking shoes and sneaker boots. The third I bought a pair of waterproof hiking shoes. I treated the first shoes with spray but the waterproof ones were superior.
Always take 2 pair of walking shoes. One our last trip, there were several people who only took one and it rained… they were stuck wearing wet shoes the next day.
I recently bought a pair of waterproof sneakers from Vessi. They are cute and comfortable for walking. They are also washable.
Newsprint (if you can still find it) is a great drying agent for wet shoes.
I feel like my parents here… but has anybody tried traveling with what they now call “shoe covers”. Something like this - shoe cover waterproof - Google Search
Just an interesting observation-
A month long, multi-city trip to New Zealand where we could have 40 degree temp changes and we took biking clothes, hiking boots and poles - suitcase weighed under 40 pounds. (Not as good as some of you, but I was impressed with myself)
A 13 day multi-city trip to Italy where we needed clothes for biking plus regular clothes - a carry on backpack and half of a suitcase that wasn’t very large.
A 7 day trip to a warm place where we unpack once and temps will be between 70-80 or so every day - suitcase will weigh close to 50.
The HerOneBag subreddit is a great place for figuring out how to maximize choice while minimizing luggage. I didn’t discover it until too late in my packing process to fully subscribe, but I was able to reduce what I brought along.
Everyone in France was wearing sneakers. Other than Paris restaurants, most people were wearing them. Dress has gotten a lot more casual, and I’m not talking American tourists. (Young French guy wearing jorts in a nicer restaurant.)
Figure out how much hair care you need for your curly hair for the entire time to reduce the “just-in-case” extra extra you bring along. 
I concur. After reading many blogs, watching TikTok’s and other videos with a lot of pearl-clutching opinions of Gen Z’s on the horrors of dressing too casually in Europe, I can report that I saw every kind of clothing style in my visits to Prague, Rome & Barcelona - including the dreaded athleisure 
. What I didn’t see was a lot of dress up. The exception was at the Sagrada Familia, where there were a variety of Gen Zers dressed to the nines, with cameras set up, making Instagram content.
Wear what makes you feel comfortable.
lol on the instagrammers! And yes dressed to the nines!
Venice was equally an instagram paradise!
It’s actually kinda sad imo. It’s more of taking pictures of yourself instead of taking photos of things you see. I’m old, I like to remember what I saw.
I’m going to plug a product I use for travel and a good customer service experience.
On a whim I bought cadence travel containers
They are unnecessary but I found a sale, decided to buy them.
I used them on a trip and found that I really liked them. I put toner in one and it never leaked. All these capsules are magnetic and stick together.
I thought they were dishwasher safe and I have washed them on the top rack. One of them cracked I decided what the heck, I’m going to email them. Attached a picture.
Got a response right away, they are going to replace my container and give me an extra. The customer service has been great!
You can buy travel containers cheaper. These work better imo. I don’t expect anyone else to buy them but if you were thinking of them, they are good and the customer service experience is excellent.
If they were having a 50% off sale I would be very interested :).
I looked at those too (cool concept) but the price point is just too high. Also, they don’t look big enough for a week’s worth of some of items that I use. Maybe if I were a more frequent traveler.
My older S and his partner LOVE the Cadence containers. Meds, makeup, lotion. etc. – really useful to stuff in a backpack or pocketbook.
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DH and I usually also travel with two pairs of shoes: one solid and another at the end of its life. There is always something in the end of circulation which can we brought one way 
I just returned from a beach vacation and once again took way too much. I’m always afraid that I’ll run out of shirts because I’ll spill something or it will be colder than I expect.
I’m going on another beach vacation in July but I’m staying with friends and they have a washer and dryer. I’m determine to take less. Much less. ONE carry on bag. A charged Kindle with 2 books. One t-shirt dress (not 3). These friends have known me for a long time and I’m not going to impress them with my wardrobe. And it is NOT going to be cold in SC in the summer so I don’t need a jacket ‘just in case.’
Less less less. I have 6 weeks to ‘pack less’ at least in my mind.
I hear you - packing less is really hard to do. I just want access to everything I have 
I do feel better about doing it when I am traveling someplace that I know I can easily get access to clothing and toiletry brands I like, if I need them. When it’s someplace new (or out of the country), I do get anxious about what I might need and not have access to.
It’s also hard when you’re on a vacation where you need day outfits and dressier night outfits (and shoes to go with each).
I’ve polled female friends who are light packers (carry-ons only!) and they tell me that secret is one or two pairs of shoes max, cutting way down on toiletries and hair stuff (one friend even gives up make up so she doesn’t have to bring it) and being okay with re-wearing clothes. I think I could cut down on the shoes, but the other things would be harder.