<p>Very good advice about the scale. My D who lives in China was the first in our family to own a Balanzza. All her friends borrow it. Your D may find it handy to have a carry on bag that is big enough for a weekend trip. Two of my kids are now using the eBags convertible which is amazingly capacious relative to its appearance:</p>
<p>Instead of spending money on compression bags or cubes, I highly recommend using Ziploc 2 1/2 gallon bags. I use one for each type of clothing (one for tops, one for bottoms, one for underwear, etc) and pack a couple of extras. Squeeze the air out as you roll each one. You’d think that your clothes would wrinkle horribly but somehow they don’t. Pack lots of microfiber that can be easily washed and follow the old rule: one on the body, one clean and one dirty–in other words, 3 sets of everything. I traveled to Africa for 3 weeks with everything I needed in a carryon.</p>
<p>D will miss the ice festival itself (she leaves Harbin in Dec.) but is looking forward to seeing the preparation for it. No doubt she will pick up additional things there–she is taking an extra duffel for the return trip–but she is more worried about the trip there, with its stop in Beijing and then a train ride to Harbin, and so she is taking one checked bag and one carry-on bag there, but will almost certainly have two checked bags on the way back. I am afraid to count too much on her finding clothes there, though, because she is tall and not super-skinny (a size 8-10 usually). </p>
<p>I am pretty much resigned to paying for an over-weight bag. So long as she gets the pile of shorts, short-sleeved Ts, long pants, long-sleeved Ts, sweaters, two pairs of pjs, three pairs of shoes, two dresses, one down coat, lots of socks and underwear (including two sets of long underwear), one case of toiletries, a few chargers (camera and computer), and a few small gifts for her Chinese roommate-to-be in one bag and gets the zipper closed, I will be happy.</p>
<p>As for the smaller bag, I did order the weekender from ebags but found that it was really heavy even unpacked. Sent it back for this:</p>
<p>It has straps so can be carried as a backpack but otherwise is a great rolling carry-on: her regular school backpack fits in the front compartment (so she can easily take that out on the plane–with the kindle and ipod) and the bottom compartment holds some emergency clothes in case the checked suitcase gets delayed (I cannot even contemplate the possibility of the checked suitcase getting permanently lost).</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the advice about compression bags and military packing–I am actually a little excited to try out my new packing expertise.</p>
<p>Tightly rolling clothes saves unbelievably on space. I finally converted my husband, the chronic overpacker, when I showed him that I could get everything he wanted to take on a 2 week trip to London in winter into a carryon.</p>
<p>1 week in India (New Delhi mostly), 2 weeks in Bhutan coming up. Hmm…I’m looking at carry-ons, looking at my hiking boots; I can’t possibly wear these hiking boots to fly in. We’ll see how much clothes-rolling I can do.</p>
<p>Jg, au contraire–you can ABSOLUTELY wear those hiking boots to fly in! You’ll just take them off when you get on the plane. You don’t seriously want to schlep them in your carryon, do you???</p>
<p>friend of mine traveled to climb mount kili a few years ago and packed his very expensive hiking boots in the suitcase and wore old ones on the plane- yes the new ones were stolen by airport employees and he had to climb with the old ones. we only travel with carry on and have gone to finland for 2 weeks in the winter and fit in everything. one time i wore 2 ski jackets on top of each other in the middle of summer to get to the southern hemisphere starting in 100 degree temp. once you have your seat- your coat fits under the seat.</p>
<p>When space or weight are a problem, I always wear my clunkiest shoes to get through the airport and then change into flip flops or thick socks on the plane. I’m envisioning jg with the laces tied together and wearing those boots like a muffler after getting through security. Incidentally, that sounds like a really good trip, I’m envious.</p>