The Heavy Truth About Big Suitcases
Minimalist packing is all the rage, but is it just a trend or is there validity worth discussing? Why is it such a taboo subject to talk about bringing a 50-pound suitcase for your two-week vacation? Sometimes you just want to bring all your cute clothes and all the what-if items so that you’re prepared. Isn’t it supposed to be a good thing to be prepared for contingencies? We discuss the weighty issue of luggage size.
You can read about our first trip to Europe and our experience carrying 50-pound suitcases apiece and how that worked out for us. Among other issues, navigating heavy suitcases at London’s Waterloo Station without knowing there were stair-free exits was a nightmare.
Benefits of a Check-In Only Suitcase
Bulky, heavy suitcases require big biceps
If there were no benefits to a big suitcase, no one would use one. Traveling with a larger size piece of luggage—typically anything over 22”—does have a few noteworthy perks:
You can pack freely without obsessing over every piece of clothing. You save time because you don’t have to scrutinize everything you’re going to carry. There’s plenty of room for all your just-in-case items.
You can pack as many liquids as you want and don’t need to mess with keeping products under 100 ml apiece that can fit into a two-liter plastic bag. You can pull items out of your bathroom that you’re currently using and plop them in a liquid-safe part of your suitcase without a lot of thought and without worrying about moving liquids into smaller containers.
There’s a huge difference (no pun intended) between choosing to check a carry-on suitcase versus traveling with a bulkier bag that must always be checked in. Here are some of the extra challenges you will encounter to offset those few perks above:
Drawbacks Of Bulky, Heavy Suitcases
You’ll often have to pay a premium to check your suitcase
You have to arrive at the airport earlier to drop off your bag at the checkout counter and often deal with long lines
If you are rushing between destinations, there’s a chance you might miss your connection if you have to check a bag
You will have more clothing to launder and put away when you get home
Certain trains require you have a reserved assigned seat in specific sections that can accommodate larger suitcases, which often are premium priced with limited availability
Finding stair-free exits in a metro station can be time consuming and sometimes they don’t exist
Trains and metro systems sometimes require lifting your bag to get into the car or stairs to get into the second level where there are more seats
Large suitcases are much harder to navigate on cobblestones and uneven, rough surfaces, including carpeting
Some buses aren’t equipped with underbelly storage, so you might have to opt for a taxi versus more affordable public transportation
Storage lockers are more expensive for bigger suitcases when you are between destinations and don’t want to lug your bulky, heavy suitcase around while you wait for your accommodations to be ready if they don’t have a place to hold them for you (or after you’ve checked out and want to explore more of the city)
Not everyplace in the world has elevators in buildings, and sometimes the elevator only starts on the “first” floor, which still is a flight up from ground level in many countries. Staying on the ground level generally isn’t as safe or as private as a workaround.
Judy carrying her 22" suitcase down a flight of stairs
Even after all of these common downsides, if you decide to lug a heavy case, we hope you are fit with good upper body strength and strong wrists. There are times I use two hands on my suitcase handle and my suitcase is small. I can’t imagine adding more size and weight and successfully navigating uneven surfaces and cobblestones. In Chiang Mai a detour required us to carry versus roll our suitcases for about 150 feet due to the terrain. Sometimes we don’t have the time to find the entrance to a subway or train station that’s equipped with a elevator or escalator, and we have had to flex our biceps and lug our suitcases up or down multiple flights of stairs. Trains also typically require you to haul your own bags up at least a few stairs into the carriage, even when you're traveling first class, so being willing to throw money at the issue doesn’t necessarily shield you from having to carry your luggage at times.
Full transparency, even though our luggage is carry-on size (22” domestic) and we have no trouble taking it on international flights due to its dimensions, it doesn't conform to some budget airlines' weight restrictions. In those instances we've had to check our bags, which has happened this year more than we expected. Our bags currently weigh 15kg apiece, but we carry clothes to serve us in three seasons and don’t have a home base to drop off what we aren't wearing. Also, as full-time travelers we carry a few luxury items that we wouldn’t if we were taking a long vacation or even an extended trip for a month our two. But we still don’t love it when we brush up against weight restrictions. It has increased our flight costs and has pushed us away from flights in favor of trains, whenever we can get them. We at least have the option to carry our bags onto major airlines when weight isn’t a factor, but bringing luggage with checked-luggage dimensions means you will always have that contraint on your travel. And for all of the other scenarios we mention above, our bags are light enough and small enough to navigate so much more easily than we could with heavier, bulkier luggage.
After Kevin’s hernia surgery in Serbia, his doctor told him not to lift anything weighing more than 5kg for several weeks during his recovery. I was able to handle his luggage because it was a reasonable weight and size. While I hope you never have a health condition arise, you want to know that you have a manageable solution. If you’re a solo traveler, you’ll need to have some sort of contingency plan that might involve sending some of your items back home or to your next destination by mail and travel with a significantly lighter bag or adjust your travel plans.
It’s always a wise idea to have an Apple AirTag in your suitcases so you'll know where they are. We have them in everything, including my purse, our daypack, our backpacks, and our carry-on luggage.
Of course, you need to decide for yourself whether to prioritize convenience over practicality, budget, and potential physical constraints. Knowing the circumstances of your specific trip will help you make the best choices for those particular circumstances. There’s no “perfect” or “right” way to travel, so whether you lean toward a prepared-for-anything suitcase or a curated capsule wardrobe, just remember that travel is about the experiences, not the baggage.
