Carry On Only for 14 days?

I first thought of the idea of traveling carry on for our 14 day trip because I watched a Rick Steve's video suggesting that it was the easiest and best way to travel on a train, over the bridges in Venice and over the uneven roads in Italy.  We have been traveling carry on only to Disney for the past 10 trips or so and found it to be time saving and convenient.  It also saved us lots of money on baggage fees!  But would it be possible to actually travel for 14 days and on a cruise ship packing carry on only?

All of our luggage... at the edge of the Grand Canacl Venice
June 29, 2014

I watched video after video on You Tube watching others demonstrate how to pack and what clothes one would need.  One statement that struck me was, " If you won't wear it more than twice... it is not worth packing"! I didn't follow this to a T but it truly made me think and double think what went into my suitcase. Once DH and I made the decision to pack carry on only, it was time to start looking for the perfect carry on bag.  We checked out review after review checking into Rick Steves Convertible Carry-on, the e-bags weekender convertible, the High Sierra Passport travel pack, the Lowe Alpine TT Carry on 40 and the Osprey Porter  46 liter.  In the end we decided on the Osprey Porter 46.  The OP46 is 22x14x9 which was the largest size for Delta's carry-on.  We also liked the fact that the bag was sort of hard sided so that it kept its shape even empty and has straps that cinch the bag making it more compact.  The bag has a carry handle on one side and of course back pack straps which is exactly what we wanted!  The bags cost $99 each and we needed 3 of them.  The bag was almost as tall as ShaSha, age 8, it seemed but we kept her bag light and she was just fine with the OP46 on her back.

We purchased a Osprey Porter Daylight bag to use as Po's carry on but a few days before the trip we decided to just carry our travel documents and all of our electronics chargers and converters in the bag as a personal item. (We just switched Po over to a backpack that we got as a DCL Castaway Club member)The Daylight bag was also the bag we used while on tours in Italy and on the cruise.  We added the water bladder to it which made it convenient for the kids to get drinks anytime they needed one!

The kids carrying ALL of their own luggage
to our  hotel in Venice!
June 27, 2014

I also read up on packing cubes and bought a few sets of those.  DH hated them but I used them for the kids and I.  I bought sets that included 3 large size bags and in hindsight wished that I had bought the set that came in 3 different sizes.  We could only fit 2 large packing cubes in the Porter bag.  I rolled my clothes tightly and packed light clothing that didn't wrinkle easily.  In my carry on I carried  3 pairs of shorts (one was a pair of black dressy Bermuda shorts that worked great), 3 pairs of capris (once again I really used the longer, dressier black capris), 15 shirts of various types (T's, tanks and dressier Tanks), 2 shrug sweaters to wear in churches and to dress up my tanks, an extra pair of Birkenstock's and a pair of flip flops.  I also took a bathing suit and a thin cover up. My bag housed all the toiletry items and my hair straightener too... These bags hold a lot of clothes!!! Oh... and a scarf and pashmina also went with me on the trip to add some color!

I really wasn't sure we could pull off this carry on thing... but it was easy and very convenient!  The Osprey Porter 46 was the perfect bag!

Sitting on the steps of the Venice train station with all of our luggage!
June 29, 2014

We are already planning to pack carry on only for our next European vacation in summer 2015!