The bag fee is where a cheap flight stops being cheap. Many low-cost airlines price the fare low and charge separately for anything bigger than a small under-seat bag. Add a checked suitcase each way and the bargain starts to look like an ordinary ticket. The fix isn’t clever booking. It’s packing less than feels reasonable.
The usual advice is to pack light, which nobody follows because it’s vague. Here’s a rule that’s easier to apply: pack for five days, then wash. Five days of clothes fit in a small backpack if you accept that you’ll wear the same trousers all week. Nobody on a tram in Porto is keeping track of your trousers.
What actually goes in
Two tops that dry quickly, one that doesn’t. One pair of long trousers, one pair of shorts or a skirt depending on the season. Underwear and socks for five days, because those are the items you can’t bluff. One layer that works as both a jacket and a pillow on a long bus. Shoes you’re wearing, and nothing else on your feet except sandals if it’s warm.
Leave behind the “just in case” outfit. In my experience it travels thousands of kilometres and comes home unworn.
The washing part
A sink, hand soap, and one evening. Synthetic fabrics and merino dry overnight in most rooms, particularly if you roll them in a towel first and squeeze out the water. Cotton jeans are the exception, which is a good reason to wear them as little as possible.
When the sink loses
Self-service laundrettes exist in most cities of any size, and they’re usually cheaper than the “laundry service” your hotel will offer. Ask your host or search the map for “lavanderia” or “Waschsalon” depending on where you are. It’s also an hour with nothing to do, which on a long trip I’ve come to value.
The trade-off
You will feel underdressed at least once. A nice restaurant, a wedding you stumbled into, a church that wants covered shoulders. A scarf solves most of that and weighs almost nothing.
What I haven’t worked out is cold-weather trips. Winter layers take up so much room that the five-day rule barely applies, and I still don’t know if a paid bag is simply the honest answer there.