LIGHTEN UP

Skip the baggage carousel: Here's how to pack less and enjoy more

- BY LAKSHANA N PALAT

Two suitcases - for a week's holiday?

Dubai-based Raima Ramesh, a sales professional chuckles at herself. “I really do not know how to travel light. I promise, every single time, I tell myself that I will go easy. But there's always something left behind, and there are so many just-in-cases that I keep adding clothes. In the end, I need two suitcases.”

It’s not easy for everyone to pack light. But if you actually do, you'll discover how wildly freeing it is to simply pass by the baggage carousel, pulling your single carry-on behind you. You don’t have to wait any more, as Abu Dhabi-based corporate professional Shifa Khan says.

“I learnt that packing style from my mother: After choosing exactly what she needed, she would just roll up clothes, stuff them in her backpack, and set off for journeys. She didn’t need anything extra.”

You really don’t have to haul heavy suitcases up train station staircases and over charming cobblestones. We've tapped the experts to explain how it’s done.

Frequent travellers Shifa Khan and Mylah Korero, a Dubai-based sales professional, reveal how they have mastered the carry-on life without sacrificing style, comfort, or essentials.

START WITH THE RIGHT BAG