The carry-on packing list that survives contact with airports

The carry-on rules changed and then only half changed, which is the single most useful thing to know before you pack.

The 100ml limit now depends on which airport you are standing in. Airports with approved CT scanners allow containers up to two litres, with no clear bag required and nothing taken out of your bag at the belt. Airports without them still run 100ml in a one-litre bag.

Both rules are live simultaneously, inside the same countries, sometimes inside the same city.

The liquid rules, as they actually stand

As of mid-2026, and this moves:

Airport-by-airport tracking is published and updated, and the UK's transport department has said it intends the 100ml rule to be gone at the significant airports by the end of 2026, on a rollout that is already years behind schedule.

Here is the trap, and it is the reason this section exists. The rule that binds you is the rule at the airport you are departing from, on that leg.

Fly out of Heathrow and home from Manchester and the full-size bottle you were legally allowed to bring is confiscated on the way back. Fly out of Fiumicino and home from almost anywhere else in Italy and the same thing happens.

So: pack to the stricter of your two airports, or accept that anything oversized is a one-way item. On a return trip that is nearly always the 100ml rule, which is why this list still assumes it.

The list

Documents and money

• Passport, and a photograph of it stored somewhere you can reach without your

phone.

• One card and one backup card, on different networks, kept in different places.
• Some local cash for the arrival, because the airport rate is the worst rate

you will see on the trip.

Electronics, all of it in the cabin

• Phone, charger, and a power bank, which is not allowed in the hold on

almost every airline and which therefore has to be with you.

• One multi-country adapter rather than three single ones.
• Headphones. The wired pair weighs nothing and does not run out.

Clothing, and this is where the discipline lives

The number that matters is not the length of the trip, it is the days between laundry. Four to five days of clothes covers a week and covers a month identically.

• Four or five tops, two bottoms, one warm mid-layer, one packable rain shell.
• Underwear and socks for five days.
• Two pairs of shoes maximum, one of them worn onto the plane, because shoes are

the heaviest and bulkiest thing you own.

• One thing that makes you look presentable at dinner. It weighs nothing and it

is the difference between eating well and eating near the hotel.

Toiletries, to the stricter rule

• Solid where possible: shampoo bar, solid deodorant, toothpaste tablets. These

are not liquids and they sidestep the whole argument.

• Everything else decanted to 100ml, in one clear bag, even if your outbound

airport does not require it.

• Medication in original packaging, with the prescription, in the cabin. This is

the one thing that must never be in the hold.

The four small things that earn their weight

• A packable day bag. Weighs almost nothing, replaces a second bag on the

ground.

• Earplugs and an eye mask. The cheapest sleep on any long-haul flight.
• A refillable bottle, empty. Filled after security, and it removes the

single most annoying airport purchase.

• A universal sink plug if you intend to do laundry, which you do, because

that is the entire premise of carry-on travel.

What to leave out

The just-in-case layer. If it exists where you are going and costs less than the excess baggage fee, buy it there. This is almost everything.

The second pair of jeans. They are heavy, they take days to dry, and one pair is enough for any trip.

Full-size anything. Covered above.

The travel towel, in most cases. Hotels have them, and the quick-dry towel is only worth its space for hostels, camping and beaches.

The book you have not started. Take the one you are already reading, or the phone.

The bag itself

Measure it against your worst airline, not your best one. The budget carriers are stricter and enforce it at the gate, where the fee is at its highest. The dimensions that matter are the ones on the tightest ticket in your booking.

Soft-sided beats hard-sided for a carry-on, because it compresses into a sizer and a hard shell does not.

Personal-item bags are the real lever on budget airlines: a small backpack that goes under the seat is often included where the overhead bag is not, and five days of clothing genuinely fits in one.

For specific trips

Different climates change the list more than different trip lengths do. Our Europe winter list has the cold-weather version, where the bulk problem is real, the Southeast Asia list has the hot and humid version, and the Japan October list covers the specific case of a country that runs at 100 volts.

If you are working while you travel, the nomad packing list is the version with a laptop in it, and the family packing list is the version where you are carrying somebody else's things as well.

Before you book

The packing hub collects the kit guides, and the when to go hub decides what climate you are packing for, which changes this list more than anything else.

Prices in our guides are quoted in each destination's own currency and the converter handles the rest.

Liquid rules checked September 2026 against current airport-by-airport reporting and the UK Civil Aviation Authority's hand baggage guidance. This is a rolling change and an airport's status can move between the day you book and the day you fly, so check both ends before you pack. Here is how we research and re-check guides.