Personal Item Carry-On Bag Organization Tips for Your Flight

These travel tips for personal item carry-on bag organization will help for your next flight. When I pack for a trip, I organize my backpack by when I need the travel essentials mid-flight. #traveltips #backpack #travelorganizer

My Flight Items:
Star sweater: old Rails
Personal Item Bags:

Bright pink suitcase: old Samsonite

Chapters:
00:00 Organize Personal Item Bag Carry On
1:22 Pack in pockets of bag
2:02 Pack airport security items in pocket
3:30 Prioritize mid-flight items
4:50 Pack similar shapes of pockets
6:45 Travel hack for backpack
6:58 Organize inside personal item backpack
7:25 Organize technology inside bag
8:56 Helps find essentials mid-flight
9:20 Pack essentials along edge of bag
10:35 Laptop pocket of personal item
11:44 Room for fanny pack in bag
13:25 Passport and car key
15:16 Neck pillow
16:19 Pack flat things

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Instagram: @TravelTipsByLaurie (My former channel name was LauriePOP Ideas That POP, but now I produce travel tip videos only)

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[TravelTipsbyLaurie]

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My Flight Items:
Star sweater: old Rails
Personal Item Bags:
Bento bag: www.nomadlane.com
Tote bag: www.minkeeblue.com

Bright pink suitcase: old Samsonite


Freebies for you my viewers:

[Snowschoo]

One thing I always do when I get to my airline seat is pull out a pre-moistened wipe and wipe down my space. Headrest, chair, arm rest, tray table, you’d be shocked how dirty it all is. I sometimes have to use 3-4 wipes! Usually another traveler (seeing how gross everything is) will ask me for an extra wipe. I take additional wipes with me to the rest room. 😮. I take them to movie theaters too. Love your tips!!

[gardenhappy]

Remember to slip a plastic grocery bag in with your spare clothes packed away inside your compression cube in your personal item bag. Use it to keep the worn items separated from the fresh clothes. It takes little room and if you don't use it for that, it usually comes in handy for something else.

[donkiml]

I pack a small sandwich bag with all items I like in my pockets. You have to have empty pockets through TSA, then put the items in after the line, I have a gallon size bag with all the items I want in the seat pocket. This is easy to grab when you get to your seat and it keeps your book, kindle, snacks, wipes from connecting with the pocket grime.

[tomgoheen]

I watched previous videos where you suggested packing an extra tee and undies, in your personal item. I just did that and also included a nightgown. Well, today we flew out and when we got to the airport we realized we’d left a suitcase at home! Too late to go back so we flew off with all of my clothes sitting in my bedroom. I’m SO glad I followed your tip! I have a nice fresh nightgown for tonight, clean I does and a tee for tomorrow to wear shopping! Crazy, I know. We’ve never done this before but things do happen.

[jenharvey]

Your napkin in the drink pocket hack is useful, but I would replace it with a dollar store bandana (I have dozens stacked in my cupboard because I use them for so many things, including gift wrap). Once you get to your hotel, rinse it out and hang on the shower rail to dry. They have dozens of uses on vacation, from a head cover when it's sunnier than expected, to a makeshift bag when you weren't intending to shop, to an emergency bandage, sling or tourniquet in case of injury, to a cooling towel on a hot day, to a valet tray so your jewelry doesn't blend into the counter and get forgotten, to something to cover your mouth and nose so you can breath while escaping a fire godforbid.

[krp]

Hi Laurie! Something I do for the ice cold bottle of water or other beverage bottle, I keep folded paper towels inside a plastic zip bag, & just slide the bottle into that zip bag, the paper towels absorb the condensation, & being inside the plastic bag, you won’t have a wet spot on your backpack.

[jessiejbenn]

The last time i went through a tsa line, I watched a lady have to unzip her carry-on bag and search for things to put in the gray bins. I remember thinking that she needed to watch Travel Tips by Laurie 😂

[mjharris]

For my tech, I use slim, tubular shaped pencil cases. It fits nicely in the opposite, outside, water bottle pocket.

[RosannePitzer]

Dear Laurie, Thank you so much for all of your smart advice! I'm also an airline pilot wife and have been traveling with my husband for over 26 years. As you can imagine, I've acquired many of my own traveling tips and hacks over the years. But, I always seem to learn a few new ones from your videos. So, thank you and please keep them coming!

[suereese]

Extra clothes in your personal item bag are great if your bag gets lost. But…also great if you happen to spill a whole glass of soda on your lap. Nice to have non sticky clothes to change into mid flight!!! This thought comes from personal experience.

[niccicoleman]

I like to use my bumbag for those travel essentials that I want handy on the flight. I got a black and white striped one (looks great with my black and white Lovevook backpack). When I get to my seat I open the tray, slide my bumbag strap over the tray to the hinge and close the tray. The bag is then located right in hands reach! Thanks for your tips!

[Happytrails]

Hi Laurie! I have a small, fluffy pouch with a drawstring that I roll my sweater into, and it doubles as a really comfy pillow. Also, inside my liquids bag, I have a small ziplock bag with my plane essentials like hand cream, eye drops etc. It's then easy to separate when necessary 😉

[colleenmarin]

I love how you make little changes to your packing routine, based on your lived experiences

[kenbrown]

a tip I just picked up from another place, and particularly useful for families: pack all of the stuff that TSA is going to want to look closer at in one carryon. that way one adult can keep tabs on that "high scrutiny" bag, and the other can keep tabs on the kids and the low scrutiny bags. - I've already decided that next time we fly, we'll put the "uncheckables" into one carryon, so the other can be checked at the gate if need be.
you already know that instead of a personal item bag, I carry my flight stuff in a light jacket with lots of pockets. I prefer a Kindle to a paper book for travel. I still prefer the security of having my books on paper overall, but the e-ink screen isn't hard on my eyes, plus it has the backlight so I can read with the lights off, and if my eyes ARE tired, I can adjust the print size. plus I can carry an entire bookshelf in my pocket.
one thing I've run into is that I usually aim for exit rows, for the legroom. what that means for travelers, is the tray table will be smaller, and most of the time there is no underseat option. that means having my personal inflight items carried on my person is an even bigger necessity, so they don't get put in an overhead bin out of reach.
I carry wired earbuds, mostly because I'm stingy, but partly because I can just plug them into the airplane entertainment system, or the tour bus listening system.
when I go through the TSA line, as I've said, I wear shoes that are easy to slip on and off, so I can just take my laptop out of my carryon, and put it in a second bin with my shoes and jacket in it, as well. then at the exit, I can just slip into my shoes, stick my laptop back into my bag, grab my jacket, and get myself out of the security area. any reorganizing I want to do; I can do in the gate area, where there's less chaos of people who didn't prepare for TSA screening trying to put themselves back together. as a man, I make a point of wearing pants without rivets, (Carhartt work pants will earn you a patdown) that I can wear with or without a belt (that way I can have the belt in a bag for the flight, but I still have the option of going tucked in with a belt for someplace nice.) I have black golf pants I wore the last time we traveled, and they were great. I wear a nice shirt with a pocket, because that's where I carry my phone, and then the jacket with all my in flight stuff and all the stuff I normally carry in my pockets. I also haven't parked in airport parking for years. last time, we had friends drop us off and they kept the car - and all our keys - at their house while we were gone. that way, we could just ping them while we were in customs, and they came to fetch us. we've also used hotel "sleep and ride" services when we had early morning flights. even more creatively, one of my customers told me they booked a limo service to take them to and from the airport, because in the final calculation, it didn't cost them any more than driving to the airport, and paying for long term parking; once they added in the nuisance cost of not having doorstep dropoff and pickup.
another tip someone might find handy - on our last international trip; we flew Iceland Air, and they handed out liter bottles of good water as we boarded the plane. so if you're flying Iceland, you probably won't need to juggle a water bottle.

[autumnsevens]

We recently took a vacation and on the outside pouch of our electronics bag I taped a post it note of all the electronic items in it and that were elsewhere, like the phone, etc. That way when packing to go home, I just went off that list to make sure everything was repacked. I also take a major packing list of items we take so I can pack for the next vacation looking at the list of what we used & didn't use. Thank you for sharing your tips!

[lisawoolfork]

I have traveled to 40 plus countries (Europe. Qatar. Southeast Asia) i have learned how to pack like a pro. Your videos have been a great source of information. Going to see my son in October on southwest airlines (1st time flying with them ) so i started packing early. Pulled out 4 personal item bags and decided i would try a travel backpack. I was impressed with how much i could fit into this bag. I always carry noise canceling headphones and a neck pillow. I have a bag i stuff my pillow into to keep it clean. Also packing 2 days worth of clothing into my backpack. I have to work on my vacation so i have my computer and a Kindle. All my cables and my Belkin surge protector which i have used in the airport to top off my devices. I have a 13 hour layover so i need some cleaning wipes to freshen up.

Thanks for the tips about hand sanitizer not having to go in your liquids bag. I am only taking my backpack and a carry-on for an 11 day trip but i feel really good about what i am taking. Just ordered the airplane travel footrest since i am in economy and both flight are approximately 6 hours each.

A must take on for me is a ziplock bag for garbage. I always carry quart and gallon size bags in my personal bag.

Love you content and look forward to what is next

[shaunarumbaugh]

I haven’t flown in over 20 years because we generally do road trips. Your videos help me feel much less stressed about my upcoming work trip.

[MiaHessMusic]

Great video, Laurie!!! Thank you!
I'm 69 and I started flying when I was 4, and first flew by myself at 8. My mother always told me to pack an extra pair of undies, socks and a shirt with me. I can't tell you how many times that has saved me!

[jenharvey]

One thing I'd add about liquids bags - don't feel you must limit them to toiletries. I don't use many liquids toiletries, so I always have extra space. This trip will involve a 5 hour flight, a 7 1/2 hour layover, then a 2 /12 hour flight. That's a lot of hours! So, I will be bringing at least 2 meals with me as well as the usual snacks. Remember that you can put liquidy food in your liquids bag, as long as it falls within the TSA requirements. Mine will include honey straws for my tea, individual salad dressing sachets, and three 1 ounce jars of different preserves for my cheese and crackers lunch.