Over the years of traveling with my husband I have learned and adopted his ways of carry-on bags only flying. It has been such an improvement in my life! No longer do I wait around at baggage claim, worry about lost bags, or pay fees for checked bags. 

While carry-on traveling is deserving of another post entirely, the key is making sure you're ready to go through airport secuity with a properly packed toiletry bag. That means your liquids (shampoo, soap, lotion, mousse, gel, etc.) have to be in small sized bottles and then contained in a bag that can be easily removed from your carry on and placed on the conveyor for the x-ray machine.

The sizing for liquids in a checked bag are totally different. This guide is for carry-on bags, the smaller suitcase you bring with you onto to the plane and stash in the overhead compartment. Once I forgot the difference in the size of liquid containers between checked bags and carry-ons and brought a giant bottle of Paul Mitchell (read: expensive) hair mousse in a carry-on. I had to leave behind the entire bottle, it was a tragic first world problem. The curly haired girl's nightmare resulted in both lost dollars and bad hair days while I swore I'd NEVER AGAIN make such a mistake. I have since perfected my carry-on toiletry bag packing! Spoiler alert: I always bring TWO mini mousses. 

Pittsburgh here we come! Tonight my husband and I will take two flights to get us across the country to my hometown for a week long visit. It's been almost a year and a half since I've been back home and this summertime trip is long overdue.

Bagheera, our cat, is less than thrilled to be left behind in Seattle but is always excited to see a bag to jump into. Hopefully I can continue my ongoing trend of carry on bags only later today!