Having some time on my hands, I've just been "free-ranging" around the message board and have noticed that people are having a lot of trouble regarding their luggage - from deciding what it should be, to deciding what to put in it, to having it stolen, to having it lost by an airline (ANY airline)!!
I realize that this simply isn't an option for everyone but I've learned (the hard way...)that traveling is ever so much easier if you do it with a minimum of "stuff". If you can possibly get away with it, try traveling with only one bag, that you can manage by yourself under all circumstances (save illness or disability) and that contains nothing of great value. Keep important documents and money in a hotel safe or on your person. Leave the "serious" jewelry at home. It has been my experience that most Spaniards are far more impressed with a dignified and neat appearance than with a show of wealth.
Remember that Spain is a modern country now and almost anything you might need can be purchased there - should that need actually arise (I have a friend who packs an incredible number of things that she "might" need in almost any conceivable situation!)
I know there are several posts about traveling with only a backpack - by the way, those bags that convert from rollerbag to backpack are WONDERFUL - I'm just depressed that so many people could be sabotaging what should be an exciting and carefree vacation by taking along too much stuff!! Let's have more tips on how to avoid the luggage hassle from some of you who've done it.

Quick (stupid) tip. I like to pack toiletries in those heavy duty ziploc freezer bags. That way, they take up less space than a dedicated toiletry bag and if anything explodes (shampoo), your stuff is protected.

My husband and I just spent ten days in Spain with one (slightly large, but not enormous) rolling suitcase, a small backpack (day pack size) and my black hole of a purse. The trick I found was to pack only one color scheme (black/gray/little bit of white), one pair of shoes (*you'll buy some there anyway*), and the smallest possible toiletries (stolen ones from hotels, throwing empties away as you go along).

Other necessities are a decent camera and film, a few maps and pages photocopied out of your clunky, big travel guide (just of the places you're going, and throw them away as you go along), and some basic utensils for cutting and eating snacks you buy at the grocery store.

I try to lay everything out on my bed beforehand, then eliminate as much as I can before I pack my bag.

And obviously, if you're willing to do your own laundry (either at a laundromat or in your hotel tub), you can bring fewer things. I packed a small bottle of laundry soap and used that in the hotel tub one evening, hanging everything to dry overnight. All was stiff, but clean!

And no matter how light you manage to travel on your way over, that smuggled leg of jamón, case of vino tinto, and six-pack of Mahou will weigh you down on the way home!

That is why I alway stick another duffel bag inside my luggage for all the wine I plan on bringing back with me. I just have to make sure not to "clink" through customs!

What is light ? I generally travel with a 28 litre day pack (which was sufficient for a 6 months in South America and carry 3 books and a sleeping bag normally) but for my next trip I've "upsized" to a 45 litre one as I now want to go dancing - requiring another skirt and pair of shoes and a better blouse. This still counts as carry on as far as dimensions are concerned (though it will probably weight 8kg which some airlines will balk at). What else could you possibly need to carry :-) I basically take 3 tops a jumper, trousers, shorts, longjohns dressy skirt - swimsuit - top bit of which is the dressy top for dancing 1 pair of light boots, 1 pair of tevas 1 pair of dressy sandels, pac towel, 3 sets of underwear 3 sox, contact cleaning junk, soap shampoo toothpaste & brush, paper, alarm clock, 3 books (either guides or novels) and a jacket (which I wear or tie onto the outside of my bag). Camera and important stuff go in a waist bag and money belt. It is bit limiting for souvenirs - but if you really want it you buy a cheap bag for it or mail home !

What is it that people fill up the rest of the suitcase with ?

I always have a huge problem with packing, whenever I go on a trip. I am most definitely impressed with the last post and how well one can live on a minimal amount of clothing. I am and have always been an over packer.
I completely agree with everyone posts; take neutral colored clothing. I too tend to stick with black, gray and white and maybe 1 pair of khaki's. I limited my shoes to 2 pairs, both black, but one could be dressy. I knew I would buy shoes in Spain, so 2 pairs was good enough.
My rule is, if you can't wear it aleast twice without it looking dirty or wrinkled, don't bring it. This tends to weed out the pieces of clothing that are going to take up extra space in my luggage that I do not have. And I always pack an expandable duffle bag in my luggage to accomodate all of the things I am bringing back with me.

I feel you Amy. I too am an overpacker but this time I swear I am going to be good! My goal is to not have to check any luggage after they lost my luggage on my last trip to Spain.

Despite the possible assumption that good ol' MadridMan is a smart traveler (the traveling part I do great! ), I do lack something in the way of packing light. "Hello everyone. I'm an overpacker." (My self-introduction at the OA meeting: Overpackers Anonymous).

The things I DO pack I pack VERY well; shirts/pants PERFECTLY folded so as not to cause ANY nasty wrinkles, shoes in plastic grocery bags, explodables in ziplock bags, and the like.

I think the therapy at OA is doing me some good because I'm able to pack a bit lighter in NOT taking one-shirt-per-day and NOT wearing my jeans once and-then-they-MUST-BE-WASHED anymore.

I've been to Spain 4 times, staying with my ladyfriend who lives with her elderly mother ("WHAT?", you ask -- but it's very common). It's the mother who does all the laundry (washing in the machine then hang-dry and followed up by ironing EVERYTHING right down to the socks and underwear) and EVERY time she comments to my ladyfriend after only a couple of days, "HOW can a person have SO much laundry after only a few days??" Well, as I said, thanks to her, in part, I'm doing much better.

So, the moral of this long-winded story is to wear shirts as long as you can if you haven't been sweating (much), doesn't have a red-wine stain, and doesn't look like you slept in it because who's really going to see you everyday and be appauled that you ACTUALLY wore that shirt twice in a row or twice in one week?!! NO ONE. It's tough for many/most of us "Americans" to get past this wearing clothing more than once before they're washed attitude. Still, I have trouble wearing a pair of underwear or socks a second time especially after a long day of touring. (<-my "pee-ew!" face)

I like the comments about taking things in the smallest container possible and then disposing of them along the way. GREAT idea about only copying important tour book pages too. Take a large-ish plastic (not nylon) for dirty clothes too.. you don't want your "cleans" to have the smell of "dirties".

What a fun topic!! Keep it up! Saludos, MadridMan

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 03-30-2001).]

One more packing tip--if you (like me) MUST have a hair dryer, buy one there! I would otherwise have had to pack my travel dryer and an adapter--and last time I did that, I ended up tripping the circuit breakers in one of the places I stayed anyway! I found a VERY SMALL hair dryer in Salamanca, with a folding handle and the two-round-pin European plug, for about 2000 pesetas ($13 at the time we were there). Even though I won't use it at home (I could, with my adapter, but why?), I can loan it to friends traveling to Europe and save it for my next trip.

I also found a European-plug portable immersion heater that you can use to boil a cup of water (I got it at a Rand McNally travel store at the Mall of America here in Minneapolis)--we took one old coffee mug and had tea EVERY MORNING (you could make coffee with instant granules or those little tea-bag packets of coffee) as we were getting showered and dressed. That was lovely and helped us deal with our cravings for an American-style heaping bowl of Cheerios.

We also took a duffel bag, rolled up in our rolling suitcase. On the way home, we filled it with all of our icky laundry and used the suitcase for our souvenirs and Spanish clothing purchases.

And one last word to the wise--though rolling bags are perfect in airports, they don't do well on cobblestone streets, going up and down curbs, climbing flights and flights of hostel stairs, or in the Madrid metro. I think next time around, we would get one of those all-in-one backpack/rolling bag combos. I used a backpack for a month-long trip to Spain and Ireland in 1995, and managed to get all my clothes, souvenirs, and even enough skeins of yarn to knit a long-sleeved pullover around in that. Of course, I was nearly in traction when I got home, but Spain's worth it!

I discovered this while traveling in the upper Midwest in the Fall - when the temp. can be 75 or 45 on any given day. I personally like to carry a cashmere sweater for warmth (and they're thin!) but I have a friend who takes those big thick sweaters with sports logos in case of cold weather. To avoid having to take half a dozen suitcases, he has 3 bags made of some kind of space-age plastic with a very tight seal. He puts the sweaters in the bag then rolls it, unsealed, to push out all the air, then he seals it. It works just like those "seal-a-meal" things and reduces the space that the sweaters take up in the suitcase by about 2/3!! These are available from Magellan (for sure)and possibly TravelSmith as well. I think it'd be great for jeans and things that take up a lot of space and a Godsend for you members of O.A. Anybody else tried them?