Packing list builder: what actually has to come on this trip
You pick the kind of trip, the season and the number of days, set four switches for cabin bag only, children, dog and a destination outside the EU, and you get a list to tick off. It is sorted by category, gives you counts instead of "enough T-shirts", and estimates how heavy the cabin bag will be. Most packing lists online are one long catch-all. That is exactly what makes them useless: hiking boots on a business trip, a blazer at the beach, insect repellent in January. This list drops what does not apply to your trip and adds what only applies to it. We built the tool because we twice left without a charging cable and once without the dog's pet passport. The list is the sheet of paper we now put next to the case.
The trip
Who and what comes along
The weights are editorial reference values as of September 2026: taken from our own luggage on a kitchen scale and rounded to 10 grams. Your jacket may be 300 grams heavier, your wash bag 200 grams lighter. The total works as a warning about an overpacked bag; it is no evidence at the check-in scale.
The list in numbers
What makes the bag heavy
| Item | Count | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| The table appears together with the list. | ||
Your packing list Tick as you go
The list is built in your browser: nothing is sent, nothing is stored. Reload the page and the ticks are gone too.
How your list is built
Behind the tool sits a dictionary of about ninety entries. Every entry knows its category, its estimated weight and the condition under which it appears at all. "Hiking boots with proper grip" hang off the active holiday, "jacket or blazer" off the business trip, "hat, scarf and gloves" off winter. The counts come from the length of the trip, not from a hunch. T-shirts are one per day, capped at seven. Underwear and socks are days plus one, capped at ten. Long trousers are one per four days started, capped at three. The caps are deliberate: from about eight days on, one wash is easier than twice the clothes, and that is exactly when we add detergent for hand washing. The season switches whole blocks on and off. Summer brings sunscreen, a sun hat and swimwear; winter brings a coat, waterproof boots and lip balm, and drops the shorts. The four switches work the same way: outside the EU swaps the national ID card for a passport with six months of validity left and adds insurance, visa, plug adapter and eSIM. The numbers sit next to the list: how many entries it has, how many pieces that adds up to, how much of it travels in the cabin. Below that, a table shows the seven heaviest entries. Usually they are shoes and jackets, and that is exactly where cutting pays off.
Why the weight is only an estimate
The gram figures are editorial reference values as of September 2026. We put our own luggage on a kitchen scale and rounded to ten grams. A T-shirt sits in the table at 150 grams, a pair of hiking boots at 1,100, a laptop with its charger at 1,800. Your things weigh something else. A down jacket is half the weight of a padded winter coat, a size 46 shirt weighs more than a size 38, and a wash bag built from travel sizes comes in 200 grams lighter than the one from your bathroom. Expect a deviation of 15 to 20 per cent in either direction. Two things are missing from the total entirely: the case itself and the clothes you wear on the travel day. A hard-shell case weighs 3 to 5 kilograms empty, a cabin trolley 2 to 3. With a 23 kilogram allowance, a fifth is gone before anything goes in. That is why you wear the heavy shoes instead of packing them. As a warning it still works. If the tool says 11 kilograms of cabin baggage and your airline allows 8, you will not be slightly over at the gate, you will be well over. As evidence at the check-in scale it is worthless, and it is not meant as that.
Connecting with a cabin bag only
The "cabin bag only" switch changes the list in three places. First, nail scissors and the shaving kit come off, because they are regularly confiscated at security. Second, full-size bottles become the 100 ml version plus a clear one-litre bag. Third, every single entry now counts towards the weight, not just papers, tech and medication. Two things belong in the cabin bag whether or not a case comes along: your personal medication and the power bank. Medication because checked bags sometimes arrive a day after you do. Power banks because they are banned from checked luggage and your case would be left standing at the belt. Connections add a detail many people only notice at the second gate: cabin baggage rules apply per flight, not per trip. If the first flight allows 10 kilograms and the connection allows 7, then 7 is your number. The tool does not know your airline and therefore warns at 8 kilograms, because that is the most common figure in Europe. From around ten days with a cabin bag only, you need a plan for washing. A launderette will do, and so will a sink in the evening if you brought technical fabrics rather than cotton. That is why detergent joins the list automatically from eight days on.
What this tool cannot do
It does not know your airline's rules. Dimensions, weight limits and the question of whether a small backpack is allowed on top differ between carriers and between fares from the same carrier. We warn at 8 kilograms because it is a common figure, not because it applies to you. The binding number is in your booking. It does not know entry requirements. Whether you need a visa, which vaccinations are demanded and whether your passport is valid for long enough is decided by the destination country and changes faster than a list in a browser could follow. The "outside the EU" switch reminds you about the paperwork; it does not check it. It stores nothing. The ticks you set live only as long as the tab stays open. There are no cookies, no local storage and not a single network request. Reload the page and the list is blank again, so if you want to keep it, print it. And it knows nothing about you. Anyone who wears contact lenses, depends on one particular medication or cannot sleep without their own pillow has to add that themselves. The list is meant to take over the boring part, so that packing leaves you thinking about the three things that only apply to you.