I did a practice pack of my upcoming trip (20 days to travel day). Clothes, toiletries, vitamins, supplements, medications, camera, case, toiletries, make up.... drum roll, please........11.1 lbs! Am I leaving something out I wonder?
My Patagonia MLC seems a bit big now.

Passport?
Money?
Well done you!

I did that weight when we flew on Zoom (Canadian airline now defunct), gosh it felt good! :-) A couple of times I had a memory lapse, panicked and thought I'd left a bag somewhere. It took a while for my brain and body to accept that the bag I was carrying WAS my only bag.

I'm not even taking that "one item" allowed. How is this possible? Last trip: one wheeled bag, 1 Rick Steves Euro tote (which by the way does not stack on the wheelie). One of our connections was in Paris and we had to carry all that crap up the stairs to the plane after racing through the airport to catch the flight.

I really have too much room left in the bag. And now for the first time I understand the criticisms of bags with pockets. Who needs all those pockets? The back pocket is empty. Next time, 1 main compartment and maybe a little pocket outside for 3-1-1 and travel docs.

Thanks, everyone for your help! :)

Wow! good job! For me the problems has always been the weight rather than the size.

Woot! WTG Eileen :) Now you have extra room for souvenirs ;)

Have a wonderful time!

Good job! You'll enjoy the trip much more.

Nice! I also have the Patagonia MLC and sometimes it is a bit too large, as I get better at paring down my needs versus wants. I have a coule of their lightweight series that I use when less is better but still love the MLC.

Whisper,
Do you find that your MLC curves as you hold it by the handle?

Yes - I understand it was placed off centre to counter the weight of the older laptops. Now that they are so light, and often replaced by a tablet, it is a nuisance and should be re-designed. There was a post a few weeks ago here about that.