Packing List Generator

Most packing lists are the same list every time. This one is generated from a tagged catalogue of 126 items, and four of your answers change what comes out of it.

• Climate and trip type filter the catalogue. Every item carries the climates and trip types it applies to; an empty list means “applies to everything”. Shorts appear in hot, warm and tropical weather but not in cold. Thermal base layers appear only in cold. Ski goggles only appear on a ski trip. Nothing generic is padded in to make the list look longer.
• Quantities scale with nights. Nineteen items are per-night: tops and underwear at one per night, trousers at roughly one per three nights, sleepwear at one per three, bras at one per three. We round up, so a 5-night trip gets 2 pairs of trousers rather than 1.7.
• Laundry caps the counts. Say you’ll do laundry and each per-night item is capped at its own sensible ceiling — seven tops rather than fourteen for a two-week trip. Say you won’t and we scale straight through, which is why a long trip without laundry produces a list that plainly wants a checked bag.
• Travelling with kids adds a block. Twelve items — diapers, changing kit, snacks, carrier, car seat, comfort toy, kids’ medication, sippy cups, kids’ documents — appear only when you say you’re travelling with children, and the per-night ones (snacks, spare outfit changes) scale with the trip.
• With a partner, we double what’s personal. Clothing, business wear, beach, ski, outdoor gear and documents are doubled, because each of you needs your own. Toiletries, tech, health and kids items are left at one set, on the assumption you’ll share the adapter, the first-aid kit and the sunscreen — double the genuinely personal ones (toothbrush, deodorant, prescriptions) yourself.

The carry-on read. We add up the wearable and gear pieces and tell you whether the list plausibly fits a carry-on. Bulky trips — cold weather, ski — and packing for two or for kids nearly always mean a checked bag, and it’s better to know that now than at the sizer.

Quantities we cap on purpose. Scaling stops at 30 nights: past that you are doing laundry whether you planned to or not, and a list of 45 t-shirts helps nobody. Items marked essential in the catalogue (passport, ID, cards, keys, phone, charger, prescriptions, glasses) are flagged in the table — those are the ones people actually forget.

These are suggestions, not requirements. The catalogue is built from general travel guidance plus the TSA and FAA rules that constrain what can go where (liquids in a quart bag, lithium batteries in the cabin). Adjust for your own habits, and check the current TSA rules for anything you’re unsure about.