Travel Size Toiletries

Anyone who flies regularly knows that the size of liquid items in you carry on luggage is limited. If you're travelling light with hand baggage only, you'll need to plan ahead and pack travel size toiletries. Even if you're checking in a bag, you might want to include some small toiletry items in your carry on luggage for use during your flight, or in case your bag goes missing.

For carry on liquids, the limit for an individual item is 100ml (3.4 ounces). The total allowed per person is 1000ml (1 quart). All liquid items should be presented separately at airport security in a resealable plastic bag. And only one such bag is allowed per passenger. If you're going to everything you need for a short trip in your carry on luggage, you'll need to pack carefully. But with a bit of foresight you can manage this, without falling foul of the liquid restrictions.

Most common toiletry items are available in travel size, in recognised brands. You may need to shop around a bit to find them though, as your local pharmacy or drugstore may not carry a wide selection of such items. If you want to save yourself some time, shop around online. Some larger or specialist stores will allow you to order online and deliver travel size toiletries to your door, without you even needing to set foot outside. As well as ordering items individaully, you can even buy complete packs of toiletries containing everything you need for your journey. If you are ordering online, be sure to allow sufficient time for delivery before your trip.

Be sure that the items are correctly packed in a transparent resealable bag. This bag should be packed near the top of your hand luggage, as you will be required to remove it and present it separately at ariport security. Some airports can be strict on this, and will insist on scanning your bag again if you leave your liquids inside it.

Even if the rules on liquids are relaxed in the future, it's a good idea to get used to carrying travel size toiletries. The space you save compared to bringing full sized bottles allows you to fit more in your bag, and with airlines getting stricter on baggage limits there's no point wasting space when the smaller bottles are sufficient.

Save yourself space in your bag, and avoid any problems with airport security by packing travel size toiletries in your hand luggage.