After a summer that never really took off in London, I was glad to escape for a few days of sunshine at the end of August to stay at my parents' apartment in Cannes. By flying out on Friday evening and returning late on Tuesday night, I had full four days of sun, sea and steak-frites in the glamorous French Riviera city (check out my guide to spending a day in Cannes on a 50 euro budget). And, always striving to travel light, I packed everything into one under-seat bag. Here's what I packed for my four-day trip.
The bag: Patagonia Refugio Daypack 26L
I bought the Patagonia Refugio backpack for my Machu Picchu hike in 2018 and it's come with me on most of my trips since then, either alongside a carry-on suitcase on longer trips or as my only bag on shorter breaks. It has comfortable padded straps, a laptop sleeve and lots of pockets for organisation (the current version has fewer pockets but a 'Desk Caddy compartment' instead) and two stretchy side pockets for water bottles or flip flops.
The size means the bag works best for weekend breaks but I can fit a surprising amount inside, especially when I'm travelling tight to warm-weather destinations and need less room for clothing. I'm 5'3" and the 26L bag is a great fit for my small frame.
Longchamp's Le Pliage totes in medium have been my favourite handbags for travel for more than two decades. The bag is lightweight, looks chic, has a zippered top and long straps that fit comfortably over my shoulder and folds down to a small size for packing. My current bag, in aqua (modelled by me below in Cannes — don't @ me about the yacht name!), goes really well with the blues, pinks and purples that make up most of my summer wardrobe. I also usually carry a Baggu or two for shopping or to take to the beach.
Clothes
For many people, packing a capsule wardrobe means packing lots of neutrals. I prefer brighter colours, especially for warm-weather travel and most of my clothes are in the blue, turquoise, hot pink colour and purple colour palette. Luckily, these colours all work together. I wore everything except the skirt.
- 2 short-sleeved t-shirts — 1 aqua, 1 pink (I also bought a Cannes t-shirt from the Palais des Festivals).
- 2 casual vest tops — 1 turquoise, 1 royal blue.
- 1 aqua sleeveless blouse — from LOFT.
- 1 blue-and-white print jersey dress — the Boden Amelie dress; I ordered it in petite but still needed to hem it up by another three inches.
- 1 aqua print skirt.
- 1 pair of Hush denim shorts (I also bought a pair of magenta linen shorts on sale at Monoprix in Cannes).
- 1 royal blue cardigan — worn on the plane and on the way home.
- 1 turquoise pashmina — worn on the plane and on the way home.
- 5 days' underwear and 2 pairs of socks.
I keep an old pair of trainers at my parents' apartment so I didn't need bring any (if I hadn't had them, I'd have left the sandals at home and worn my Allbirds trainers instead), but here's the rest of my gym and beach kit:
- 1 bikini — from Fourth Element.
- 1 beach cover-up dress — from Ko Lanta, Thailand, which I'm modelling in Cannes in the photo below.
- 1 running vest (Gap) and running shorts (Lululemon).
- 1 sports bra — from Panache.
- 1 foldable Fedora hat — on mega-sale at Muji.
- Sparkly flip flops — from Fitflop.
- Walking sandals — from Fipper, Malaysia (they're like much cheaper Tevas; stock up if you're in Southeast Asia). Cannes has sandy beaches but I bought these in case we visited one of the nearby islands, which have rocky shores, or Nice, with its pebbly beaches.
- Towel — I didn't need to bring a beach towel as my parents have plenty at their apartment, but I usually pack a Turkish towel (colourful, lightweight and quick-drying).
Tech & other essentials
I'm not very good at going low-tech on my travels. I always bring either my iPad Mini or, more often, my Kindle and one of my laptops, plus my camera. These are a few of my tech favourites, which I brought to Cannes:
- eSIM — as usual, I used an Airalo eSIM on this trip. I've used eSIMs since 2022 — my phone no longer has a physical SIM card slot in any case! Airalo eSIMs are easy to set up and they offer good rates for country and regional eSIMs, which I've used in various countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. If you sign up using my referral code, REBECC3024, we both get $3.
- MacBook Pro — for shorter trips, I usually take my old but very light MacBook Air, but I needed to work from the airport lounge on the afternoon before my flight so my trusty MacBook Pro came along.
- iPhone 15 Pro, AirPods and AirTag.
- Kindle Paperwhite.
- Camera — Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III, plus the 12–45 mm PRO lens. I forgot to bring my TG-7 Tough waterproof camera, unfortunately.
- Pocket tripod — this credit-card-sized tripod stays in my wallet at all times because the best tripod is the one you have with you. I bought the magenta one, obvs.
- Fast travel charger — UGREEN USB C Charger 65W. This charger has two USB-C ports (including one that can even fast-charge my laptop) and one USB-A port. It also comes with adapters for UK, the US and Europe.
- Cables — I usually have a few USB cables for my phone and other devices, but also always carry this 6-way USB fast charging cable, which covers Lightning, USB-A, USB-C and Micro-USB.
- Power bank — Anker Nano Power Bank, 10,000mAh. This power bank offers fast charging and I get more than two charges of my iPhone 15 Pro. It has an integrated USB-C cable and ports for USB-C and USB-A. Its compact size means it's easy to carry with me at all times.
As the weather was hot and sunny throughout my stay in Cannes and the forecast looked decent for my return journey to London, I decided not to bring an umbrella. Luckily, the forecast was right for once and I stayed dry. But here are some of the other essentials I did bring (my travel packing essentials guide has even more recommendations):
- Passport, cardholder (I use a small turquoise one from Officina N.11, coin purse and pouches from Fragonard.
- Sunglasses — Sungod Sierras. I've worn these constantly over the past few years. The frames come with a lifetime guarantee, which I've just taken advantage of after breaking one of the arms.
- Fan — I love a multitasking product for travel and the JISULIFE Handheld Fan is a handheld fan that can also charge your phone and serve as a torch (although not all at once). It's also really small and can be charged by USB.
- Insulated water bottle from Chilly's.
- Sleep mask — Lewis N. Clark Comfort Eye Mask. I never sleep without a mask, home or away, and although I've tried many others, I always come back to this one for its combination of comfort and light-blocking.
- Mini Moleskine notepad and Caran D'ache neon pink pen.
- Coffee — I didn't need to bring my Aeropress Go as my parents have a V60 and a Nespresso machine at their apartment. I brought some Monmouth coffee, though.
Toiletries
I took one small, transparent case for all of my toiletries and makeup. I used the shower gel and shampoo at my parents' apartment so I only needed to bring:
- Small GoToobs with conditioner, my favourite SPF 50 moisturiser with aloe and facial cleanser.
- Deodorant.
- Hand sanitiser.
- SPF30 lip balm.
- A few makeup items (eyebrow pencil, mascara and tinted lip balm).
- Mini Wet Brush.
- Mini razor.
- I also bought a new bottle of my favourite SPF 50 sensitive sun cream at the airport and my favourite SPF 50 facial sun cream at a pharmacy in Cannes.
Packing my bag
For my travel outfit, I wore my denim shorts with a short-sleeved tee, my cardigan, my sandals and my hat. I packed everything else into my backpack. I was going to use a packing cube for my clothes to keep things organised but it ended up taking up too much space so I just packed my clothes at the bottom of my bag, with items I might need on my journey at the top, and my toiletries and Kindle in the front pocket for easy access.
Not only did everything fit but I even had room to fit in my shopping (sun cream, new t-shirt, new shorts, new skirt and a short cotton robe from Fragonard), as well as the sandwich and snacks I took to eat at the airport on the way home. I did have to put my flip flops in one of my bag's stretchy side pockets on the way back.
Final thoughts
My BA flights from Gatwick to Nice and back again were both completely full — it was a bank holiday weekend — and space in the overhead locker was at a premium. I usually have priority boarding and could have secured a space for a carry-on suitcase but I was really glad not to have to worry about that by bringing only an under-seat bag.
When completely full, my bag weighed 7.7 kg (my laptop and camera being the heaviest items), well within BA hand bag weight limit of 23 kg. At its fullest, my bag measured 40 x 28 x 22 cm — slightly over the BA hand bag size (40 x 30 x 15cm) but it still easily fit underneath the seat in front, even in the window seat, which often has smaller space on short haul flights. As this was my only bag, had there been an issue, I could have put it in the overhead locker. But given the total lack of overhead locker space on both flights, the chances of this happening were extremely slim.
As I was desperately trying to get the last train from Gatwick to London Bridge, I also appreciated being able to pick up my bag and run straight out of the plane and through the airport, rather than having to wait to lift my suitcase down and drag it through the airport. I missed the train by two minutes but, miracle of miracles, the other trains were so disrupted that night that I was able to get another one ten minutes later.
I always try to travel light and I'd like to try bringing an even smaller backpack for future trips of two to four days, but the biggest obstacle is my camera. Although it's a micro-four-thirds camera and pretty compact, it still takes up a lot of space in my main backpack compartment with the lens on. And if I were to also bring an Aeropress and/or a travel towel — or in cooler climes when clothes take up more space — I think I would struggle with less than 26L.
The clam-shell design (and colours!) of the Cotopaxi Allpa 28L travel pack also tempt me, although when I am travelling with only one bag, I find the classic top-zip opening easier to manage, especially when going through the airport and on the plane. So, I think I'll be sticking with the Patagonia Refugio for the foreseeable.
Disclaimer: Some of the links above are affiliate links. This means that if you click through and make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only ever recommend products that I use and love — this is particularly important when travelling light and every item must earn its space!
Looking for more of my tips for packing light? Check out my guide for recommendations of tried-and-tested products for travel.
Want more ideas for the best things to do in Cannes? My blog posts have you covered.
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