What's in My Bag: Palma City Break (Personal Item Only)

My Osprey Daylite Expandable 26+6 Travel Pack had its second foreign excursion this month when I took it on a five-day trip to Palma de Mallorca in Spain. Once again, I was impressed with how much I could pack in and how comfortable it was to carry. Read on to discover how the backpack worked as a personal item on a BA flight and what I packed.

• Trip length: 5 days.
• Trip type: city + beach.
• Weather: hot and sunny, with highs of 31–34C.
• Flights: My flight with BA to Palma included a carry-on bag and a personal item, but I travelled with an under-seat bag only.
• Luggage: Osprey Daylite Expandable 26+6 Travel Pack.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post 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!

MY LUGGAGE

After a successful trip to Riga with my Osprey Daylite Expandable 26+6 Travel Pack, I decided to use it again for my holiday in Palma de Mallorca. Although the weather was a lot hotter in Palma than when I was in Latvia, I stayed one more night and needed to bring a few extra items for beaches and boat trips. You can read my detailed thoughts on the Daylite 26+6 in my Riga packing blog.

I also brought my Longchamp medium Le Pliage, which I packed inside my backpack, and my Baggu small crescent bag, which I wore cross-body to and from the airports.

WHAT'S IN MY BAG: CLOTHES

I was in Palma for five days in mid-July. It was hot and sunny throughout my trip, with highs of 31–34C and lows of about 22C. As I was going to be exploring the city, including some nice dinners, as well as taking trips to beaches and coves, I needed an adaptable capsule wardrobe. And no, capsule wardrobes don't have to include only neutral colours!

• Worn on the plane: light blue hoodie, aqua tee, denim shorts and HOKA trainers.
• Tops: pink tee, violet vest and two nicer sleeveless tops (pink and aqua).
• Skirts and dresses: two Columbia Freezer Tank Dresses (these are amazing for travel!) and one patterned skirt (goes with both sleeveless tops).
• Beach and sports: two bikinis, teal Lululemon running vest and blue running shorts.
• Shoes: my favourite sparkly Fitflop flip-flops and these Teva sandals.
• Socks and undies for five days.
• Accessories: foldable fedora from Muji and a light silk scarf from Vietnam.

My packing turned out to be spot-on: I wore everything except the vest and that's only because I bought a t-shirt in Palma that I wore instead. Sadly, it meant I couldn't use my hilarious 'Palma violet' joke.

The Columbia Freezer Tank Dress may be the perfect travel dress. I have two (pictured below and in my profile pic), but they have a ton of other colours and prints. They're lightweight and comfortable, dry quickly, offer UV protection and have pockets. They work as well for the beach as for the city, and can even be dressed up for nicer dinners.

I wouldn't normally bring three pairs of shoes on a short trip but I knew I'd need my Tevas for rocky beaches and cliffs. And my long-suffering feet are find Fitflop flip-flops much more comfortable for general use (their sparkly straps mean they also look nicer for the evening).

It was so hot that I only wore the hoodie at the airport and on the way home but I was glad to have it just in case. A light cover-up might have been useful for beach days, but I used my Turkish towel. I recently upgraded to this soft and colourful one from Huckberry. This Lifeventure HydroFibre Ultralight is a less stylish but impressively absorbent (I've tested it) full-size towel that packs down into a teeny pouch.

WHAT'S IN MY BAG: TECH & ESSENTIALS

I packed my Longchamp Le Pliage tote and my Baggu small crescent bag to use as day bags but I ended up only using the Longchamp bag. This was because I usually wanted to carry both my insulated water bottle and my Olympus camera, which didn't fit in the Baggu.

Tech

• iPhone 15 Pro and Apple AirPods with noise cancellation. I stayed connected with an Airalo eSIM, which had good service throughout Mallorca. I paid $10 for 5GB of data, and if you sign up using my referral code — REBECC3024 — we both get $3 credit.
• MacBook Air M4 — I did some writing and photo editing during my trip so I was glad to have my laptop with me.
• Kindle Paperwhite.
• Cameras: Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mark III and OM System Tough TG-7 (waterproof camera for beach days). After bringing my compact Canon camera on my last few trips, I missed the photo quality of my OM-5. It took up a fair bit of space in my backpack but I was glad I had it.
• There wasn't space for my mini Tripod/selfie stick, but there's always room for this credit-card-sized foldable tripod. I used it to take pictures like this and this.
• Power and cables: Anker USB-C 65W plug, Anker Nano Power Bank, 10,000mAh, a 6-way USB fast charging cable and Anker 3-in-1 MagSafe wireless charging station.
• Hero product: multitasking fan/torch/charger — a tiny handheld fan that can also charge devices (about half an iPhone 15 Pro) and function as a torch. You'll need a fan for the Mallorcan summer and although you can find decorative hand fans all over Palma, having an electric one is much nicer.

Other essentials

• Passport and RFID-blocking pouch by Side by Side.
• Pouch (from Lagom Brighton) with daily essentials: plasters, paracetamol and stomach meds, hand sanitiser, Victorinox Swiss Card Nail Care, teeny torch, teeny pen, SPF lip balm and a spare hairband. The scissors from the Swiss Card were useful for opening packets of jamón ibérico!
• Sungod Sierra sunglasses, teeny packable NanoBag, dry bag, insulated Chilly's water bottle, foldable water bottle and 4oz KeepCup for takeaway piccolos.
• Lewis N. Clark Comfort Eye Mask — my favourite sleep mask (and I've tried a lot over the years).
• Toiletries: my hotel had really nice toiletries, so I only needed to bring face serum, SPF 50 facial sunscreen, SPF 50 sensitive sunscreen, hair product, toothpaste, deodorant, cleanser and a little makeup, plus a mini-Wet Brush and mini-razor.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I was really happy with both the Osprey 26+6 backpack and my packing. Although this was a warm-weather trip, requiring smaller, lighter clothes than for Riga, my decision to pack two pairs of shoes, a Turkish towel and my bigger camera made packing a little tougher. But I got everything in without needing to open the expansion zipper, and the Osprey fitted easily under the seat in front on my BA flight.

I did some shopping in Palma, buying a t-shirt, a woven Mallorcan bag, some coffee beans and a few small gifts. Everything fitted into the Osprey, but I made my life easier by taking my new handbag (pictured below) with my Olympus camera as my personal item on the plane, stowing the Osprey in the overhead locker. Got to take advantage of BA Silver early-boarding perks while I still can with the new tier points system! :(

The Osprey pack was comfortable to carry even when fully packed — for reference, I'm 5'3". Travelling with a backpack instead of a wheelie suitcase made it much easier to navigate Palma's busy airport and airport bus. For single-destination and/or trips of up to five days, I'll definitely use the Osprey 26+6 again, although the biggest test will be a winter-weather city break!

Looking for more tips for packing light? Check out my list of tried-and-tested products for travel and my other packing posts.

Heading to Palma de Mallorca and want to know the best things to see and do? Check out my Palma city guide and my Palma specialty coffee guide.

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