Erasmus suitcase

Today we are going to talk about the tragic moment in which you have to pack your big suitcase to set forth on the great Erasmus adventure.

If you are flying with Iberia as well as Ryanair you can take a 20kg check in suitcase, a 12kg hand suitcase and a small backpack.

The check in suitcase is the only place that liquids of above 100ml can go, therefore if you want to bring olive oil, wine etc. it must be in this suitcase (remember that it is going into the hold so protect the bottles well between coats because you already know how they treat the suitcases). I also recommend using this suitcase for all the packaged food that our families give us because sometimes they can be a bit stupid at customs whilst checking the small suitcase and they can make you throw things away.

The things that you do not plan to use in the first week should also go in this suitcase because if you stay at a hotel for the first few days it is very messy opening and closing three different suitcases. There is an Erasmus trick so that you fit everything into this suitcase: vacuum packaging for clothes. They sell them in Chinese shops or in Primark for €1 or €2 and are super easy to use with a vacuum cleaner and super effective:

• Put all the clothes that you want into a bag without over filling it.
• Close the zip.
• Attach the vacuum cleaner using the nozzle and vacuum until it has been well compressed.
• Take off the vacuum cleaner and quickly put the cap on the nozzle so that air does not get back into it.

Here I leave you a video where you can perfectly learn how to do it:

And so, in a suitcase that used to fit ten jumpers you can now fit twenty. But be very careful not to go over the weight limit because each kilo over is charged like the price of gold.

It is best to take a bit of everything in the 12kg suitcase: trousers, boots, jumpers, whatever is necessary to survive the first few weeks until you find your nest where you can open all of your belongings. This suitcase will be your hand luggage so only liquids less than 100ml are allowed and not many of them because they’ll make you throw them away. If they offer to check it in for free and you do not have anything fragile in it I recommend you do it because you already have to wait for your big suitcase and so you will have one less thing to carry from the plane.

The backpack is the place where you carry your laptop, iPad, discs, everything fragile given that this backpack will be with you for the whole journey and is the only one that you know will be treated well. This backpack should never be checked in for this same reason. But do not make it too big as it has quite limited measurements and lately because people carry backpacks that look like another suitcase Ryanair are getting quite attentive to the second piece of luggage. I usually carry the typical backpack that we have for school or university and I have never had any problems.

In addition, as it is impossible to pack everything that you need for the whole year in three pieces of luggage and you will be left without Spanish meats each month, I recommend that they send you a package from home with all that you are missing when you have a fixed home. I used the company GLS and everything arrived to me perfectly to Krakow each week where they left it at my front door and my parents received theirs at their front door. On packlink.com there are lots of companies but the one that worked for me is GLS. Choose the one you choose by being careful that it is a trustworthy company and if possible deliver it to your front door because like me my friends have had problems with the time of sending and receiving a package (the post office works very poorly at an international level).

And this is basically how to put your whole house in three or four pieces of luggage. I also leave you Ryanair’s page in which it talks about the sizes of suitcases you can bring.

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