First time using 26+6!
Hello! This is my first post of this type. I've been following this sub for about a year and picked up enough tips to be able to go down from a Cotopaxi 35 to a 26+6. I've been 1.5 bagging for several decades but was often frustrated by the weight of my stuff while standing in lines and how much room some of my items took up. Miniaturizing toiletries as much as possible and really thinking hard about all the just-in-case items or single-use items was my key to getting my bag smaller. So thank you all for sharing your tips!
Trip #1: Seattle -> Paris for 11 days in mid-April for a spring break trip with my wife and two teenagers. Trip #2 Seattle -> Ottawa and Montreal for 11 days in late-April and early May for solo sightseeing and a work conference.
EDIT: Photos didn't post, see the comments below
Photo 1: Clothes. Left side--two pants, two short-sleeved shirts, one cardigan; Right side--black pants and shirt worn on plane; all wool
Photo 2: Two bras, three undies, three compression socks, two tank tops, one pair of socks for sleeping and one pajama set: all wool except socks to sleep
Photo 3: Swim suit, two scarves, pair of folding sandals to use as shower shoes and slippers, shoes, orange packable shell jacket, 2 pairs rx glasses and 2 pairs rx sunglasses, necklace and bracelet, puffy coat, waterproof coat (the two blue coats fit one inside the other and are what I wear 7+ months of the year at home)
Photo 4: All the toiletries, laundry stuff, and just-in-case items
Photo 5: All the other items like sling, kindle, cables and charger, battery pack, nano bags, reusable forks, couple of tea bags, water bottle, and magical ear popper device (my eustachian tubes are deformed and without it my ears would take a week to fully pop after a flight)
Photo 6: Everything in stuff sacks
Photo 7: All packed
Photo 8: Bag weighing 7.4 kg with everything in it for the first trip except for what I wore on the flight. Bag with everything weighted 7.0 kg for the second trip.
Photo 9: Bag packed with everything in it for the second trip to Canada, under a first class seat (I was bumped to the first row of coach for this 30-minute leg). As you can see I took a small thermos on this trip.
Photo 10: Clothes for trip to Canada: two black pants, two black shirts, one short-sleeved shirt, cardigan, white no-sleeved shirt, four scarves.
Thoughts after the trips: First of all, so much lighter and easier to manage than my Cotopaxi 35 L bag. Several times I ended up sitting on public transportation with my bag on my lap it felt like no big deal whereas with my Cotopaxi bag it would have felt oppressive. For both trips my clothing selection worked well. I didn't end up wearing all of the scarves I brought on the second trip because I purchased two additional ones in Ottawa and wore them instead. I was able to cut back further on some of the just-in-case items between the two trips and that was nice. It was my first trip using the foldable sandals and I didn't like using them for shower shoes because the straps took a while to dry. I ended up finding a pair of crocs that are as thin as flip flops and have two thin straps that go side-to-side. They worked out perfectly as shower shoes and slippers during my second trip. They will be coming on all my future trips.