Hi everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster. My spouse and I went to Shaky Knees in Atlanta recently; while we have been carryon only travelers for a long time and typically travel to 1-2 US music festivals annually, we challenged ourselves to downsize our main bags from rollers to backpacks this time. I have a bunch of allergies and sensory issues so I did a lot of reading here to streamline/prep my high maintenance needs in advance! I am including just my trip report/details below but spouse carried a Cotopaxi Allpa 28 and his CPAP travel bag.
📆 Mid-September, plans were 3 outdoor days at the festival plus one "free" day visiting the Georgia Aquarium & dinner with friends. We arrived the night before our "free" day and left early the next morning after Shaky ended, so with travel days included it was 6 total days, but timezones are weird. The weather forecast showed mostly sunny in the high 80s/low 90s F with scattered storms Saturday & possible rain Sunday.
🎒 I used an Osprey Daylite 26+6 (didn't use the +6 expansion) and a ~19L BAGSMART duffel.
Packing List
Plane outfit: cargo leggings, tank top, lightweight hooded cardigan, sports bra/underwear
Osprey Daylite:
- Medium packing cube: bell bottoms, skort, lounge leggings, tank top, bodysuit, crop top, loose lounge top, mesh long-sleeve top
- Small packing cube: 7 sports bras (should have been 6 but I discovered I had packed an extra by mistake), 9 pairs of underwear
- Shoe bag: Docs (with the uppers folded down to save space! This pair is meant to be foldable). Stuffed inside: knee socks, 5 pairs of short socks (3 lightweight and 2 cushioned), mini shower pouf w/plastic bag
- Lunchbox clear backpack—needed this for the festival. Unfortunately it can't fold flat so I put the mesh bags & Tokidoki pouch inside to keep its structure
- Mini mesh bags: Earasers earplugs x2, phone tether, spare mini carabiner, rubber bands, Apple watch & charger, battery pack & tiny cable, mini handheld fan, wall plug and long phone charger cable, rain poncho, small scrunchie, bandana, prescription meds x3
- Tokidoki pouch: travel electric shaver, floss picks, 4 blister bandages, 3 regular bandaids, OTC meds (ibuprofen, chewable pepto bismol, allergy pills, lozenges, lactase), 2 Vicks vaposticks (smell the mint, not the porta potties!), 6 individually wrapped wet wipes (some festivals are better about restocking toilet paper than others but I never want to risk it)
Duffel bag:
- Liquids toiletry bag: Tide pen, shampoo, shower gel, 1oz pot and 2 lip balm tubes of my regular lotion, after-sun/allergy lotion, toothpaste, hairspray, spray sunscreen, face sunscreen, tea tree gel, hair product, rosewater spray, milky toner, face serum, face cream, cuticle oil, nail polish (in case of touchups), face primer, CC cream, 2x mini concealer, eyeshadow primer, mascara, setting spray, overnight lip mask
- Dry/solids toiletry bag: 2x mini deodorant (one for the hotel and one for the festival), mini sunscreen stick, razor, 5 makeup remover wipes, toothbrush, pimple patches, Qtips, comb, spare bobby pins & hair ties, tiny lighted makeup mirror, Gold Bond powder and a mini powder puff, tweezers, makeup sponge w/case, face powder, brow pencil, eyeliner pencil, pressed glitter, mini nail file, travel scissors, mini lint roller
- Over-ear headphones w/case, Kindle, point & shoot camera
- Wallet/ID and festival wristband
- 16oz Nalgene bottle
- 2 chocolate bars & almost-empty bag of mint M&Ms (spouse also packed some Clif bars, beef sticks, Hi-Chew, and powdered electrolyte and energy drink packets, we shared both sets of snacks and ate about 75% of the stash)
Thoughts on the good, the meh, and the yikes
- I moved from the mid-Atlantic to Phoenix 7 years ago and fully forgot how atrocious late summer humidity feels. I was mostly happy with my clothing choices but if we revisit this festival (I would consider it! We had a great time!) I will probably swap one pair of pants for a looser style.
- I was SOOOOO GLAD I brought my Docs. I committed two cardinal sins with bringing such bulky shoes AND not wearing them on the planes, but they were absolutely clutch when a major thunderstorm rolled in on Saturday evening and the festival evacuated—thousands of us fanning out into city streets seeking any sort of cover. I have never been so sodden but my calves and feet were completely dry! I also wore them Sunday while the park remained damp and muddy.
- Other MVPs: double deo, mini fan, body powder, travel scissors. I have two versions of the same crop top and brought the wrong one so I chopped it up with the scissors for extra comfort. I am usually not so off-kilter from my packing lists, I don't know what happened last month.
- Skip/reduce next time: mascara, eyeliner, could bring 1 less bra (or 2 since I accidentally packed that extra), Tide pen, lozenges, Pepto, maybe 1 less blister bandage, tea tree gel OR pimple patches not both, fewer Qtips/skip the branded case, Apple watch (not comfy in that weather), battery pack (I always bring this but it feels a bit oversized—might see about getting a smaller one)
- Definitely would not bring again: mesh long sleeve (didn't need a nighttime layer at all), the BAGSMART duffel. It immediately picked up deodorant markings on the straps and had very little internal structure. Since it was only half full, it was a lot of floppiness to deal with.
- Wish I packed: ultralight ground sheet. I thought about it, skipped it, absolutely regretted my choice as my grass/outdoor allergies kicked in and also while the park was still damp.
- Overall thoughts: it was SO nice to take public transit & a hotel shuttle without maneuvering a roller bag. I'm also very proud that I wore almost all of my tops & bottoms, as a person who usually packs a whole spare outfit in case of dysphoria. Some of the outfit mix and match/layering concepts I've seen in here are helping me tailor my home wardrobe as well. Thank you to everyone in here for making this a super helpful slice of community!
Image Descriptions
Image 1: Bags in Bags in Bags
Two packing cubes and a drawstring shoe bag with arrows toward a blue Osprey Daylite 26+6 backpack. In the middle, 3 mesh pouches and a gold/white/black pencil pouch with arrows pointing toward a clear mini backpack. The mini backpack has an arrow pointing to the Osprey Daylite bag as well. On the right of the image there is a hard headphones case, clear liquid toiletries bag, and a black makeup bag with each having an arrow pointing toward a black BAGSMART duffel bag.
Image 2: Plane Outfit/Underclothes & Shoes
Plane Outfit: cropped pictures of black leggings, a black tank top, a model wearing a black hooded cardigan, and black/white sneakers. Underclothes & Shoes: pictures of black thong underwear, black scrunched-down knee socks, two styles of black no-show socks, two styles of black sport-style bras, a blue sports bra, and calf-height black Doc Marten boots with a floral print interior.
Image 3: Tops & Bottoms
Tops: cropped pictures of a black tank top, a black sleeveless bodysuit, a black mesh long-sleeve, a black crop top that says 9:30 in white text, and a model wearing a flowy black long-sleeve. Bottoms: Pictures of a black skort, black bell-bottom style leggings, and the same black leggings in Image 2 with the descriptor "old worn-out version of my plane leggings for lounge/pajamas."
Image 4: Liquid toiletry flatlay
All items listed in the "Liquids toiletry bag" bullet point above, laid out in a rectangular shape on a beige carpet. L to R, top to bottom: travel size Sun Bum spray sunscreen, 4x small black jars, 3 12mL bottles with liquids, a green tube of CC cream, a small spray bottle, white pot, another small black jar, 2 small tubes filled with white lotion, another small spray bottle, 2 small makeup tubes. The next section contains a travel size hairspray, 2 more small black jars, a 1 mL cuticle oil, 2 small tubes of concealer, a Tide pen, pink flakie nail polish, travel size toothpaste, and a small tube of lip mask.