Working around those Ryanair baggage restrictions

 I've done a really bad job so far at uploading those promised catch-up posts! I'm on it, honest - its just taking longer than I'd hoped sorting through the mess of photos hoping to find anything useful! 

A bit bored with that tedious task, I thought I'd share instead some quick notes on a more recent trip - a quick family visit to Dublin! I've been promising to take the kiddos to Ireland for a couple of years now, and while this mini holiday wasn't quite the epic Irish road trip I've been dreaming of, it certainly did a great job of keeping us occupied for a couple of days on the recent half term while simultaneously making sure I kept that long-ignored promise! 

When I say a 'quick visit', I mean it - we had about 36 hours in Ireland, but an early morning flight one morning and an evening one back the next day still meant we had not far off two full days to enjoy, and we filled them well, with mountains and lakes, castles and museums, and parks and doughnuts! 

I managed to justify the short trip because I got the flights ludicrously cheap in the pre-Christmas Black Friday Ryanair sale - but keeping those flights ludicrously cheap means foregoing 'extra luxuries' like, y'know.... bags. Yup, changes in Ryanair's baggage policy last year mean that now even hand-luggage-only passengers can't take a decent size cabin bag without paying extra. There's a 'small bag' allowance which might have just stretched to a small backpack,... if I'd not left it work on the day before the trip. Whoops! So I essentially set off for our two day trip with nothing more than a fairly chunky handbag. 

Once the handbag was filled with everyone's passports, spending money, and the other holiday essentials of camera, book, bag of sweets,... it didn't have a lot of room left for superfluous wardrobe changes. Luckily, a few days before we set off I received the perfect jacket for unpredictable weather from Rydale! 

The Rydale Cayton II Toggle Jacket was absolutely spot-on for a trip like this - as it gives enough protection from the wind and rain when necessary, but is light enough to wear indoors. The hood is generous enough to actually go over my head and stay there (I've got a big head, and bigger hair!), and that colour! Love it! 

Of course, I'm hoping I won't need it on my next trip - I'm hoping for uninterrupted sunshine next time I'm away - but questionable weather is an unavoidable fact of life in Yorkshire so I know this jacket will be an invaluable addition to my wardrobe for a long while to come. 

And while we all managed just fine with out limited luggage on this trip - I do admit I've already added cabin bags to our next Ryanair flights. I'm happy enough to pack light for a couple of days, but it hurt me that I couldn't bring home half a case of shamrock biscuits, leprechaun chocolates and other various assorted holiday tat! 

Anyone else guilty of too much tourist shopping? Any great tips for packing light?

* Massive cheers to Rydale for my gorgeous jacket! Apologies that the inevitable result is pictures of me, arrgh!