Every type of trip has its own liquid problem. A beach vacation wants endless sunscreen, and after-sun care. A city trip wants your full going-out makeup routine and your favourite perfume. An outdoors trip wants bug spray, sunscreen, and a small pharmacy’s worth of first aid liquids. They all run headfirst into the same wall, a bag that holds roughly one litre, per person, in containers no more than 100ml each.
The good news is that the fix is the same no matter what kind of trip you’re packing for. I’ve done beach vacations, urban adventures, and outdoor nature trips with only a carry-on, and once you know the actual rules and the tricks that work around them, none of it is complicated. Here’s exactly how, by trip type, plus the mistakes I’ve made so you don’t have to repeat them.
The Number One Mistake, and I Made It
Here is the one that got me pulled aside at security. The rule is not one liquids bag per family. It is one per person. Travelling to Belize, I packed our whole family’s sunscreen, bug spray and skincare into a single bag to save time, and a security officer very politely explained that everyone needs their own bag, sized to hold roughly a litre, with containers no bigger than 100ml or 3.4oz each. Learn from me. Every traveller, including your kids, packs and carries their own liquids bag. It takes two extra minutes at home and saves you a much longer conversation at security.
What Actually Counts as a Liquid
This is the part that changes everything, for any trip. The 100ml rule applies to liquids, gels, creams, pastes and aerosols. It does not apply to solids. A stick sunscreen, a pressed powder foundation, a solid deodorant, they are not liquids at all, so they do not touch your limited 100ml allowance or take up space in your one small bag. Shifting as much of your routine as possible into solid form, and saving your liquid allowance for the handful of things that actually have to be liquid, is the single trick that makes every version of this work.
How This Works by Type of Trip
The rule is the same everywhere. What changes is which liquids you’re actually fighting for space with. Here’s the breakdown by the kind of trip you’re packing for.
Beach and Sunny Destinations
This is the hardest version of the liquid puzzle, since sun protection alone can eat your whole bag. I am particular about my skincare, so here is exactly what goes in my bag for a one week beach trip, and it scales up easily for two or three weeks since almost none of it depends on a single large container.
- Cleanser wipes instead of a liquid cleanser. Wipes are not a liquid at all, so this is free real estate in your liquids bag. I often pack Neutrogena All-in-One Makeup Removing Cleansing Wipes. It acts as a cleanser and make up remover and great for removing mascara.
- Daily serum and daily moisturizer, I am a big fan of Three Ships skincare and they often sell a travel size kit that is perfect for 1 week trips. I’ll buy more if my trip is planned for longer. These are already sized under the limit and built with exactly this in mind. I’ve learned to check with your local store where you buy your skin care for samples as they often will give these for free for your preferred skincare brand.
- Deodorant, stick form, does not count as a liquid.
- Sun protection for my face, and I go one of two ways depending on the trip:
- Eau Thermale Avène High Protection Tinted Compact, Broad Spectrum SPF 50+, with UVA/UVB and blue light protection, water resistant and non-greasy. It is a compact, not a liquid, so it takes up zero space in my quart bag.
- Or my everyday Marcelle BB Cream, 45mL, paired with a Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Face Stick Sunscreen SPF 60. The BB cream is a liquid and does count, but at 45mL it is comfortably under the 100ml limit, and pairing it with a stick sunscreen instead of a liquid one keeps my overall liquid volume low.
- Toothpaste, in a travel tube under 100ml, sitting in the quart bag along with anything else that is truly liquid.
- Sunscreen, there are two solutions depending on how much you need to pack. There is a solid sunscreen stick that can be brought that doesn’t impact your liquid quota. Various brands now sell this option. Second solution is going with liquid and ensuring each container is under 100ml. This can add up quickly for a week beach vacation. The alternative is you can buy sunscreen at your destination but it can be expensive.
- Aloe, gets a spot in the mix. There’s not alternative solution and a must for those days when you missed a spot with the sunscreen and you got a good kiss from the sun.
At minimum, the things that truly have to be liquid on a beach trip are aloe, moisturizer and your toothpaste. Everything else can be solid, wiped, or compact if you shop for it that way.
Urban Exploration and City Trips
City trips have a different liquid problem, less overall sun and bug protection, more of the stuff you’d actually wear out to dinner. The fix is the same shift toward solids.
- Makeup, swap liquid foundation for a pressed powder or a stick, cream blush for a solid one, and liquid perfume for a solid balm or a rollerball under 100ml.
- Hair products is the sneaky one here, a liquid styling spray counts against your limit, but a wax, pomade or clay does not, and most city trips do not need much more than that anyway. I’ve been able to travel with travel size dry shampoo aerosol with no issues at security, if I had an alternative I would go that route. For shampoo and conditioners, check with your accommodations to see if they provide these. If not, travel size that will last a week are easy to find at a store like Walmart or Shoppers Drug Mart.
- Body wash & soaps, check with your accommodation to see if they provide these, if not, purchase travel size to stay under the limit.
Keep one truly liquid item, a moisturizer, mascara or a foundation you’re attached to, and build the rest of your kit around it in solid form the same way you would for the beach.
Outdoors, Hiking and Camping
This is where the rules get more interesting, because it is not just about liquids anymore. A few things are worth knowing before you pack for a hiking or camping trip specifically.
Trekking poles with blunt tips are now allowed in carry-on bags, a rule that changed in 2025, older advice you’ll find online saying poles are checked-only is now out of date. Sharp-tipped poles, the kind used on ice and snow, still have to go in checked baggage.
Bear spray and pepper spray are banned outright, in both carry-on and checked bags, no exceptions for size or concentration, so plan to buy it at your destination if you’re headed somewhere that needs it and allows for it.
On the liquid side, bug spray and sunscreen are the two you’re managing here, same as the beach, and the same fix applies, lean on lotion or stick versions over aerosol ones. Aerosol insect repellents in particular can face tighter restrictions than a standard aerosol sunscreen, so a pump or lotion repellent is the safer bet if you want to avoid the question entirely.
Cold Weather and Winter Trips
Winter trips trade sunscreen worries for dry-air skin worries, cold air and indoor heating both pull moisture out of your skin fast, so a heavier moisturizer or a proper hand cream tends to matter more here than sun protection does. Lip balm is always solid, so that one is free. For everything else, the same solid-first approach applies, a balm-style moisturizer or a thicker cream in a small jar under 100ml, rather than a large liquid lotion bottle you won’t fully use anyway on a shorter trip.
The Weird Stuff That Gets Confiscated
Airports can be surprisingly inconsistent about this, and it is not just you. I have had a small pair of eyebrow scissors taken from me and I’ve had foaming face cleanser removed from my bag from security. None of these felt like a real threat to anyone. Here is what is actually going on. TSA’s official rule allows scissors in carry-on if the blades measure under 4 inches from the pivot point, and multi-tools are allowed too, as long as they do not include a knife blade of any length. But that is the US federal baseline, not a universal rule, and the officer at the checkpoint always has final discretion to say no anyway, even to something that technically meets the size limit.
It gets more inconsistent internationally. The honest takeaway is that there is no way to guarantee a borderline item makes it through everywhere, so if you are attached to something it is worth deciding in advance whether you’ll be upset if security confiscates it.
Aerosols: Sunscreen, Bug Spray and the Airline Factor
Aerosol sunscreen, dry shampoo and bug spray are allowed in carry-on under the same 100ml rule as any other liquid, but this is one of the spots where airlines differ meaningfully from each other on top of the standard security rule. Some airlines restrict aerosols further or ban certain types outright, separate from what security screening allows through. This is exactly the kind of thing that will not show up until you are already at the airport if you have not checked ahead.
My workaround, for any type of trip, is to lean on non-aerosol formats wherever I can, lotion, spray, roll-on, powder instead of aerosol, since it sidesteps the airline-by-airline aerosol question entirely and still counts toward the same 100ml limit as everything else.
Do Your Homework Before You Pack
Every single one of these rules can shift depending on where you are flying from, who you are flying with, and where you are going, so a quick check before you pack saves you a confiscated item at the gate. Before a trip, I check three things:
- My airline’s specific carry-on and liquids policy, since some go beyond the standard rule
- My destination country’s security rules, since aerosol rules and even the definition of a liquid can vary
- My departure airport specifically, since a growing number of airports with newer CT scanners now allow liquid containers up to 2 litres instead of the standard 100ml. This is a real, current shift, but it only applies at that specific airport, not automatically at your connection or your return flight home, so check both directions rather than assuming.
None of this takes more than ten minutes, and it is ten minutes that turns “I hope this makes it through” into “I already know exactly what is coming with me.”
Carry-On Liquid Limits: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the liquid limit for carry-on bags?
The standard rule allows containers of 100ml or 3.4oz or less, all fitting into one bag of roughly one litre, per traveller. This is the baseline in Canada, the US and most of the world, though some airports with newer scanners now allow up to 2 litres, so it is worth checking your specific departure airport.
Does every family member need their own liquids bag?
Yes. The limit is one bag per person, not one per family. Packing everyone’s liquids into a single bag is one of the most common mistakes at security and will get you pulled aside.
What toiletries do not count as liquids?
Solid and stick-form products are not considered liquids at all. Stick sunscreen, solid deodorant, pressed powder or compact foundation, cleanser wipes and bar soap all skip the 100ml rule entirely and do not take up space in your liquids bag.
Can I bring aerosol sunscreen or bug spray in my carry-on?
Yes, as long as the container is 100ml or less, but some airlines apply additional restrictions on aerosols beyond the standard security rule. Check your specific airline before you fly, and consider a lotion or stick version instead if you want to avoid the question entirely.
Can I bring trekking poles or bear spray on a hiking trip?
Blunt-tipped trekking poles are allowed in carry-on bags as of a 2025 rule change, but sharp-tipped poles must go in checked baggage. Bear spray and pepper spray are banned outright in both carry-on and checked bags regardless of size, so plan to buy them at your destination.
Why did security take my small scissors or multi-tool if they were under the size limit?
Checkpoint officers have final discretion regardless of the published size rules, and those rules also vary by country and airline, sometimes significantly. An item that is fine under one country’s rule can be flagged under another’s stricter one, so treat any borderline sharp or metal item as a risk rather than a guarantee.
More Carry-On Travel Guides
If you are packing light for a specific destination rather than just the general rules, my guides to Halifax with kids and Vancouver with kids both cover what an actual carry-on-only trip looks like on the ground, beach days and outdoor days included.
Helpful Links
- Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), what you can bring: https://www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca
- TSA, liquids, aerosols and gels rule: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/frequently-asked-questions/liquids-aerosols-and-gels-rule
- TSA, hiking poles: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/hiking-poles
The Bottom Line
Whatever kind of trip you’re packing for, beach, city, trail or ski hill, the fix is the same. Shift as much of your routine as you can into solid form, give every traveller their own liquids bag, check your accommodation to see what toiletries will be provided, check your airline and destination ahead of time, and you will get through security with everything you actually need and none of the stress. If I can do a week or longer of skincare in one small bag, so can you.