“If you can’t carry it, you can’t bring it!” my dad scowled at my 8-year old self. Thus began my life-long goal to travel lightly.
To an 8-year old, this harsh criticism hit hard. How could I choose between my favorite Breyer plastic horse and a pair of blue shorts? But dad’s heart was in the right place, and I learned the skill of packing light early.
The truth is, it’s not the clothes and the every day items we need when we travel that cause our bags to get heavy. It’s the items we pack for the “just in case” scenarios we run in our minds.
What if it’s colder than we thought? What if I need a dress? What if the battery runs out? What if my bra strap breaks? What if I can’t find X (shampoo, lotion, undies, charging cord)?
The fear of not having exactly what we want exactly when we need it might be a little, uh, American? My American consumerism ideals had me so brainwashed before I left for world travel. I thought I’d never be able to find the things I need and love, and I’d have to succomb to low quality replacements or I’d, gasp!, have to go without!
The Truth about the World
Everyone in the world uses exactly the same stuff that everyone else does. We all have the same needs. Sure, the brands might change a bit, but everyone wears pants, needs batteries, buys socks, dons jackets, uses lotion, charges phones, and generally consumes necessities just like everyone else.
So the solution is that as a light packer, you don’t need to carry the things you might need. Because, dear traveler, you can find those things in the local bodega. Once I realized this little piece of magic, I dumped almost four pounds of stuff from my bag.
The third and fourth pairs of socks.
The third bra.
The set of AA batteries.
The extra charging cord for my phone.
The extra headphones.
The extra prescriptions and meds (see below.)
Extra Q-tips, bandages, tweezers.
The bulky hoodie (just in case it got too cold!)
Even, gulp, my hiking poles (I replace them at Decathlon when necessary for $5.)
I went from a 30-liter backpack to a 20-liter backpack (which I adore) plus my 40 liter carry-on. Together, my combined ecosystem now weighs about 28 pounds (backpack plus carry-on) or 13 kg. You can find my complete packing list here.
Yet despite my best efforts to shop globally while traveling, there are still a few must-buys when I return to the US. I explain those items below, and how to squeeze it all into my 13kg volume of space.
My Go-To, Must-Have Items I Buy in the US
When I return to the USA, I replenish the following items. Although I can find a few of them globally (shoes, for example), I want the versions sold in the USA at particular stores due to return policies and guarantees. I explain.
Shoes: I wear three different pairs of shoes, and I buy them all at REI due to REI’s return policy on shoes. I buy a pair of Tevas and two pairs of Hokas, the Hopara and the Clifton. I generally replace the Hoparas once or twice a year (read my review) and the Cliftons once a year. The Tevas last for years.
Technology: When we first launched, I dropped my laptop and cracked its screen. I replaced it at Spain’s version of Best Buy. That was a mistake. I never could get the keyboard configured for a $ sign from a euro. When the audio card fizzled, I discovered the warranty didn’t extend to it (but it would if it were a US purchase.) So now, I upgrade my laptop proactively every 2-3 years while in the US.
The same goes for my phone. I find that apps have a tough time living in an environment not created in the US. So, I also proactively upgrade my Pixel while state-side.
Medicine: We’ve had zero problems replacing our prescriptions abroad, and we often find them cheaper and more easily bulked. We picked up a year’s supply of glaucoma meds for $2.50 a bottle in Turkey (rather than $100 each in the US.)
But when it comes to acetaminophen, aka Tylenol, we wait to replenish it when we get to the US. A trip to Costco buys a bucket of it for pennies on the Euro (where the equivalent paracetamol is four times the price.) The same goes for our multi-vitamins and deodorant.
The Cost of Not Being Patient
We’re not perfect in anticipating our needs versus our trips through the US. But so far, we’ve managed to time our needs and our travel to make sure the weight we carry is at its lowest as often as possible.
Sometimes it’s hard to hold off our desire to purchase something before we need it. The price seems right. We have realized that the opportunity cost of carrying stuff before we need it always calculates higher than the price of buying it just in time.
For example, when we visited the US in September, we perused the local Goodwill and picked up some warmer clothes for our pending 90 days of winter in Greece. But we stopped in a warm Portugal along the way and didn’t need the clothes. Our overstuffed bags filled with winter clothes became absolute dead weight we had to haul around Portugal for an extra 20 days. I wish we’d waited to shop until we got to Athens.
What We Need When We Need It
Despite the occasional mess-up like above, we do very well at having exactly what we need when we need it. By keeping this frame of mind at the forefront all the time, we can travel light. Just-in-time isn’t an idea left over from the Japanese manufacturers of WWII to manage scarcity, it’s a philosophy that’s flipped on its head during Nomad Life.
There’s abundance, not scarcity, in the world. Light travelers manage this abundance, even translating to food choices. We eat plant-based (vegan) as often as we can. As plant eaters, we leave a lighter footprint on the world, too, thus reducing carbon, waste, and cost; the same excesses we minimize as lightly packed travelers.
How to Actually Pack It All Lightly
Understanding the philosophy of packing light actually leads to packing lightly. So anything that is excess doesn’t fit into the plan. Let’s take packing cubes. They take up space and weight. Instead, we bundle clothes into tight, wrinkle-free packs. Watch this video.
Since we unpack everytime we stay someplace, the convenience of pulling out the bundle makes unpacking very easy. When we leave, we re-bundle.
Thanks for reading our cherished tips on packing light. Do you have tips you’d like to share too? Post them in comments, or join us in our Facebook group where we discuss Nomad Life.
See ya next week,
Chris
Great tips as always Chris! And I just subscribed to your YouTube channel :)