Arrivals > Learn how to Lighten your Load!
There's no question: overpacking tops the list of biggest travel mistakes.
Thus this Web site, offering exhaustive (some might say exhausting!) detail on the art and science of travelling light, going pretty much anywhere, for an indefinite length of time, with nothing more than a single (carryon-sized) bag.
Learn more about this site here.
Regular visitor? For your convenience, here's a list of recent significant updates.
Why Live Out of One Bag?
There are many reasons to "travel light", the principal ones being ...
Security: With a greatly reduced need to check baggage (or otherwise entrust it to the care of others), you are much less likely to lose your belongings to theft, damage, or misrouting. You likewise foil those who would enlist your unsuspecting aid as a conveyor of contraband goods. Would that peace of mind were always so easily acquired!
Economy: You don't have to pay porters and the like to carry stuff around for you. You eliminate extra baggage charges (and many airlines now charge for all checked baggage). You are more able to take public transportation (even from airports, like airport personnel & flight crews), rather than taxis and limos. You can even walk. All of which also bring you into more intimate (hence rewarding) contact with the people and places you have come to visit.
Mobility: You needn't arrive at airports as early. You can board trains, trams, and coaches with alacrity. You can more easily deal with delayed transportation and missed connections (because you can choose alternatives without worrying about what will happen to your belongings); you can also take earlier flights when space is available. You can sell your seat (by volunteering to be "bumped") on full flights. You can travel as an air courier. You will be among the first to leave the airport for your destination, while others wait for baggage delivery and long customs inspection queues. And you won't feel compelled to take the first hotel room offered: you can comfortably walk down the street should the reception counter person quote an unreasonably high price.
Serenity: If there is a bottom line, it's that travelling light is simply a better way to go. You have more time, because packing takes little. You waste less energy hauling stuff. You know what you have, and where everything is (as you pack your bag the same way every time). We've all seen those hapless folks at the airport, with too much baggage and panicked expressions, worried that they have lost track of something, or left something behind. Foreign travel in particular can be challenging because it is unfamiliar and unpredictable, but the one-bag traveller copes by operating from a solid, familiar foundation, with fewer unnecessary things to worry about.
Ecology: All of the above are concerned with short-term benefits to you. But travelling light also yields long-term benefits to the planet. Less stuff to manufacture. Less use of vehicles and other machinery to move things (including you) around. Less fuel needed for the vehicles that do move you. Less greenhouse gas production. Less damage to our celestial home. Greater likelihood of upcoming generations being around to do some travelling of their own.
O sancta simplicitas!
I'm Convinced! How Do I Get Started?
He who would travel happily must travel light.
Simple ... learn as much as possible about three key travel topics.
The successful one-bag traveller knows (in order of importance):
- what to pack, avoiding the temptation of lugging around
too much stuff, plus how (and why) to use a packing list - what to pack it in, understanding what to look for in efficient and effective luggage
- how to pack it, particularly the management of clothing so that it doesn't get wrinkled
The main sections of this site cover each of these topics in considerable detail. You'll also find a variety of additional resources, including:
- contact information for suppliers of specialty items mentioned on these pages
- a (very) few recommended books on related topics
- a collection of links to a carefully-chosen assortment of sites that One Bag enthusiasts will likely find interesting
- my own compilation of travel industry links for airlines, hotels, and rental automobiles, with handy lists of country/airport/airline codes, plus tools for checking real-time flight status and airport delay conditions
There is also a letters page, with representative comments from people who have put these ideas into action, thus offering reassurance that this site isn't merely (or at least, entirely!) the ravings of some geek with a packing fixation.