Guide for Packing Light: Types of Travel
Always Pack Light
The fundamental secret to traveling well is packing light. The lighter you pack, the happier you’ll be when going from place to place. Packing light has many advantages: It cuts down on the cost of checked luggage, it becomes easier to keep track of your valuables, it makes you a less-appetizing target for thieves and, most importantly, it means you can carry everything anywhere at minimal effort.
When planning a trip, learning tricks while packing light is the first step. Always remember that you can live on far less than you imagined. Be sure to opt for a smaller backpack or suitcase (35 liters or less) so it can be taken on airlines for free. This is additionally useful since it ensures you won’t overpack your limited space.
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Determining your Type of Travel
There are many different ways of traveling. Determining your “style” of travel will have repercussions on how you should prepare to pack. Regardless of the type of travel, packing light is still a good area to focus.
Vehicular travel:
In the event that you’re traveling in a boat, RV, van or car, you have a lot more flexibility in terms of packing. You must bring the tools necessary to maintain your vehicle (such as a jack, spare tire, sailing ropes, life vests, mechanical tools, etc.) but this shouldn’t take up a considerable amount of space. The secret to traveling in a vehicle is the same as a backpack. Bring less than you think you need. The more you have, the more clutter you accrue and the more costly your adventure becomes. Long-term vehicle travel requires a bit of mechanical knowledge and navigational safety experience.
If you’re driving abroad, a Driver’s License will generally work fine. However, some travelers may benefit from getting an International Driving Permit. These are available through Triple AAA.
City to City Touring:
One of the most popular forms of travel for young people involves taking a single backpack and heading from city to city. This is the form of travel that most people use to get across Europe or SE Asia. Using well-established transportation routes and lodging systems, this is also, by far, the lightest form of travel. The only thing you’ll basically need are clothes, a towel, some cash, a phone and a charger. Everything else is extraneous. A person dedicated to seeing a lot of the world for a minimal amount of money is well-served by just bringing these few items.
For individual doing City-to-City Touring, I strongly recommend the Osprey Farpoint 40 Backpack. It’s small enough to be a carry-on for a flight and has a clamshell design to make packing and unpacking easier. It’s the best general-purpose long-term vagabonding backpack out there. I’ve used my model of this backpack for over a decade now, without ever needing to replace it.
Wilderness Trekking:
If you’ve seen young people with gnarled beards walking through an airport terminal in Alaska with a towering backpack tall as they are, you’re familiar with this kind of traveler. A wilderness trekker is someone who goes on extended treks through the countryside, rarely stumbling across civilization. This form of travel still follows the same rule: pack as light as possible. But realistically, a wilderness trekker cannot rely on modern pit stops and shops. They must carry their entire life on their backs. As such, a specialized trekking backpack with a frame and weight distribution technology is necessary for this type of travel. Traveling in this manner puts a heavy reliance on personal navigation skills, preparation, mental fortitude and camping knowledge.
Ultralight Traveler:
An Ultralight traveler is a new brand of wanderer who focuses primarily on minimizing weight to the absolute smallest unit, allowing for much faster, lighter travel. Ultralight traveling is more of an ideal than a rulebook, as there is ultralight gear out there for everyone to help make traveling easier. However, if your goal is to visit many places swiftly through use of walking, jogging or horseback, this may be the best mode of transportation available to you.
For further information on Ultralight Packing, click the link below.
Digital Nomad:
A digital nomad is someone who lives and travels in the same breath, using technology to work online and fund their adventures. This form of travel has become extremely popular in recent years, especially in low cost parts of the world. A digital nomad should still strive to live out of just one or two pieces of luggage, but the majority of weight they travel with will be their technology. Digital nomads are usually required to have a laptop at minimum, as well as recording gear, additional cables and other potential electronics. A digital nomad should spend extra time researching the lightest, most powerful technology available to their budget prior to traveling. For people just beginning in this lifestyle, purchasing refurbished, secondhand gear is a good option.
For further advice on life as a Digital Nomad, click the link below:
Luxury Travel:
Luxury Travel is the most expensive form of travel out there. Most people can only afford to do this for vacations where the idea is getting pampered. Luxury travel involves staying in fine establishments, eating fancy foods and paying for extraordinary and exclusive entertainments. Ironically, this is also a very light form of travel. Because almost everything is provided on-site, clothes and toiletries are the only things required.
Tours:
Tours, or traveling in an organized group, takes all the planning out of travel. Generally, this involves following a set route on a strict timetable. Though there aren’t many deviations, people can just enjoy the ride since there isn’t much to plan or think about. Though these lack flexibility, transportation is usually provided, so travelers can overpack somewhat for additional comfort.
Before Your Trip
Before going on any type of trip, it is vital to practice packing light.
Everyone, no matter how cautious, tends to overpack when beginning to travel. They add a few things which are unnecessary and never get used throughout the trip. For my first world tour, I included a very nice Kindle Reader. It ended up as dead weight, since I had two phones that had the Kindle app included.
Packing practice includes the following rules:
- Roll, don’t fold – Folding takes up too much space in luggage. Rolling clothes and tucking them together saves space and makes for neater, more efficient packing.
- Multipurpose tools – When buying things for travel, always find items that are good for multiple uses. A cooking pot that doubles as a compact storage container or a compressed metal wallet that doubles as a bottle opener are both good examples. This tends to save weight and space.
- Limit the Electronics – People don’t need any electronics to function, though they do make life easier in some regards. Avoid bringing too many devices and cables, as this will create considerable unnecessary weight. Too many electronics make packing light challenging.
- Dress Down Your Luggage – If you have a fancy suitcase or embroidered bag, put some effort into scuffing it up. Travelers are common targets for thieves and scams and wealthy-looking travelers are often picked out. By having underwhelming luggage, you can avoid a lot of attention.
- Cushioning – Your clothes, when properly rolled, have a secondary function. They can cushion all of your more fragile items. If you’re traveling with a laptop or other potentially breakable gear, stack clothes around that specific area to limit the damage of impacts and motion.
- Include a Day Bag – Whenever you pack, keep a smaller, compact bag for day use. This way, you won’t be forced to carry a heavy, full-travel backpack everywhere. A waterproof daypack or drawstring sports bag will both work nicely.
- Clothing First – Clothing will always take up the majority of space in your backpack. Always pack clothes first to see how other stuff will fit.
- Don’t Overbuy – You really don’t need much to travel. Just make sure you have the most necessary items on a gear list. After that, there’s usually no need to start buying other goods which will weigh you down.
After Packing
After you’ve done a trial run of packing, try to put on your backpack or move about with your luggage. Can you move easily? Take short walks around your neighborhood and ensure you can move well. Spend additional time adjusting straps when needed.
If you’re slightly winded at first, that’s fine. Traveling is a fairly rigorous lifestyle and moving with weight on your back becomes easier with time. However, if you’re feeling sore, achy or chafed, you may need to make major changes. Either lighten your load, distribute the weight differently or adjust your straps.
Quick Packing List
Below is a very basic packing list. For those who travel long-term from city to city, the list below should suffice. For people traveling in a specific manner, extra gear may need to be added.
- Clothing (location appropriate)
- Warm Layer
- Shirts
- Pants
- Underware
- Socks
- Shoes
- Hat
- Belt
- Swimsuit
- Essential Documents
- PDF with Essential Documents Scanned
- Phone, Wallet, Keys, Charger
- Comforts (mini pillow, blanket, eye mask, headphones)
- Toiletries
- Tech (Phone, laptop, chargers, camera, etc.)
- Sunglasses
This list is a very minimal example for what a person needs while traveling. Packing, like everything else while traveling, takes a bit of trial and error. Be sure to pack and repack a few times to ensure everything is settling correctly.
For our full packing list, click the articles below: