> Onebag travel is unquestionably the best way to travel. Traveling without luggage removes just about every pain point associated with flying, such as checking bags, overhead compartments, bag fees, waiting in line, and needing to drop off luggage before an adventure. Just stroll into the airport an hour before your flight, and walk off your plane directly to your destination.
This is absolutely true, especially when traveling solo.
People freak out about this, but all it boils down to is bringing enough socks, underwear, and shirts for ~5-6 days, 2 pairs of bottoms, and (depending on weather) or a combination of 2 and/either sweaters and an outer shell. Wear the biggest stuff (pants/sweaters) on the plane. After that be willing to do laundry, which will often put you in a position that's outside the tourist mainstream and force you to slow down and take stalk for a few hours (single use detergent packs are a thing, but you can also just bring a few tide pods in a zip-lock bag). Freak weather events can be used as an excuse to shop for clothing, too (the best rain jacket that I ever bought was in this situation in the Netherlands - it was expensive, but I'm still using it a decade later - a fantastic souvenir that people always complement me on when wearing it).
Of course, if you need to lug more (for special occasions or business), that's another matter, but it still makes my jaw drop when I see people travelling on vacations with massive roller luggage that often sucks on cobblestone streets or lugging up stairs.
Depends where you go, if planning some 3 week remote hiking in ie Nepal it may not be the best approach.
Ie I've recently spent 2 weeks in remote islands in Sulawesi, Indonesia and didn't bring enough mosquito spray. Well, on whole island chain I was in, nobody in tiny local shops ever had one. When asked, they told me they suck up malaria if caught and move on, sort of how we deal with flu. Luckily dengue wasn't there. So suck it up I did, luckily it seems I avoided it (knock on the wood).
With spray comes sunscreen. Some basic diving equipment. Non-tiny first aid kid. Some photography stuff. But yeah for that one I could still put it all into 1 medium backpack, just liquids travelled separately. For that Nepal, backpack was bigger. For Aconcagua, there was an extra big duffel bag. If doing full camping and cooking, one backpack but much bigger.
I lived out of a backpack for two months on a Pacific Crest Trail hike. I got comfortable with it and told myself that I had overcome my materialism, and could henceforth live happily without a lot of stuff and conveniences.
Not so much. Now a couple of decades later, I've got a house and garage crammed with stuff. Yesterday I had a plumber here working on a leak, and this morning I have no running water, and here I am bravely holding back tears. My inner dialog is "this is unacceptable!" It turns out that climbing on the hedonic treadmill is practically effortless, but sliding down it is full of splinters.
There are things I can't think of my days/weeks without. So for
> In 2015 I got rid of everything I owned that didn’t fit in a laptop backpack
There go my badminton rackets, cricket bat, and cycle. I couldn't care less about everything else :)
(To be fair, the rackets may possibly fit into my Osprey 45L. Never tried.)
On a more serious note: How much does health-care certainty factor into such travels? I am someone who doesn't have a family. So if a sudden death comes, I couldn't care less (I mean as of now - in advance), but I am perennially scared of falling sick and possibly needing care and hospitalisations, and when travelling (or without a base i.e one-bag kind of setup) and then there's at least the allergies, it becomes such a nightmare if you live in a country that doesn't have universal health care and is decidedly third world irrespective of the GDP.
I am asking because when people blog about such plans and minimalism, the gory details of behind-the-curtain things are often left out, maybe not deliberately.
Its SO ANNOYING to have to carry an Apple Silicon macbook AND an ipad. I'd love to see a touchscreen option for macbook and the option to run in ipad mode. But that would probably cannibalize sales.
As it is, you can theoretically run ios apps on Apple Silicon, but most app vendors disable that..
My main use case for an ipad while traveling is to watch downloaded movies on a plane. "AR" (not really) glasses like nreal air are way smaller and lighter than an ipad and makes watching movies on my phone pretty amazing..
I am always confounded when I get off a flight at a vacation destination and see people dragging these 80L roller bags around. What are you putting in there?
Pack the absolute minimum. If you really need something, you can almost always buy it wherever you are going. Even trekking in the deep Himalayas, there was always a spot to buy an extra t-shirt or socks every day or so.
Shoes are always what get me. Wearing the same pair 2 days in a row isn't great for bacteria etc. Plus wanting sandals/flip-flops for the beach. Proper boots for any kind of hiking. Then I feel awkward particularly in Europe in the evening going to restaurants in trainers, so a pair of smart shoes is useful.
Not saying I always take that entire combo, but almost always more than 1 pair.
but really, every person i've seen who "activates" a lifestyle like this one only ever seems to wear black. i suppose it's the choice of any committed rationalist, but i think it's dull
also, fine so long as you don't need to go any where that requires a different type of shoe
You can have multiple colors, but doing laundry is easiest if everything is either dark or light. A backpack doesn't carry enough clothing for two loads to be super practical.
I did this for a year and half as I travelled around South America.
Hard to describe how liberating it is to have so few possessions. So many choices you don’t have to make. You become so fleet of foot that serendipity is everywhere.
Before being a digital nomad was cool I went full nomad. I remember being in a hostel in Thailand and just throwing away everything I had brought, going down to the basics. Ended up with a similar setup.
The thing is, after years of doing it, learning new languages, making friends all over, and then leaving knowing you might not see them again for ever or for long stints, you start to feel the yearning to be able to connect with people on a deeper level.
Now I have an apartment and basically only travel for weddings, I still go super light. But there is a joy in having variety in clothing or sneakers to wear. Friends who you've had multiple conversations with over the year's, even family who comes to visit you.
I'm happy I rid myself of it all, but I'm also happy that now my apartment has the basics, and maybe a bit more. And I'm fine with it. Life doesn't have to be binary, you can mix and match and end up happy either way.
I’m all for minimalist travel but I feel like I picked up a number of cues that the author is buying and disposing of (somehow) items seasonally or even on an as-no-longer-needed basis. Hopefully that means donating the item and maybe even buying used to begin with but it’s not mentioned here. I don’t want to make assumptions but in the worst case this could be a very wasteful kind of minimalism.
I spent 18 months doing this as a digital nomad. When I started out I had a rollaboard suitcase, a checked 60 inch bag, a pelican full of camera gear, and a 28L backpack. By the end I had a 28L backpack only. All that said, there were things I gave up in my travels that I missed and make it a point of taking now when I go on shorter vacation-like trips. Simple example was having good coffee. When I started out I had a jet boil, an aeropress, a hario hand mill, and a vacuum container of good beans, by the end I had given that up to save space, but there's really no reason not to have good coffee if you have the space to do so. I also had given up my much better camera gear for a single point and shoot camera to cut down on space requirements, since then I've taken to traveling with the pelican again most of the time, and when I don't I have a micro 4/3rds camera that is better than the point and shoot, but almost as compact.
I do think there's value to learning how to live with less, and it also helps unencumber you more than just in physical weight, but spiritually, to allow yourself to explore and go forth without concern. I could just hop on a train, bus, plane, and go somewhere else even as a side trip without needing to be concerned with any of my belongings because it was all with me all of the time.
I've done this before (not indefinitely, but for many trips around the world.)
I agree with the author on a lot: 1) it's not a good way to live long term, 2) traveling with as little as possible completely transforms the traveling experience, 3) zero-bag travel is great, 4) a good quality small bag with well designed compartments is critical, 5) M-series Macs are the only way to go, 6) two thumb drives is very convenient if you're not worried about searches, 7) darn tough socks, 8) first aid with bandaids/antiseptic/mylar blanket, I also include benadryl, ibuprofen and other common OTC meds.
I disagree on: 1) I prefer a 2M USB-C cord over 1M, 2) I have mostly cotton or merino clothes and try not to use any synthetic fabrics, especially no synthetic underwear, 3) I prefer jeans, especially in colder climates and 4) carrying "stuff" on you long term (like a jacket with things in the pockets) can get sort of annoying after a while.
And finally, extra stuff I carry that the author doesn't: separate camera, snacks (mostly nuts), Garmin inReach, handkerchiefs, wired earbuds, flashlight, knife, an eye mask, sometimes a Travelrest pillow, and two sizes of paper notebooks and pens.
So, this article is great and has some great items in it if you fit them. The pants look great but max out at 34" waist in the pair I checked. The towel is barely 4.5 feet and is far too short for a beach towel for someone who is 6' (though I still want it because I love these types of towels). I could not do this lifestyle though, not now in my life.
I was in the military and traveled a lot for extended periods of time (year long deployments to the ass end of nowhere) and we traveled HEAVY. HEAVY heavy. Not my favorite way, and I got to the point where I would ship everything home and when we traveled I had a day bag with 3 days worth of clothes and such. So there is a crossover of this and that lifestyle.
I still wouldn't want to go to it, I like having a home too much, even if I am renting.
When traveling, I met many who lived by the mantra of self-sufficiency. It seemed both to liberate and consume them.
Daily now I see people living on the street with a lot more, but still with needs of all sorts.
In some schools of Buddhism, the tradition was to live with only one bowl and one spoon. The practice was to beg daily - yes, for food, but mainly to submit to the judgment of society as to whether one's practice is worth it to others. The premise was that people would give if they see you as worthy, not because they pity you.
I would ask the OP to reflect publicly on what he discovered about his own attachments, sense of place, and relations with others and himself. That could be helpful even to people in more tangled circumstance.
> In some schools of Buddhism, the tradition was to live with only one bowl and one spoon. The practice was to beg daily
It still exists today. A friend of mine was a monk for many years and would make daily alms rounds.
It also happens in other lineages of Hinduism too. A Baul teacher of mine was supposed to do a short teaching tour here in the US a few months ago and actually got turned away at SFO by immigration because the immigration officer just couldn't understand that she doesn't make money and eats all her meals from alms. He told her no one exists like that anymore, detained her, and sent her back to Bengal.
I wear those t-shirts in hot climates because of how breathable they are and the Alpaca Wool Hoodie is literally the best sweater I've ever owned. Super breathable, lightweight and I've washed it a total of 4 times in 3 years.
Mixed feelings. I like how there is a lot of intention about purchases and lifestyle. But then the purchases are from Amazon, and the lifestyle is airplanes. But OTOH, he doesn't own a car.
87 comments
[ 4.5 ms ] story [ 80.9 ms ] threadThis is absolutely true, especially when traveling solo.
Of course, if you need to lug more (for special occasions or business), that's another matter, but it still makes my jaw drop when I see people travelling on vacations with massive roller luggage that often sucks on cobblestone streets or lugging up stairs.
Ie I've recently spent 2 weeks in remote islands in Sulawesi, Indonesia and didn't bring enough mosquito spray. Well, on whole island chain I was in, nobody in tiny local shops ever had one. When asked, they told me they suck up malaria if caught and move on, sort of how we deal with flu. Luckily dengue wasn't there. So suck it up I did, luckily it seems I avoided it (knock on the wood).
With spray comes sunscreen. Some basic diving equipment. Non-tiny first aid kid. Some photography stuff. But yeah for that one I could still put it all into 1 medium backpack, just liquids travelled separately. For that Nepal, backpack was bigger. For Aconcagua, there was an extra big duffel bag. If doing full camping and cooking, one backpack but much bigger.
I'm going to steal their approach at rolling up clothes, though.
Not so much. Now a couple of decades later, I've got a house and garage crammed with stuff. Yesterday I had a plumber here working on a leak, and this morning I have no running water, and here I am bravely holding back tears. My inner dialog is "this is unacceptable!" It turns out that climbing on the hedonic treadmill is practically effortless, but sliding down it is full of splinters.
There are things I can't think of my days/weeks without. So for
> In 2015 I got rid of everything I owned that didn’t fit in a laptop backpack
There go my badminton rackets, cricket bat, and cycle. I couldn't care less about everything else :)
(To be fair, the rackets may possibly fit into my Osprey 45L. Never tried.)
On a more serious note: How much does health-care certainty factor into such travels? I am someone who doesn't have a family. So if a sudden death comes, I couldn't care less (I mean as of now - in advance), but I am perennially scared of falling sick and possibly needing care and hospitalisations, and when travelling (or without a base i.e one-bag kind of setup) and then there's at least the allergies, it becomes such a nightmare if you live in a country that doesn't have universal health care and is decidedly third world irrespective of the GDP.
I am asking because when people blog about such plans and minimalism, the gory details of behind-the-curtain things are often left out, maybe not deliberately.
As it is, you can theoretically run ios apps on Apple Silicon, but most app vendors disable that..
My main use case for an ipad while traveling is to watch downloaded movies on a plane. "AR" (not really) glasses like nreal air are way smaller and lighter than an ipad and makes watching movies on my phone pretty amazing..
https://3fulgear.com/product/freestanding-tent/taiji-2/
The only difference here is that this person is well-funded, so uses the latest high-end gear to do it, instead of a bindle.
Yes, hobos do still exist. My recently deceased cousin-in-law was one, and proudly called himself a "hobo."
Yes, they have smartphones.
Pack the absolute minimum. If you really need something, you can almost always buy it wherever you are going. Even trekking in the deep Himalayas, there was always a spot to buy an extra t-shirt or socks every day or so.
Not saying I always take that entire combo, but almost always more than 1 pair.
but really, every person i've seen who "activates" a lifestyle like this one only ever seems to wear black. i suppose it's the choice of any committed rationalist, but i think it's dull
also, fine so long as you don't need to go any where that requires a different type of shoe
Hard to describe how liberating it is to have so few possessions. So many choices you don’t have to make. You become so fleet of foot that serendipity is everywhere.
Glad I got the chance to do it
The thing is, after years of doing it, learning new languages, making friends all over, and then leaving knowing you might not see them again for ever or for long stints, you start to feel the yearning to be able to connect with people on a deeper level.
Now I have an apartment and basically only travel for weddings, I still go super light. But there is a joy in having variety in clothing or sneakers to wear. Friends who you've had multiple conversations with over the year's, even family who comes to visit you.
I'm happy I rid myself of it all, but I'm also happy that now my apartment has the basics, and maybe a bit more. And I'm fine with it. Life doesn't have to be binary, you can mix and match and end up happy either way.
I do think there's value to learning how to live with less, and it also helps unencumber you more than just in physical weight, but spiritually, to allow yourself to explore and go forth without concern. I could just hop on a train, bus, plane, and go somewhere else even as a side trip without needing to be concerned with any of my belongings because it was all with me all of the time.
I agree with the author on a lot: 1) it's not a good way to live long term, 2) traveling with as little as possible completely transforms the traveling experience, 3) zero-bag travel is great, 4) a good quality small bag with well designed compartments is critical, 5) M-series Macs are the only way to go, 6) two thumb drives is very convenient if you're not worried about searches, 7) darn tough socks, 8) first aid with bandaids/antiseptic/mylar blanket, I also include benadryl, ibuprofen and other common OTC meds.
I disagree on: 1) I prefer a 2M USB-C cord over 1M, 2) I have mostly cotton or merino clothes and try not to use any synthetic fabrics, especially no synthetic underwear, 3) I prefer jeans, especially in colder climates and 4) carrying "stuff" on you long term (like a jacket with things in the pockets) can get sort of annoying after a while.
And finally, extra stuff I carry that the author doesn't: separate camera, snacks (mostly nuts), Garmin inReach, handkerchiefs, wired earbuds, flashlight, knife, an eye mask, sometimes a Travelrest pillow, and two sizes of paper notebooks and pens.
Daily now I see people living on the street with a lot more, but still with needs of all sorts.
In some schools of Buddhism, the tradition was to live with only one bowl and one spoon. The practice was to beg daily - yes, for food, but mainly to submit to the judgment of society as to whether one's practice is worth it to others. The premise was that people would give if they see you as worthy, not because they pity you.
I would ask the OP to reflect publicly on what he discovered about his own attachments, sense of place, and relations with others and himself. That could be helpful even to people in more tangled circumstance.
It still exists today. A friend of mine was a monk for many years and would make daily alms rounds.
It also happens in other lineages of Hinduism too. A Baul teacher of mine was supposed to do a short teaching tour here in the US a few months ago and actually got turned away at SFO by immigration because the immigration officer just couldn't understand that she doesn't make money and eats all her meals from alms. He told her no one exists like that anymore, detained her, and sent her back to Bengal.
- Icebreaker Merino T-Shirts https://na.icebreaker.com/en-us/collections/mens-tshirts?cou...
- Paka Alpaca Wool Hoodie: https://www.pakaapparel.com/products/alpaca-hoodie?variant=3...
I wear those t-shirts in hot climates because of how breathable they are and the Alpaca Wool Hoodie is literally the best sweater I've ever owned. Super breathable, lightweight and I've washed it a total of 4 times in 3 years.