One of the things I try and do my very best is find the Utopian balance between travelling with just the right amount of stuff that I need without having to visit a chiropractor because I’ve lugged too much crap around the world!
Actually, I think I’m not too bad when it comes to travel lightly. For me, I’m completely anal about travelling light as I hate lugging around more than I need to – I tend to travel with a backpack that weighs around 12 kilograms in total at the most with all of my electronics in my day pack. Most people tend to overestimate what they need in their luggage and would probably not use the majority of things they pack away.
So their backpack just becomes part of their exercise and weight training regime when they’re going between places!
Having said that, you’ll see all sorts of travel bloggers spruiking ‘the ultimate packing guide for travelling’ on their travel blogs (or Instagram ‘influencers’ laying out what they pack on their bed to show the same stuff in a visual way!) which usually bear no resemblance to reality!
But if you could be arsed, I have my own simple how to travel lightly tips. Actually, my packing tips are the following for a long round the world trip, but they can be applied for trips for any duration (obviously mainly for men, but can be adapted for women).
I’m a bit of a dag and tend to dress fairly scruffily so I don’t look like I’m worth robbing. I’l try and find the most faded and almost hole-worthy clothes to wear that are on their last legs because I’m fashionably unfashionable!
It’s worked (so far), so if you’re after the unpretentious, don’t really give a *%$# version of how to travel light – here is what I carry around in my backpack.
First of all, lay out everything you think you need, and then halve it. I always end up wearing the most comfortable things over and over again and leave behind or donate the items that I don’t wear very often. This makes someone who doesn’t have very much money extremely happy that some gringo was generous enough to literally donate the shirt off their back!
So once you’ve think you’ve got what you need, throw it all away and then just chuck this in your backpack and lug it around the world:
- One pair of sandals, one pair of hiking boots which double up as going out shoes.+ 3-4 pairs of socks
- Lots of underwear – light and doesn’t take up much space. And you can wear underwear four times before you need to wash them all (that is frontwards, backwards, inside out frontwards, and inside out backwards)
- about 4-5 T-shirts, and 1-2 dress shirts
- 2 pairs of shorts (the lightweight type that dries really quickly) and 2 pairs of jeans
- 1 toiletry bag with stuff so your teeth don’t fall out and people don’t mistake you for being a sewer rat because you stink!
That’s it! This is all you need to know! You don’t have to waste more time that you’ll never get back searching for more other stuff about how to pack for travel on the internet! Just print off the above five points!
You might think, no way, that’s pretty frugal, but you’ll be surprised just how not smelly you’ll be after travelling this way!
However – I’ve seen some people go extreme and travel a lot lighter – for example, only with 2 day packs (they carried one at the back, one at the front) which meant they were able to never check in their baggage. However, they were a bit smelly!
Yes, that’s right, taking your worldly possessions and stuffing them into two items of luggage that you’d normally only use for a day trip!
But this silly travel blog isn’t about being accurate, practical, or even sometimes helpful. 🙂
No, in light of trying to maintain myself as being the silliest travel blog out there in internet land, I’ve come up with a crazy list of ideas to travel light that are probably downright ridiculous, but I’m sure someone out there will take it as gospel and actually adapt these!
Anyway, let’s have a crack at this!
How to Travel Light – The Silly Way!
You know what? Some of these silly tips might just work!
- Just let someone else pay for all of your travels, which includes carrying all of your stuff. Just sign up to the Miss Travel website and be someone’s ‘special travel companion’ in exchange for money!
- Read only half of an ‘Ultimate Travel Packing Guide’ that some silly travel blogger writes and apply only the bits you’ve read. That way, you won’t fall into the trap of reading someone’s sponsored post that makes no sense!
- Only visit tropical areas on your round the world trip and bring just your swimwear. Simon Reeve did this by following the Equator, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn and I think he might be onto something! Judging by some Instagram accounts, it looks like some people make a living ‘travelling’ this way! Lucky for some!
- Only travel to nude friendly places. You’ll save a truckload on washing and you’ll gain a full body tan!
- Just take one T-Shirt – the Travel “point your finger at the symbol” T-Shirt
- By the smallest available backpack you can lay your hands on and challenge yourself to carry what you need in this small carry bag. Note, the size of the backpack is directly proportional to the amount of crap that you want to stuff into it!
- Just take a small 3D printer with you and just print off whatever stuff you need, whenever you need it! For example, if you’re having an amourous night…
- Do the Mark Zuckerberg fashion challenge and just wear one grey shirt all of the time!
- Buy whatever you need overseas. You should be able to find it somewhere!
- Live like Tom Hanks from Castaway, and finally…
- Just don’t travel at all and be a lazy sod and stay at home. This is will save you the stress and grief on what to take on your big overseas trip that won’t happen.
There you go – some crazy tips on how to travel lightly.
Have you got some that sounds completely crazy but might just work?
Leave a comment with your silly tip and we’ll all try and give it a go!
If you’re after some more silly travel tips, check out my stupid list of Travel Fashion Tips and my How to Save Money Travel Tips… and the Best Fashion Blogger In The World.
Travelling around the world? Then check out some Backpackers Travel Insurance too!
Ha ha, some of these might actually work – I might give them a go!
Let me know if they do!