What To Pack

Watching Your Weight

When attempting to attain travel packing nirvana, it's easy to lose sight of the goal. For two thousand years, experienced travel writers have admonished us to travel light, not travel compact, or even necessarily travel with less stuff (my own packing list includes well over a hundred items). It's not that reducing bulk and complexity are unimportant, but rather that we generally do better with a task when we focus on a single goal. And weight reduction is simple and easily measured, consequently the goal most likely to lead to more pleasurable — thus effective — travel.

So, although the top priority remains an ongoing refinement of the type of packing list that I recommend (because you don't have to worry about the weight of items not brought), the second stage in the evolution of a light traveller is a fairly ruthless quest to shave weight … you needn't drill holes in the handle of your toothbrush, or cut the tags from your teabags, but you certainly wouldn't be the first to do so. And removing unnecessary logo patches and other tags from luggage and clothing is a particularly easy way to shave an ounce or two.

Find lighter versions of travel items that you consider necessary (better yet, find ways to make them unnecessary). When comparing two items, consider their weights first: for example, a AA lithium battery weighs about 15g/0.53oz, vs. a 23g/0.81oz alkaline, or a 31g/1.10z NiMH rechargeable.

Items most likely to contribute negatively to your weight goals include the bag itself, liquid/gel products, and electronic gadgetry (laptops and the like), so choose particularly wisely in those areas. Don't be overly attracted to clothes and luggage with all sorts of extra pockets and other doodads (or get carried away with organizer pouches and storage cubes): every single one of those tempting "features" and accessories means more weight (and bulk) for you to haul around!

While in general you should strive to keep the weight of your packed bag as low as possible, it's nice to have a specific target. Ultimately, a loaded weight not exceeding about 10kg (22 lbs) is ideal. On flights with very restrictive carry-on rules, weight will prove more problematic than bag dimensions if you wish to avoid checking luggage, and this is a commonly used limit. Further, much more than this will weigh heavily on your shoulders if you carry it for any distance.

Curiously, there is even some historical perspective for this particular weight limit!

Finally, give some thought to your well-being. In 2008 alone, The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission reported that more than 53,000 people were treated by medical professionals for luggage-related injuries. Yet another downside of travelling heavy!

Pushing the Limits

When trying to overcome what might be considered an unreasonable carry-on baggage weight limit (notice that they don't ban overweight people from the cabin), bear in mind that items carried on your person are not weighed. So transferring an item or two — especially anything particularly heavy —  from your bag to your person can sometimes mean the difference between checked baggage and freedom. Like a weighty shoulder strap, for example.

Wearing specialized "stealth" clothing, though certainly not required, can definitely make this technique more convenient; don't forget, though, that all such "bells and whistles" add weight to your overall load, so evaluate them carefully.

It's possible to get a bit overenthused with this solution (consider "Crazy Eric", below), but it can occasionally be very useful, and you normally only have to endure it until you get past the weighing station (although some budget airlines, such as Ryanair, have begun weighing bags at the gate, so be prepared).

Most importantly (and unlike the inspired fellow in the above video), the skilled traveller does this to reapportion weight, not carry more stuff!

The Weigh-In

You can weigh your bag on an ordinary household/bathroom scale; there's no need for a special luggage version. Just stand on the scale while holding your bag (keep it as close to the centre of the scale as possible for the most accurate results), and make a note of the weight. Then weigh yourself without the bag, and subtract that from the first number. Simple!

Whenever being subjected to a weighing of your bag(s) at an airport, it is useful to bear in mind that, on any given day, about 10% of airport scales give incorrect readings (as has been demonstrated by random testing). If you've weighed the bag(s) at home first — always a good idea — and are being given a different number by the airline, or even if you haven't, but are discovering that your bag is only just slightly over the limit, request that it be weighed on another scale. And don't forget to remove the shoulder strap.

For the Travel Minimalist: Really Light Packing

Those willing to forego certain niceties (notably extra clothing), and adopt a devil-may-care adventurous spirit, can travel with considerably fewer items than I suggest on this site. Some people manage casual journeys quite well with only a daypack; Ray Jardine addresses many of the issues associated with this form of travel, his solutions often involving some specialized do-it-yourself gear (although this is somewhat less true today than it was when Ray and his writings first pioneered the modern art of ultralight backpacking).

Some people travel with no bags at all. An early proponent of this (and one who addresses the challenge from an engineering perspective that is not unlike my own … a thought some might find chilling!) is Anders Ansar (pictured at left), who travels — in tropical areas anyway — with only the (significantly-modified) clothes on his back. His nano-sized "suitcase" can be seen at right.

More recently, Scott Jordan's company has launched a marketing program squarely in the footsteps of Mr. Ansar. Called the "No Baggage Challenge", it promotes the use of their brand of multi-pocketed clothing in place of luggage. Novelty value aside, I'm unconvinced that this is somehow preferable to dressing conventionally and including a light bag of some sort (though the clothes themselves are quite nice, and can certainly be used in less extreme ways, as mentioned above). That said, it's further proof that travelling successfully without hauling around a lot of stuff is not nearly as difficult as most people imagine.

At the extreme end of the carry-everything-in-your-pockets spectrum is 2003 Guinness World Records notable Eric Le Fou (Crazy Eric), who's neither light (his "packing list" currently numbers some 1300 items!) nor all that much of a traveller (neither his form nor his content are likely to pass airport security), but unquestionably interesting. And he does suggest what's possible, if you're sufficiently eccentric!