My roommate and her boyfriend recently left on a trip to Seattle, and when they came back, I was surprised at how much luggage they brought back. The trip was only about a week long, but they each carried suitcases bigger than I had ever seen before. I used to be the same way; my father likes to take everything except the television when he leaves, as he gets anxious about needing anything while away and not being able to reach it. I took after my father for a while, then, as I started traveling more and more frequently, I got annoyed at the shit that I schlepped to and fro, with many things completely unused when I returned; frequently, with me, nuisance is the mother of invention.
What does it mean to pack and travel light?
Packing and traveling light is packing the bare essentials, essentially. Many people assume that the more time we will travel, the more things we will need to bring. This is a bit of a myth, but a 7-day trip almost always requires at least a little bit more than an overnight jaunt. Pack what you know you will need and use. Just because you want to bring something, it does not mean that it’s necessary. Traveling light should mean that your luggage weighs little to nothing.
Why Travel Light: For Ease
No matter how far you are traveling, and how long you are going for, a lighter suitcase translates to easier mobility. Dodging other travelers in the terminal can be done with greater maneuverability when you’re only carrying a backpack or a small, wheeled carry-on, as opposed to that lumbering family headed to Miami with what appears to be presents for the whole metropolitan area. And forget the airport, this stuff needs to get to the airport, from the airport to your accommodations, back to the airport, and back home. Packing lighter saves you all kinds of hassles.
Why Travel Light: For Economy
Traveling light will save you money, mostly from the fees that most airlines charge for checked baggage nowadays. Domestic flights can charge up to $100 per bag, depending on the airline, to check it; even some international flights now charge for checking luggage. To make lugging the luggage around the airport easier, most people who have more bags than they can handle often rent a dolly/cart or hire a porter to assist them, costing only a little extra, but adding up nonetheless. Also, most people carrying heavy and/or multiple bags opt for the taxis, costing exponentially more than public transportation would cost.
Why Travel Light: For Security
As my father, the man who packs everything when traveling, used to tell me, “If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.” Checking baggage requires me to trust the airline and its employees to get it right; I’ve learned from firsthand experience that they get it wrong just as many times. Baggage handlers often misroute baggage after someone checks it in; all it takes for the luggage to end up on the other side of the world is to be put on the wrong belt.
Why Travel Light: For Flexibility
When boarding a plane, as soon as you get past the cushy first class section of the plane, the aisles are quite narrow. The smaller and lighter your carry-on, the greater maneuverability you will have (plus you will not be disqualified from the right to yell at other passengers who are holding up the boarding process. With a smaller carry-on, you might be able to fit it under your seat, which almost always has guaranteed free space, unlike the overhead bins, which are first come, first served. If you do require an overhead spot to store your luggage, the smaller sizes will give you more chances of fitting in your bag with other bags, hopefully eliminating the need for the cabin crew to check your bag after all.
Why Travel Light: For Comfort
There is a relaxing feeling, especially for anxious people such as myself, to know that everything that you are bringing with you is safely stowed in that overhead compartment, within reach at all times. Hauling heavy bags is never easy, so it is definitely never comfortable.
Why Travel Light: For Convenience
Not checking a luggage in is quite convenient. Not only will you not have to wait (sometimes up to an hour) at the baggage carousel, but there will not need to be the hassle that sometimes appears during certain connecting flights. Although some might argue that if a flight is connecting (layover), it is more convenient if they don’t have to take a carry-on and walk it all around the airport to the connecting flight’s gate. However, most people who check baggage will have a carry-on anyway, and there are some airports in the world which require passengers to collect their baggage at the layover airport and then re-check it. If this is the case, imagine checking in baggage 4 times for one roundtrip travel, along with waiting at the baggage carousel 4 times!
Why Travel Light: For Preparation
Packing light allows you to prepare your your belongings in less time, both before you leave for the airport and when you check out of your room to go back home. In another sense of the word, you will be prepared in the event that you decide to purchase extra souvenirs to carry back home; packing light to begin with affords you more opportunity to do so. Finally, you will be prepared in case something happens to a connecting flight, forcing you to sleep in a comped room; checked baggage may have went a different route to your intended destination, and this scenario could require that you spend a night with none of your belongings.
Why Travel Light: For Health
This seems to be a bit of a stretch, but I am throwing it in there because most experts on the topic do. Heavy baggage requires some heavy lifting, and heavy lifting may lead to injuries, like strained muscles and herniated discs.
Why Travel Light: For Courtesy
I know I hate being behind a person who is inefficient with their luggage handling during the boarding process. Heavy and bulky bags may force the passenger to stay in the aisle longer than others, delaying and annoying other passengers. Taking up the whole overhead bin is also impolite and may cause some grumblings among your fellow seatmate, the last person you want to offend since you need to sit with them for the next few hours.
Why Travel Light: For Environment
Though I am pretty liberal, I am a bit too cynical to put much stock in this argument, but at least the airlines aren’t promoting it for this reason. To round off the benefits of traveling light, I felt compelled to include this. Planes weighing more (thanks to your heavy bag) require more fuel, hurting the environment. Using a cab (because of your heavy bag) leaves a larger carbon footprint than taking the public transportation. Oh, just forget this reason. 9 reasons are good enough!
Antoine de Saint-Exupery said it best: “He who would travel happily must travel light.”
For more, read: How to Pack Light & Travel Better
Thanks for stopping by to visit my blog and see the pingback I gave back to this post! That was a very thoughtful answer you left and I appreciated it very much.
Nancy
Rule #1…if you want to pack light, buy small luggage/backpack. I always want to fill up my backpack as much as possible…its my nature, so I force myself to pack lighter by carrying a smaller backpack. For the upcoming year-long RTW trip with my girlfriend, I’m carrying the Osprey Porter 46…its carry on size. That’s all I need. Awesome post, Christian!
Wade, very good rule! Best way to not pack so much – not being able to carry it all 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for mentioning that the smaller and lighter the carry-on is, the more maneuverability and options I’ll have. I’ve started traveling quite a bit for work in the past two months and haven’t been able to get a good personal flight system set up. My current carry-on isn’t very flexible in terms of overhead bins since it’s fairly large and stiff, so hopefully I can find a great new one that will allow me some more flexible storing options.