Let’s dive in…
A. Accommodation. Within the world travel and independent living communities you will often be thought as of a snob if you book into hotels as you travel, rather than settling for a hostel.
Often, I don’t think the snobbery is directed at the luxury more than it is the cost of that experience, as the same people will happily live the relative high-life in Indonesia and Thailand for the same price as a cheap hostel in other parts of the world.
I’m a huge fan of hostels, but it’s up to you. If you can afford to stay in hotels, only do so if you actually want to. Sometimes it’s more convenient to book yourself into a nearby hotel, if for example your flight lands 10km from the city centre at 11pm. That’s fine.
Do what works at the time and you’re most comfortable with.
B. Bookings. Only book things in advance if you see that their is a big difference in price between advanced online booking and buying a ticket on the day.
The whole point of lightweight travel is not being tied down, so don’t tie yourself down to bookings and train times unless you really have to.
C. Cell Phone. (Apologies to UK readers, M and P were already taken!) Just keep it off. Likelihood is that the main things you will need it for – calling, texting, GPS, web browsing will all cost you a fortune from the country you’re currently occupying anyway.
If you know you are going to be settled in a country for some time, buy a cheap unlocked 3G phone and buy a new SIM card for it wherever you go. You’ll undoubtedly get a bundle of free minutes and texts with each new SIM which will see you through.
D. Documentation. Paper doesn’t weigh a thing, especially in small doses. We can often prove our tickets, and reservations by showing our emails via our iPhones and Blackberrys, but it doesn’t hurt to have a physical backup.
E. E-Reader. Take thousands of books and documents with you on a device smaller than your standard paperback. I recommend the Kindle. Even though I’d take every precaution against it happening, at $139 (£111), it wouldn’t be the end of the world if your Kindle was stolen – unlike many similar devices.
F. Freedom. Travelling light gives you an overwhelming sense of freedom. When you carry all you have with you at all times (that being a small bag, not an enormous rucksack) you could literally do anything you want to do, across the whole world.
G. Guidebooks. Keep your guidebooks a small as possible. If possible, purchase a large guidebook to a collections of places, then rip out the pages you want to take with you. I did this with my Europe guidebook when I went to Norway last year, and I plan to do the same for Spain next week.
H. Hostels. Kind of a cheat as I mentioned this in accommodation, but I really believe for the lightweight traveller hostels are the way to go. Be sure to check out my feature on hostels here.
I. Infection. If you do at any point fall ill while travelling, it’s a whole lot easier to reach help and receive medical attention if you don’t have to carry (and worry about) some bulky luggage you have with you.
J. Jet Lag. If you’ve been travelling around the world for a while, and you arrive back home after a long flight, the last thing you want to do is navigate your way from the airport back home with horrible jet lag.
This transition is made a whole lot easier with lightweight travel. Trust yourself to fall asleep on the train home, safe in the knowledge that the few possessions you have on you are strapped to a small bag around your shoulders.
K. Keys. Leave them at home! If you live with somebody, arrange for them to be in when you arrive back. If you live in a bachelor pad, leave your keys with a friend or relative.
If you have to take your keys with you, only take your door key. Remove it from the keyring and stuff it in the bottom of a pocket in your bag. Give it a pat down once a day just to be on the safe side.
L. Luggage. This is the key point to this whole post, and the whole concept of lightweight travel. You have less luggage!
Sometimes you’ll be carrying around a small bag, other times all you will have with you are the clothes on your back and your possessions sealed within your pockets! Quoted from A Lesson in Travelling Light:
People I met travelling across Norway were, on a whole, sticking with conventional wisdom. I trecked up Mount Ulriken in Bergen with a couple of Chinese girls I bumped into at the bottom of the mountain. They’d just put their suitcases into lockers so to make the trip up the mountain. I was carrying everything with me. When staying in a hostel in Oslo, I woke up one morning to find one of my roommates trying desperately to fit everything they’d bought with them into all of their enormous (one of them was wider than the bed) suitcases, laptop bags and add-on carrier bags…
I showered, ditched the shower gel, threw everything in my bag and walked out the door.
It would be unfair to talk about lightweight travel without mentioning one of my favourite travel-writers, Rolf Potts, who completed a round the world trip with no luggage last year.
M. MP3 Player. I’d recommend an iPod Shuffle (any age/generation you like, they’re all tiny as hell). Just keep it small. On the same note, take earphones, not enormous oil-drum cans.
N. Notes. Always have a pen, pencil, and small pad of paper handy, dropped into a side pocket of your bag.
O. Objectives. When you travel light you give yourself more time to see everything you want to do see, and do everything you want to do. In short, you have the time to fulfil more of your objectives.
P. Passport. Until they’re made smaller we shall have to continue to lug this weight around with us. I’m only half joking. Last time I travelled light my passport was a third of the size of my entire luggage.
Q. Queues. By travelling unbelievably lightweight you get to skip queues all over the world! Not queuing up for you bag at the carousel is just the tip of the iceberg.
R. Roll-on Deodorant. Spray-ons aren’t allowed on flights, and a roll-on is ten times lighter than a bottle of your favourite aftershave or perfume.
S. Struggle. Struggle no more! Before I discovered lightweight travel I struggled like you wouldn’t believe with suitcases. Even ones on wheels are hard as hell to move around in certain places across the world.
The moment I stepped out of Praha Hlavní Nádraží (Prague central station) I knew I was in for a long day. 99% of the pavements, roads and walkways in Prague is cobbled in one way or another. Be them big or small, pulling my suitcase up around the city was an experience I will never do again (I will however visit Prague again, great city).
Later in the day I actually missed the luggage drop and carried my suitcase up the Old Town Hall. Cities need to be explored baggage-free. Reduce the struggle for yourself.
T. Toothbrush. I’m nitpicking here, but the last time I travelled light whenever I rummaged blind in my bag looking for something I would always find my toothbrush. You’re not gaining a huge amount of space here, but using a folding toothbrush will help keep it out of the way when it’s not needed.
U. Unconventional. This is an unconventional form of travel. You may have to explain to people along the way. Some will think it’s the best thing they’ve ever heard, others will give you a funny look.
It’s all fine, just subtly show the naysayers how much easier it is for you to get across town, just for a laugh. It’s also true that this form of travel could raise slight suspicions with airport security. It’s never happened to me, but I have heard stories of people being asked long questions just because they’re hardly carrying any luggage with them.
This is only a minor inconvenience however, and if you have nothing to hide you should have nothing to worry about.
V. View. Similar to struggle, when you have very little luggage with you you can do and see things that you would have difficulty seeing (or not be able to see at all) if you were tied down with bags.
Climb to the top of Eastern European town halls, scale a mountain, all without a) the issue of the weight, and b) having to worry about keeping your possessions in a safe place.
W. Watch. Nowadays it’s easy to forget to wear a watch. We have clocks surrounding us morning noon and night. When you’re travelling the world, it becomes important to conserve the battery power of your devices (most notably your mobile phone). Wear a cheap timeless Casio watch at all times.
X. Xenodochy. Impressed, right? Xenodochy, as I learnt two minutes ago, means hospitality, specifically towards strangers.
When you travel abroad you may be tempted to take advantage of strangers hospitality by getting in touch with people through Couch Surfing. Couch Surfing is a website whereby you post a request to see if anybody can ‘host you’ (put you up on their couch) while you’re in their neighbourhood.
You’re also encourage to offer up your couch for the good of the couch surfing community. Couch Surfing is a very popular way of meeting new people and getting around in the online travel community, frequently being recommend by Benny of Fluent In 3 Months and Matt of Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site.
Y. Youth. Even if you’re not in the most youthful years of your life, lightweight travel gives you the opportunity to feel young again. You have the freedom to do what you want in a country of your choosing. No restrictions! I can’t think of anything better than that.
Z. Zen. Meant less in the spiritual or religious sense, and more so in a peace and quiet sense.
While in Oslo last year I sat on the edge of Oslo quay for over two hours, simple relaxing and soaking in the sea air. Despite Oslo being Norway’s capital city, I wasn’t interrupted once, aside from the bells of the city hall ringing out every quarter of an hour.
Sure, if I’d bought a huge amount of luggage with me I’d easily have been able to keep it in the hostel I was staying at, but at that point in time I had everything I needed right with me.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Are you sure you wouldn’t pack the xylophone?
It’s a given!