onebag travel — Blog

I do not believe the absolute number of things in ones life will contribute much to wellbeing, unless that number is too high for one to manage or too low for one to exist in nature and society.

A race to compare how many things one owns is as pointless as a race to compare how few things one owns. While an overstuffed room may cripple a resident with its sheer heft and clutter, an empty room will cripple with boredom (and a higher likelihood that the room is empty due to a lack of hobbies).

That said, I believe minimalism plays an important role in travel. The main purpose of travel, in my opinion, is joy, and overloaded suitcases will always be a detriment to joy for the nomad. In an airport, checked luggage will add cost to a journey. It will add time: the time from waiting in lines to check the bags, and the time waiting to collect bags at baggage claim. It will also add anxiety, because any bag removed from the traveler will be less likely to arrive at a destination.

There is never a reason for a nomad to check luggage. Ever.

I lived in China for about two years as an ESL teacher, and most of what I learned about minimalist travel was through trial and error. Here are a few basics for the aspiring nomad:

Travel with a backpack, not a shoulder bag.
As shoulder bags get stuffed, the weight distribution on your back will become uneven. It can strain you. A backpack is more versatile and if properly constructed, allows its wearer to walk long distances. A solid 30-40L backpack is all you need. If you are going somewhere rainy, have a backpack that’s water resistant. I got through China with an Osprey Farpoint 40. These days I mostly fly with just a Mission Workshop Fitzroy. The focus should not be so much on the brand as it should be on shoulder comfort and durability.
Bring laundry detergent with you.
The novice traveler will attempt to bring a set of clothes for each day that he or she travels. There’s no need for that. Just bring one or two sets of what you need, and put some detergent in a small liquid container. Something like these should work. You’ll likely be staying at a hotel or airBnB with a washer. If not, learn to wash clothes in the sink.
Merino wool is not necessary, but it’s nice.
I did not take merino wool to China with me. Admittedly, though, it makes travel easier. I don’t want this blog to be about replacing what you have, however. You can easily onebag travel without merino. Merino wool is antimicrobial and odor resistant. You’ll be able to wear your clothes for several days at a time, and perhaps longer if you switch off two merino wool garments. It’s also wrinkle resistant, which is especially nice for shirts. But if you don’t have merino…
Bring a portable steamer.
This is especially useful if you either suck at ironing or are staying somewhere without an ironing board. Fill the steamer with tap water (make sure the steamer has a built-in filter) and let the steam smooth out the wrinkles from your luggage. They aren’t too expensive either. This will be especially crucial if you are traveling with a lot of cotton or linen garments.
Wear your heavier clothes and shoes.
These days I travel with only minimalist sports sandals as “shoes” whenever possible. They are the most versatile shoes ever constructed, particular for the barefoot runner. I use them for everything from casual walks and dining to working out. These are my favorite. Honestly, they are pretty much all I wear, traveling or not. If you will need more shoes at your destination, wear the heavier shoes and pack the lighter ones. If you are going to live abroad in a place with cold winters, wear your boots and pack your shoes/sandals. Likewise with clothes. If you are going somewhere cold but flying out in summer, wear your summer clothes, pack what you can, and buy cheap winter stuff when you settle at your destination.
You do not need many electronics.
Every item you own takes up space. Physical books, headphones, portable computers… each will be an added weight on your back and on your mind. Luckily we live in an age where there are portable solutions to almost everything. I do not own headphones at all. I prefer to read. I bring a Kindle so that I have plenty of reading material without the associated weight of pages. I don’t own a portable computer because a nice tablet performs everything I need. Poof. I just eased a few pounds off of my back.

With practice, you will become an expert onebag traveler. I suggest taking less than what you need on your next trip and assessing what went wrong afterwards. You’ll likely see that most things left behind are not as necessary as you once thought. They either will not have been worn at all, or eventually picked up at the destination (or often in airports themselves these days).

This blog is focusing specifically on the nomad. These days, I own more than a backpack’s worth of stuff. There is an added freedom that comes from living out of just a backpack. So why, then, do I not subscribe to this onebag philosophy for the non-traveler? Here are a few basic reasons:

Hobbies are awesome, and they require stuff.
I enjoy cycling through rain, sleet, snow, or shine. This requires more apparel than one can fit in a backpack. Similarly, many hobbies require stuff to perform them. It is okay if your belongings enable you to do the things you dream of doing.
Having more items prolongs the life of the items you own.
This is especially apparent for shoes. You will wear through your shoes quicker if you wear one pair daily because you are pressing approximately 200 pounds on a material that likely weighs less than a pound, with each step, possibly thousands of times a day. When you switch your shoes by the day, time allows the sweat in your shoes to dry and the compressed materials to decompress a bit. Trading off shoes is therefore more cost efficient than only owning one pair. Similarly, clothes need time to breathe. The wash and dry cycles on garments wear them out. Washing a shirt several days a week will wear it out exponentially faster.
People need art.
This is the most opinionated of my three arguments in this blog post. Art teaches us about life. It also provides food for our minds. The clothes we wear can be art, as can be the paintings on our walls and the furniture in our living rooms. There is no need to go overboard in a quest to own art, but a piece or two that mean something personally are worth having. We deserve to have some things in our immediate surroundings that spur our brains into thinking about the deeper questions.

There you have it. Plan a trip. Even if you have always checked your bags, challenge yourself to fit everything in a backpack. Force yourself to do so regardless of the length of your trip. Take the risk of lacking enough essentials, and watch yourself come out the other side just fine.