The Art of Travelling Light

6 April 2018

When going on a trip such as this one, it can be hard to determine what you should bring with you. What size backpack should I buy? How many pairs of clothing should I pack? Luckily I wasn’t the first to ask those questions and when I started searching for it on the internet, I soon found some websites that proved quite helpful.

The website TravelIndependent.info provided very useful and detailed information on what to bring when backpacking. From clothing to first aid and from electronics to the right type of footwear, they really took their time to explain everything in detail. So based on their information and my own ideas I started to draw up a list of all the things I needed to take with me. I also used another very helpful source: the book Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. This book is an amazing guide to prepare yourself for long-term travel and I found it really interesting to read.

What both of these guides pointed out though, is that travelling light is key. By travelling light they really mean taking with you a small bag with an extra set of clothing and some basic hygiene items and that’s it. See the following excerpt from the book Vagabonding:

“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to travel light. Dragging an enormous pack full of junk from place to place is the surest way to hamstring your flexibility and turn your travels into a ridiculous, grunting charade.” – Rolf Potts, Vagabonding

Although that seems like a great experience, I’m not sure if I’m up for the challenge. So I’ll be doing the more traditional style of backpacking: with a large backpack. It’s not as ‘light’ as Potts is recommending, but it sure is light compared to what I’d normally take with me on holiday. I also read that in most cases you can just buy a lot of stuff at the actual destination (which could be less expensive too), instead of hauling everything with you the whole time. For example, I could take some flip flops with me because I know I’ll visit some beaches along the way. But that would mean that I’m stuck with those flip flops for half the journey until I finally get to use them. It would be better to just buy some cheap ones at the beach once I get there.

So, for clothing I’ll take with me:

• 3 T-shirts
• 1 collared shirt
• 1 jacket
• 2 pairs of trousers (no jeans, since they take a long time to dry)
• 1 pair of shorts
• swimming gear
• 5 pairs of underwear
• 3 pairs of socks

I’ll be staying at people’s homes, so I should be able to wash my clothes regularly. Otherwise I’ve also packed a concentrated washing liquid that I could use in a sink to wash my clothes. Also, since shoes are relatively heavy and take up a lot of space, I will only have one pair with me. These are designed for hiking and covering large distances, so that’s exactly what I need.

As for hygiene items, I just packed the following: toothbrush and toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo, hair gel, shaving cream and razor and deodorant. I bought mini’s, so they won’t take up too much space. It’s more so I have something for during the first week and after that I can just restock.

My phone’s very important to me when I’m traveling. I use it to find my way around places where I’m not familiar, to book tickets in advance, to contact hosts and to keep in touch with people at home. That’s why I always bring a spare phone, just in case. This is just my old phone (which is actually in a better condition than my current one, since its screen broke a while back and the camera’s useless). I’ll also bring my photo camera, since I really enjoy taking photos while travelling. Of course I’ll also bring chargers, a powerbank and a power socket converter. For updating my blog I have my tablet and a keyboard with me.

Some other non-essential items are painkillers, earplugs, a pocketknife, a pack of cards, my sunglasses and printed copies of my curriculum, in case I’ll look for a job.

So, that’s about it . . . I wrote down (most of) the items that I’ll be taking with me. I’m really excited to start my trip next week and I’m more than ready for it. The next post will probably be written in Poland! I’ll do my best to post as regularly as possible (it’s been exactly one week since my last post, so I’m doing a great job so far) but it will depend on my time and connectivity on the road.