In this Lightweight Travel Tip I suggest putting bulking/heavy items in the bottom of the bag to save space. While this doesn't directly save weight on the item, it does mean you can take a smaller, and probably lighter, bag.
Lightweight Travel Tips is a series of short videos where I showcase the lightweight travel philosophy by discussing specific situations. The individual tips are gateways to the lightweight travel mindset.
I can recall my first trip overseas with overweight suitcases full of things I never used. Even though I have larger baggage allowances than ever, I take less. Less luggage makes it easier to move around, and I'm less likely to lose an item because I have fewer items to track. It's easier to move through crowds and over imperfect ground.
Lightweight travel tips combine my experience in travel and the outdoors to examine what I carry and if I could do without it. I'm not an ultra-light backpacking gram weeny - my outdoors philosophy is more informed by bushcraft, where I learned to make the most out of whatever I carry while keeping necessities and local conditions in mind. So, lightweight travel is a mindset of efficiency - that each item must be helpful or it should be left behind.
At the core of my philosophy is:
Passport, Credit card, Phone - everything else is a solvable problem of a luxury item.
This isn't to say you shouldn't carry anything - decide what balances weight, size, convenience and luxury for yourself and where you're going! Figure out what is available where you're going - both free at your accommodation or what you can easily buy.
How do I start thinking through a pack list? First, learn about the trip: what about the weather when I am there? What activities do I expect to do? What can I obtain at the destination if I need it? What equipment must I take? These questions are the genesis of thinking through what to bring.
And the biggest tip: Start with a small bag. If you can't make your load-out fit, it's easier to get a larger bag rather than the other way around. People tend to think in terms of bag size: it's the airlines that make us weigh everything!
Do you have some lightweight travel tips of your own? Please share in the comments.
Until next time.
▶️ 3Speak
With airlines getting stingy with weight tips like these could be of help to properly back our luggage.
My bag for HiveFest was under 5kg. For many airlines, that's classified as a personal item because it will fit under the seat. Yes, you could save a lot of money this way.
I have my hand luggage packed under 5kg with my laptop which is 1.8kg so am under the 7kg allocated by the airline.
My flight to NZ will depart in a little over 24 hours. Am looking at connecting with New Zealanders on Hive. I suppose you are a New Zealander? 😊
Yes I am. I'm in Hamilton. 1.5hrs south of Auckland. What's your discord, we can arrange there. Alt. My email is [email protected]
Great thanks, I will be based in Christchurch but with lots of travel in around the South Island.
I deleted my Discord due to the travel, I will reinstall it and get in touch with you. I have sent you an email with the subject Joetunex from Hive.
Cool. Will check email tomorrow. Bed time.
Good night
🤔 hmmm, i never thought about compression in my travel/packing before..
While compression doesn't save weight, it does save a lot of space. If you can get your bag small and light enough then it can classify as personal item, which is smaller than normal carry-on.
Yeah, this is a space saver more than a weight saver and it works. If you really want to see this taken to the extreme, you can use vacuum bags to really save space.
I was wondering how you'd get those re'vacced from a hotel room. But, I do hBe some hiking compression bags with a valve - you just kneel of them and the air gets pushed out and doesn't come back in.
I would assume you can borrow a vacuum from the hotel.
There's some hiking sleeping-pad inflation devices that can also deflate vacuum bags. I don't use those pumps for sleeping mats because they're extra weight for something I can do myself easily enough. Though, if you have one, maybe the extra weight is worth it. I've also seen people use hair dryers to vacuum seal bags, but not sure how much compression they could achieve.
Those could work too. I'm not too keen on the deflation device since we are trying to keep things lightweight and save space.
Compressing clothes is very good and some people are very good at it
Yep. There's a few techniques - compression cubes, ranger rolls to name two. I did use some ranger rolls for my spare t-shirt, underwear and socks on my trip to HiveFest. I did roll my cardigan too. The downside is that the rolls can result in awkward void spaces in the bag.
@tipu curate
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It's nice of you. Nice tips specially for travelers and I love traveling so these tips are golden for me.
Thanks for stopping by. I have up tip number #20 that release daily. If the series is popular, I'll make some more.