Originally Posted by
Artpen100
I don't take it to an extreme - I am often traveling for work, and if I need to take a larger suitcase, I will, but my suitcases are ultralight and 4 wheel spinners so I don't have to carry them much. One thing I did do after the pandemic, though, was really pare down my electronics and my dopp kit. Only the smallest and lightest of what I really need. A lot of stuff for contingencies I no longer take.
A very good point. My first two week trip abroad many moons ago with just a small wheeled duffel (gym bag sized) and a small laptop case proved this point. I traveled with a spartan dopp kit, and one EU power adapter that had a single USB output. If I ran out of something, then I bought a replacement. As I found out, Europeans use toothpaste and deodorant too,
Originally Posted by
ElevatorEnthusiast
During the pandemic, I was able to take many two-night trips with a single backpack, but boy, was that sucker heavy. Now that my weekly trips have expanded to 3-4 nights, I have adjusted to a single carry-on roller bag (measured to the maximum carry-on size) and a smaller laptop bag. I've even been able to do 10-night trips with that setup, at least in the summer (winter coats and long pants are such a space hog).
I did a backpack trip to Vegas, LA and Seattle about 15 years ago. The backpack was pretty chock-full. That's when I decided a small wheeled duffel was the way to go. But I managed. I washed clothing in hotel sinks with shower gel and then did a "towel-ringer" drying method and then hung to dry. On my recent over-packed trip, I brought a different clothing outfit for each day, as if laundry cleaning services had not been invented outside of my home. Shorts, shirts, long pants, and enough underwear and socks for two weeks without doing laundry.
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Another thing I found out from my ridiculous over-packing escapade, I didn't use 90 percent of what I brought. As I posted, finding what I did want among all that luggage was a chore. About 1/2 way through the trip, I contemplated having a taxi take me to a UPS store to ship home about 3/4 of my luggage, just to get out from under the bulk of all that packing, but I decided to suffer through the rest of my trip with my luggage burden.