WR Cage

Yes I'm obsessed with traveling light.

On business trips, I'm at work for 9-11 hours per day so its easier to just bring all clothes in business casual along with the dark blue jacket for board presentations.

I use fedex to send home any information packages or evidence that I have received. Most items are scanned into PDF at the remote office site. I also send any technology or documents on fedex to the remote office site.

On vacation I enforce pack light policy as the kid wants to bring toys that she will never play with and the wife will bring dress up clothes thinking that we will be going to something higher class than an Olive Garden or BJ's Brewhouse.

Recently however I have enjoyed the pre-planned laundry day while on vacation wherein the washing needs to get done so the family stays by the hotel pool and relaxes in the room.

NYTA

This! On my trip to Paris I brought back a few bottles of wine so couldn't carry them on (ah, those were the days when you could carry on wine bottles!) and at TLV by the time I come through customs and use the bathroom the bags are out, plus if my stuff gets lost I'm home so don't care. Love my Tumi Super Legere two-wheeler that was discontinued, sadly, and wish there was an equivalent bag that was both less than 5 pounds and very expandable for the return trip - I always come home with more stuff than I went out with - even on business.

dulciusexasperis

What to pack is a topic that comes up regularly on travel forums. Packing too much is one of the two commonest mistakes that travellers make, along with trying to see too much in too little time. Over time, my wife and I have refined our packing list to reach a balance between comfort/safety and weight. So here is my packing list:

*Pack:* Vaude Triset 25+4. I’ve had this pack for a few years now and the fit for me is excellent. I like the Aeroflex back and find that with a wicking t-shirt my back stays dry (sweat free) all day. It’s more than big enough.

*Clothing:*

*3 wicking T-shirts* Columbia Omni-Wick. 2 short sleeve and one long sleeve. I may try one of Columbia’s new Omni-Freeze instead of the standard Omni-Wick I’m used to.

*2 long sleeve shirts* Royal Robbins Expedition Light. Light weight, wicking, UV protection, low wrinkle and smart enough looking for anywhere.

*3 pair pants* North Face Paramount Peak. These are convertible to shorts (zip-off legs) and easy to wash and dry overnight.

*1 rain jacket* North Face Venture. Packable into one of it’s own pockets. Edit: this jacket weighs 14 ozs. And I am now looking at changing to a Marmot Micra which weighs 7 ozs. That will save nearly half a pound!

*1 down vest* Ralph Lauren. A lightweight down vest that can pack into it’s own pocket. Don’t ask, it was a gift but I have to say at least it doesn’t have a big RL logo on it anywhere.

*3 pr. Underwear* Icebreaker 150 merino wool. Keep you cool, don’t smell, feel great and dry quite quickly.

*3 pr. Socks* Rohner original merino wool medium weight. I’ve worn this brand for many years. Arguably the best hiking sock made.

*1 pr. Hiking boots* New Balance H710 Very light, breathable and fit like my skin. These were the first light weight hiking boots made. In 1984, Lou Whittaker wore one of the first pair to the top of the North Col of Mt. Everest. They’ll take you anywhere you are likely to go.

Other items:

*1 first aid kit* My own assembly of items.

*1 toiletry kit* The usual but only smaller quantities ie. Toothpaste. A 4 oz. bottle of Couglan’s concentrated camp soap will wash anything you can wash in water. You, your clothes, your hair, dishes, etc. You use a very small amount so it will usually last around 3 months.

*Miscellaneous* A swiss army knife (never leave home without it), compass, map, baseball hat, 2 – 1 litre plastic water bottles, bandana, small LED flashlight, space blanket, sunglasses, matches, a couple of energy bars. The ‘ten essentials of backpacking’ are covered. Also passport,tickets, money, bank cards, etc. (no wallet, I use my pocket)

Here is my weight chart. Pounds rounded up to 2 decimal places.


Pack: 1200 grams/2.64 lbs.

T-shirts: (4.8oz. x 2, 6.2oz. x 1= 15.8 oz.) 448 grams/0.99 lbs.

Shirts: (5.0 oz. x 2 = 10.0 oz.) 284 grams/0.63 lbs.

Pants: (17.6 oz. x 3 = 52.8 oz.) 1500 grams/3.30 lbs.

Rain Jacket: 400 grams/0.88 lbs.

Down Vest: 284 grams/0.63 lbs.

Underwear: (3.0oz. x 3 = 9.0 oz.) 85 grams/0.56 lbs.

Socks: (2.82 oz. x 3 = 8.46 oz.) 80 grams/0.53 lbs.

Hiking boots: 454 grams/1.00 lbs.

First aid kit: 354 grams/0.78 lbs.

Toiletry kit: 340 grams/0.75 lbs.

Miscellaneous: (approximate) 454 grams/1.00 lbs.



Total all items: 6.21 kg./13.69 lbs.


Off course you have to add the weight of water carried, 1 or 2 litres at 1kg/2.2lbs. per litre as well as a ‘picnic lunch’ when hiking usually. Say another .5kg/1.1 lbs. But then you have to subtract what I am wearing and therefore not carrying in the pack. That can be as low as 1.15 kg./2.54 lbs. (shorts, t-shirt, socks, underwear, boots).



Total carried (dry weight): 5.06kg./11.16 lbs.



Maximum load carried (wet weight): 7 .56 kg./16.67 lbs.

I’d love to break that 7 kg. maximum but just can’t see how to get there without sacrificing comfort or safety. Of course I am well under it when in a town or on the plane.



My wife’s weights are slightly less primarily due to smaller clothes sizes and therefore slight weight reductions on each item. She carries a small make-up kit instead of a first aid kit and her miscellaneous items differ as well. She carries a skirt in place of one pair of pants on my list and a pair of ‘dressy’ sandals. On our next trip she will carry her Ipad for taking photos, making calls (Skype) and internet access (I don’t care about any of those). It’s relatively heavy at 652 grams/1.44 lbs. but she feels it’s worth it. Overall her list is basically the same for clothing. Her total dry weight is just under 5 kg./11 lbs. Her wet weight is almost right on the 7 kg. mark.

I call this the 3 for 3 pack. Good for three seasons and any number of days from 3 to infinity. Whether on a city break or in the country; whether travelling for 7 days or 7 months, on streets or hiking trails, it makes no difference. We have dined in Michelin starred restaurants and stayed in 5 star hotels with this kind of packing as well as spent weeks hiking in the Alps or sailing in the Virgin Islands.

The only other item sometimes added is a pair of Teva sandals. They are only added if it will be really hot weather or we plan on visiting beaches. They weigh 680 grams/1.50 lbs. but generally when we need them we don’t need a rain jacket or down vest and so the overall weight remains the same. If travelling alone, some items that are shared would have to be carried by the individual and would increase overall weight by perhaps 7-8%.

The key to successful packing is to always take the lowest weight item you can find that will do the job. Look for multiple use items (like camp soap) that can replace several individual items. My wife adds, colour co-ordinate everything to look good. Pack smart, not heavy. Packing light does not mean doing without, it means packing the right choices for each item.

Your problem rankourabu (or Mrs. rankourabu's) is not the length of time you travel for or climates you encounter, it is knowing how to pack light enough to go with a carry-on bag only if that is what you want to do.

rankourabu

For 8-10 weeks, I pack 10-12kg. That every time inevitably ends up ~15kg as I pick up crap along the way.
There is no way that will be carryon - nor would I want to lug that much around airports. Far more convenient to check it.

I am sure I can force it to be carryon - but question is - do I want to carry so much crap with me through airports, connections, on and off planes.

I m not in a hurry (like the uber important business flyer) - I can wait 10 minutes for my (priority tagged) bag

dulciusexasperis

I was not saying you should attempt to travel with carry-on only, rankourabu, I was simply answering your question as to how it could be done for a trip of 8-10 weeks duration. If you look at my own list you will see I always take a Swiss Army Knife when I travel. Obviously, I cannot take that in carry-on, I have to check my bag every time. But I could go carry-on only if the only criteria were size and weight.

If you are at 10-12 kg. now and IF you wanted to go carry-on only, I believe you could do so without giving up taking anything you consider necessary to take. I believe it is an easily provable statement to make that if you do not know the weight of each item you take, you are carrying more weight than you need to.

I too would not want to lug 10-15 kg. around airports etc. and I too am in no hurry unlike those who need to work for a living. But my point in that regard is that if your bag only weighs 7kg., you can easily throw it over a shoulder and stroll in and out of airports, on and off trains, etc. It's about comfort. The less weight you carry, the more comfortable your travels are. So it is worth the time to try and get the weight down as much as possible for any trip. All I am suggesting to you is a way to do so. Find the lowest weight example of each item you decide you need to take.

You asked the question rankourabu, all I did was give you an answer that actually works. If you still chose to check your bag as I have to do because I insist on carrying a Swiss Army Knife, the question would be, would you rather carry 10-12 kg. to and from the airport, etc. or would you rather carry 7 kg.?

deniah

This might look "smart enough" in the Appalachian Trails but not a metropolis. I'm sure you've been allowed in upscale establishments, but testing what is the minimum acceptable dress is not the sort of race that most of us care to run.

Proving to a 1K flyer that is is possible to travel bare is entirely beside the point. I've gone on single trips bringing more visas than socks. But I'm sure that's not the sort of travel that rankourabu's wife or mine is into.

txflyer77

It's not hard to find clothes made of lightweight, technical materials that don't look like hiking clothes. Prana makes a version of their Zion pants without the zip-offs or cargo pockets. They look like standard five-pocket chinos, especially in dark grey. https://www.prana.com/zioneer-pant.h...lors=darkkhaki

REI has finally started producing button-down shirts in a stretch nylon fabric that breathes well, dries quickly and is wrinkle-resistant but without all the extra pockets and "outdoor" patterns. Looks like a regular button-down shirt in blue or grey: https://www.rei.com/product/127270/r...ven-shirt-mens

Throw on the Bluffworks Grammercy travel blazer and you'd hardly look out of place in any upscale restaurant.

My vacations often combine adventure activities with more urban pursuits. I once hiked the three-day Routeburn Track in New Zealand and then later on the same trip found myself in one of Tokyo's best cocktail bars. With clothes like that it's easy to pack light while still covering both situations—even with the same clothes.

yyznomad

Packing light for me is simply a matter of convenience and that's what I do 99.9% of the time.
Doing 400+ flights a year really makes me not want to check luggage at all.
There will be cases where I don't have a choice, and so be it.

deniah

Those shirt selections, the carpenter-pants detailing, and polyester jacket... lets just politely say we disagree on the urban suitability of those choices.

On a tangent, a lot of this technical clothing is completely superfluous. Good on the North Face and friends for establishing a niche market of apparel - of which I owned tons as my area of study involved field work. Nowadays I just do with natural fabrics such as cotton. They come in all sorts of cloth weights for comfort; different weaves for breathability or abrasion resistance; can be blended with linen for texture, etc. Pit-ventilation, UPF rating, drawcords, 50 pockets, roll-up tabs, velcro fasteners... an overkill even for a safari

RAAng

I know this is a year old, but I just wanted to chime in to agree with the OP. I get why people don't want to check baggage, and if that works for them that's good. However, I hate the "What's wrong with you if you can't tour Europe for three weeks with the contents of an under seat carry on?" attitude. I figure this is my vacation and I don't want to turn it into an exercise in deprivation. I also have this thing about clean clothes and not wanting to spend half my vaca in a laundry. I don't know when it became a mark of superiority to be able travel with what will fit in a personal item. Whatever it is, I object and will continue to pack up to the limit. One thing I will say, it has cut down on my shopping for souvenirs while traveling.

dulciusexasperis

It always amuses me how some people think you have to dress a certain way in more 'upscale establishments'. Here's a tip for you deniah, it isn't what you wear that matters it's the image you project regardlass of what you are wearing. That is something that I cannot help you or your wife learn how to do.

There is no 'minimum acceptable' other than 'no shoes, no shirt, no service' deniah. The only other 'minimum acceptable' is in your own mind, not the establishment you chose to visit. I realize not everyone can carry off 'class' in a simple t-shirt deniah, but some can, including my wfie.

Here is someone else who can with no effort at all.



Which establishment do you think she would have to 'test the minimum acceptable' dress code in?

deniah

You must indulge in some heavy fantasy to think people are seeking these unsolicited advice.
Its a largely free society, so youre free to dress in tshirts and nylon pants.
Running a restaurant is not my business so I wont need to judge you, but others will. That's just reality.

Badenoch

Spot on. There is no particular virtue in not checking bags. The minutes saved not waiting by the carousel are balanced out by hoping the underwear hanging on the shower rod is sufficiently dry after spending the previous evening hunched over a bathroom sink scrubbing it or paying the eye-popping prices of hotel laundry.

Successful packing is having what you need in the quantity you need it when you need it. A packing failure is having to run out and buy things that you left at home or returning home with several items that you didn't need or use. Whether you check or not depends on destination, duration and anticipated activities.

84fiero

In some restaurants there absolutely is a specific dress code and if a patron doesn't meet the criteria, they won't be seated.

Calliopeflyer

Wrong -- there are restaurants and bars that have minimum dress codes and enforce them. Sometimes it's about a collared shirt, sometimes it's about jeans, sometimes about footwear.....it's usually for evening meals, but not exclusively.

My brother routinely would not pack socks or underwear on vacations because he would hit a local Target (or local equivalent) to pick up cheap ones, which he would leave behind. He said it allowed him to check carry on only, which saved him time and money, over something he cared little about (the quality of his underwear and socks on vacation).