greggarious

Definitely not OP - in fact I try to collect soil and rocks from every country I visit.

darthbimmer

Interesting conversation about how much underwear to pack. I realized years ago when I started doing 12-day business trips regularly that items like underwear and socks are NOT a significant portion of the size or weight of what I pack. Thus I decided to take what I need of the small stuff rather than spend time washing it in the sink or lots of money on hotel laundry. Shirts and pants, I'd send to hotel laundry on a multi-week business trip. Yeah, at $4-6 per item it wasn't cheap, but I figured that was a more reasonable tradeoff relative to the space they took up in my bag. Paying $2.50 to wash a pair of underwear relative to the space those required was not a reasonable tradeoff.

The tradeoffs are different when there's reasonable access to self-service laundry and I know I'll have time to deal with it. Then I'll pack 6-7 days of clothes and plan on washing once a week. Again, though, I see no gain in restricting myself to just two pair of underwear and washing in the sink every night. The extra 4-5 sets of underwear I pack consume so little space in my bag.

Super Mario

I'm convinced that we can take any topic, and turn it into a heated debate. Case in point.

I don't want to carry an excessive amount of items, adding to weight and cost. I get 40-50 lbs by the airline. I also have a nice laptop bag that fits quite a bit of things. I figure out what is important for said trip, and what is not. Apparently, it is a big science.

Jsteezy

I fly overseas a fair bit.

My company develops software for airlines (crew tablets, EFB’s, MTCE apps, systems integration, etc.) and I head up relationships/business development for that group.

If I go back to two short years ago, when I was putting in a few business trips per year to today, which will see me hit 75k status with Air Canada, I laugh at how amateur a traveler I was.

I like to play suitcase chicken. Flying far with very small bags is a fun game to play. It’s not all that risky when you consider that every hotel has a laundry service, most air bnb’s have a washer, and had washing in a sink it easy (and good for your clothes).

In December, I flew from Halifax to Detroit to Saudi Arabia and back inside of six days and only brought a small hand held bag and a Wallybags suit bag. I travelled to Ottawa for four days and had to jump over to Iceland last minute on the same trip for five days with only my trusty Eagle Creek Convertabrief…that one was too tight.

My most recent hop was YHZ - YOW (two days) - HAM (two days) - DUB (two days) - YHZ and I thought I’d figured out the ultimate pack list. It was pretty close, but not perfect as I brought clean clothes home. In an effort to streamline even more, I wanted to share with you all to find your favourite products and tips for ultra light travel.

Luggage

• Convertabrief - I love this thing. Perfect for a quick rip to head office, a weekend with the out laws, or a three day overseas trip. The only downside is that if it is used as a top bag, it can tip over my flatbed duffel. This thing carries all my office stuff and has a small luggage compartment for a few days of clothes.

• Flatbed Duffel International Carry On - Great four wheeled roller bag with a killer warranty. This thing holds a fair bit of stuff and is allowed in all int’ll carriers as carry on - including the cheapo airlines. The only downside is that when the bag is full, the top zip pocket can’t hold much.
• Eagle Creek packing cubes and compression folder.

Electronics & Accessories

• iPad mini 4 with Evernote, Netflix, email, HBR, and some games to pass the taxi time.

• Macbook pro - overkill most of the time. I rarely pull this thing out on planes and could get by with the iPad 4 alone if I bought a bluetooth keyboard and an adapter to do presentations.

• Electronic kit - Assorted cables and int’ll wall adapters (that I regularly manage to forget at home, forcing me to repurchase in airports), headphones, moleskin with pen, toothbrush with mini toothpaste, all held in a small zip up bag I picked up at Winners (by sharper image) with a clip on one end.

• Passport Wallet - Passport, various currencies, a few business cards, frequent flyer cards.
• Ray Ban Sunglasses
• Omega Speedmaster Chrono Wristwatch
• Business cards
• Toiletries - Hair grease in a small travel bottle, shampoo & soap taken from previous hotel stay, travel tooth paste, travel cologne spray bottle, pepto, Advil, sun screen, etc.

Clothing

• Socks - I gave up on cotton socks a while back and only wear merino wool socks by Icebreaker or Darn Tough. These are great as they don’t smell, can be worn for a few days at a time, and are overall better for your feet than cotton. They ain’t cheap, but you can often find sales to buy a few pairs at a time. Both carry lifetime warranties.

• Undies - I have one pair of smart wool underwear that I wear on planes. These buggers are $30 a pair and I can’t justify replacing all of my unmentionables with them, but I do love them. They can be worn for a few days without stinking…but I don’t like to push this boundary for fear of reverting to a savage cave man.

• Three identical slim fit white dress shirts from Banana Republic - Identical white shirts are easy and take the guess work out of packing. Only wore two.
• Three cotton V neck undershirts - the undershirt is underrated and keeps you cool so no one sees you sweat.
• Two Eddie Bauer Lookout Short Sleeve Shirts (Black, because it goes with everything) - dressed up with a blazer, dressed down with jeans, these shirts have enough stretch to feel comfortable even when your road love handles jiggle on runway taxi. Only wore one.
• Two pairs of Eddie Bauer Black Horizon Pants - These look great as dress pants, are stretchy, and don’t have a shine like many other stretchy pants. Only wore one.
• Icebreaker Polo Shirt - Keeps you cool in the heat, warm in the cool, looks stylish, and doesn’t stink. Honestly, you can wear this shirt for four days in a row and so long as you hang it up at night, there isn’t any smell. I buy them from a discount shop called The Last Hunt because I’m cheap and can’t pay full price. This is my travel day/red eye shirt.
• Icebreaker Tech lite T Shirt - This is a tech lite t shirt I scored and I love this thing. Again, you can wear this thing for days and it doesn’t smell.
• One blazer - I’ve got a few in rotation, but the one I like the most is thin, has some stretch, and is light blue in colour. Goes well with a dress shirt or black t shirt.
• Eddie Bauer zip up fleece - I wore it, but could have gone without it
• Henry Lloyd Rain Jacket - Packed but didn’t wear
• Pair of Shorts - Packed but didn’t wear
• Pair of sneakers - Packed but didn’t wear
• Pair of Dansko dress shoes - These things are the best shoes I’ve ever worn. Walk all day, stand all day, sit on a plane all day and they keep my feet very happy. Well worth the price.
• Black leather belt

Travel Memberships

• My 50k Air Canada Status/Gold Star Alliance is a mandatory. Lounge access, priority boarding, and the odd e upgrade make travel more comfortable.
• AMEX Aeroplan Card - Despite this card not being accepted in most European locations, there are some pretty decent travel rewards and lounge access (Priority Pass membership).
• NEXUS - Even though most of my travel is to Europe, the ability to skip domestic security lineups make this membership worth every penny. When transferring through YUL after a long Int’ll flight, I don’t have to wait in line with the other flyers and can get to my gate…or the MLL faster.

So, a week in Europe and I could have packed less. My lesson is learned and next time I’ll pack a bit lighter.

What are your favourite travel items? Best luggage? Packing tips?

PS. Because I haven't posted before, I'm not allowed to post links. Once I get enough posts under my belt, I'll edit this post to contain links to the items I've listed.

LondonElite

yyznomad

@Jsteezy

Welcome to FT with a good first post!

I like icebreaker stuff.

I'll have to look up some of the products you mentioned.

Gynob001

I pack very light and even on a whole business week trip, I only use a 20" wheeled luggage. Often, I come back with half the clothing unused (underwear is an exception!). I read somewhere that if you wear an undershirt, you can wear the same shirt three days . Pants are suggested for a week.
My forthcoming trip is to Serengeti via JRO airport for 7 days. I have made a list of 41 items that I need to have with me. Between now and the trip in August, I plan to trim it down to 3. I foolishly bought a (used) Digital S:LR Zoom lens camera that weighs a ton, I also have a heavy (almost 1.6 lb) binocular.
I ordered a real cheap light weight binocular from you know where. Pice of ....It weighs 32 grams and the lens is made of (I guess) parchment paper and the body is very cheap plastic. magnification -literally none, although the ad said 8x. Field of vision-pathetic. It went into garbage in less than 10 minutes. There are items called camera binoculars with v ery poor ratings.
I understand that a vast number of travelers pack binoculars in their luggage. Which one-any recommendations for a light weight, inexpensive one? 10x50 or 10x40?

Jsteezy

I'm not saying I wear the undies more than one day, but I did buy a pair of merino undies for red eye flights or long travel days when changing at the connecting airport isn't an option.

Merino socks on the otherhand I'll wear for two days if in a pinch.

Badenoch

It seems a thread about people are who not obsessed with packing light has become yet another thread where the sink scrubbers are boasting about just how little they bring.

You are not going to find 10x40/50 binoculars much lighter than what you have now in any price range. Is it worth the price to save two or three ounces? Bring the ones you have. When I bring binoculars they are an older pair of Bausch and Lomb Elite 8x42 and I've never regretted the weight in return for excellent quality optics.

84fiero

This is fairly similar to my general approach as well. It's funny how some focus on socks and undies. I remember as a kid getting ready for trips, my dad telling me not to worry about bringing all the underwear and socks I need since they're small and light - I've kept to that philosophy ever since. Maybe some folks have iron-clad boxer shorts?

yyznomad

Nah, I didn't think the poster was boasting, but just saying what they do. I think this thread has covered the entire gamut of packer-types and despite being a light packer myself, it's nice to see some different points of view from both heavier and lighter packers.

dulciusexasperis

Regarding binoculars, you aren't making any sense Gynob001. For binoculars to be any good, you cannot expect them to be inexpensive unless you are using that word in a very relative sense. Good quality lenses simply cost more. Nor can you talk about binoculars that are 10x40 or 50 and expect light weight. Field of view decreases as magnification increases, generally speaking. So complaining about the field of view of an 8x pair and then asking for a 10x pair makes no sense. The field of view will normally be even narrower.

You mention you want to take these on a trip to the Serengeti, so I would guess you want to use them for viewing wildlife at varying distances. Do some research on what different size binoculars are best for and I do not think you will determine that a pair of 10x50 are the most suitable for your intended use. At 10x power, it becomes difficult to hold them steady enough without a tripod and I'm guessing you will be doing most viewing from the back of a Land Rover.

Cheap and binoculars simply do not go together generally speaking. It cannot be emphasized too much that the quality of the lenses is what makes the difference between two pair of binoculars of identical size. So what you want to try to find is the best quality within your budget at as high a budget as you can push it to, not focus (pun intended) on magnification power alone.

Given that a trip to the Serengeti is not something most people do repeatedly and is not normally a cheap trip to go on, the balance between weight and intended use gets a bit tricky. I travel light and my normal binoculars for casual wildlife watching when say hiking in the Swiss Alps is a pair of compact Nikon Trailblazer 8x25. They have a very wide FOV of over 400 feet at 1000 yards. Great for scanning a mountainside for wildlife. But if I were going to the Serengeti and wanted the best semi-compact binoculars I could find, I might opt for the Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 and accept the higher weight penalty.
Nikon Compact Binoculars, Best compact binoculars

I just happen to be a Nikon fan but there are plenty of other quality brands to choose from. Here is a good site to see some comparisons. https://www.bestbinocularsreviews.co...p#safaritravel

Finally, as a long time binocular user, I would never buy a pair online. Not all binoculars 'feel' the same when you try them out and you may well find that one pair that just happens to be slightly cheaper gives you a 'crisper' view with perhaps just a slightly smaller FOV for example. The only way to really compare them is to hold them in your hands and try them out. You need to visit several shops perhaps and try as many as you can find that meet your basic criteria. You will literally 'see' the difference when you try them as well as 'feel' the difference in weight and comfort.

deniah

As it happens, I just finished a Safari through the Serengeti today. I previously cross-shopped a few *compact* entry level binoculars. Looked at a bunch of nikons, diamondback, and a zeiss terra which was the premium compact option not branded Swarovski.

None were perfect. Some had pincushioning, purple fringing, etc etc. Nikon Sportstar DCF 8x25 was best of the lot. It's taken a beating and works a treat. The 25 objective is more than enough for viewing in safari conditions, including dawn and dusk. Our jeep has a 35 and viewing brightness is the same for me. The Nikon comes in a 10x with same form factor if you want.

The other thing I've noticed is that dressing up like ranger rick is absolutely superfluous. Half the people here are bedecked head to toe in khaki colored "safari clothing" and it's just not needed at all. I'll do a write up on a separate safari thread later.

Zeeb

That might work if I'm camping. But there's no way I'd wear the same shirt for 3 days or same pair of pants for a week while traveling for work unless I was on an oil rig or something.

cubbie

Or "Google is your friend," which is both irritatingly smug and obviously untrue.