Minimalist Travel - Zen and the Art of Travelling Light

Back 2002 when I was a newbie backpacker, I met briefly a French guy in Guatemala who still inspires me to this day.

He travelled with:

A sarong
2 x shorts
2 x tshirts
2 x underwear
1 x penknife/corkscrew
1 x tiny portable speakers
1 x cassette player, and a couple of tapes.
1 x flip flops/thongs
Passport, credit cards, a few other small documents.
Soap, toothpaste, brush, deodorant.

And that was it. Nothing more...

When it came time to move on - he wrapped up whatever he wasn't wearing in the sarong - and carried that - tying the ends together to make a bag. The sarong doubled as a sheet, towel and mat. He washed one set of his clothes everyday in the shower with soap and let them dry while wearing the other set.

I had way too much stuff and was envious of this style of travel - though at times he must have got cold.

Has anyone travelled for more than a week or so with less than this?

What is the minimum you've personally travelled with? Reply to this

When I was a wee lad on my first big trip back in 97, I travelled to Bali with all the usual backpacker trappings...After a week I became restless and wanted to branch out a bit...I left my big backpack, and most of my cash with the hostel I was staying, and set off for Lombok with just a day pack...

I'd planned to stay two weeks in Indonesia. But those were revolutionary times and the pound just seemed to go a long way...I just continued to island hop around the archipelago fuelled by the spirit of adventure.

Three and a half months later I returned and was glad to see the hostel still had my stuff and more importantly my cash (stuffed in some socks) - lubricating my first few months in Australia, which had ultimately been the aim of my trip.

After all that, Australia could never live up to the whimsical Indonesian adventure, which has stayed in my blood to this day.

I can't remember what I had in that day pack, but it couldn't have amounted to much.

Incidentally, on the trip I met a Swedish lad on a ferry who would rip out the pages of his books, as he read them, in order to cut down on weight!!

Most of my bulk nowadays is taken up by books (the pages intact!). I went through a rather addictive faze for a few years where I used to travel with upwards of fifteen books which I used to chop and change en route.

Besides the fact that you can fit your entire CD collection on an iPod that weighs less than a toilet roll, I honestly think the advent of technology has paradoxically made us feel we need to pack a lot more stuff than we used to...

Isn't part of travelling letting go off all that stuff, if for only the duration of our adventures?

My old professor at Liverpool University, Rogan Taylor travelled around India in the sixties for three years with two horses and a dog!!!





Reply to this

I spent 5 months in India with what was basically a school-bag, after I posted home my big ruck-sack from Pakistan, with my tent, stove, sleeping-bag, shoes, and a lot more in it.

I was left with 1 pair trousers, 2 pair 3/4 length shorts, 4 t-shirts, some underwear (but no socks), 1 fleece, 1 silk sleeping-sheet, 1 i-pod, 1 camera, 1 pair sandals, 2 books (including guide book), and whatever was in my money belt. Later I was also able to fit in a hammock I got made for me.

It was great, travelling light is a real liberation. It all depends on where you're going - in tropical places like Indonesia and India you can get away with almost nothing. If you wanna go trekking or travelling in cooler places, then obviously you need a lot of extra stuff. Reply to this

The first time I travelled across Africa I didn't carry any luggage at all. I used to wear one of those "adventures" trousers with plenty of pockets in it and there I carried all my belongings: toothbrush, toothpast, passport, several hundred euros (inside the belt), a compact camera, a little notebook with a pen and 1 extra pair of underwear. Everynight I had to wash evrything and let it dry to wear it again the next day. It was great, everyone I met was very keen in helping.

More recently I went to Africa again for several months carrying slightly more, just a daypack. Here it is: Reply to this

Another thing - for Morocco last year, I got a few CD books from the library, and put them on the ipod. Saves a lot of space, and useful for journeys where you can view the scenery and listen to your book at the same time. Reply to this

I always travel with less than 10 KG. I usually have 2 sets of clothes with me. I wear one while the other is being washed. Those clothes are generally enough because I take ones that are nice enough to go out at night in. My bag is usually around the size of the day packs that people have when they travel. I have soap, shampoo, suncream.... too . Also a few books in English and a couple of pens. And I wear a moneybelt with passport, money etc in it. The longest I travelled with this much stuff was 3 months.

What I like about having this much stuff is that it is easy to carry around when I cant find anyplace or any reasonably priced place to leave it. Also it is easy to go in anywhere or on any bus etc because my stuff is easy to shove under the seat in from of me or under a cafe table. Before the liquids on flights restrictions it was very convenient to not have to check in my bag and risk it being lost or having to wait for it at the other end.

I often miss real coffee when I travel in some places. I think I will start taking it with me in future. Always in the past I have decided not to thinking I am such a whimp if I cant do without coffee. I give up. I am going to take ground coffee, a cone and filters with me when I am going someplace where I expect there to be no coffee.
The other thing I miss are baths but cant take one of those with me.

Mel Reply to this

I travelled through Indo for 5 weeks with barely anything, 2 sarong, 1 trouser, 1 shorts, 3 tops, 2 bikinis, 1 skirt, toiletries and the shoes on my feet. Defintely the best way to go....my first trip I took 20kg+! never again! Reply to this