Want a guaranteed way to get the most out of your travel experience? Pack light. A light traveler is a happy traveler. Travel can often be chaotic and overwhelming. Running through train stations, hopping onto boat transfers or navigating through a crowded street to find your hotel can be some of the most stressful parts of your vacation. If you’re weighed down with heavy and cumbersome luggage, it can be even more difficult. That’s why packing light is essential to making your travels more enjoyable.
By making what seems like every packing mistake under the sun over the last decade, we’ve learned the hard way how to pack lighter and smarter for any situation. We’ve been there and done that, literally, want to make sure you never suffer like we did.
After being on the road for six solid years, we now always travel with just one bag and one carry-on. My best advice when packing that one bag is to think small. You can only pack as much as your bag will allow, so if you choose something small, you’ll be forced to pack less. You’ll thank me later when you’re forced to climb up four flights of stairs to your “quaint” room in Paris, or while you navigate the seaside towns clinging to steep cliffs along the Mediterranean Sea.
Suggested items:
TravelSmith Series S2 Carry-On
Eagle Creek 28inch Rolling Duffel
We once made the mistake of carrying our scuba gear through Central America on a three-month backpacking trip. We were miserable hiking through sand and heat with so much luggage. Unless you’re going on a vacation that is specifically designed for a certain adventure, don’t bring extra gear. You can rent everything from scuba equipment to rock climbing gear. Heck, we even rented warm winter coats and boots when we climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. The rest of that trip through Africa was tropical, so why would we spend four months lugging winter clothing for an activity that took less than a week of our time? If you plan and budget properly, you can always get what you need.
Dave and I always pack a few days ahead of our departure date to allow time to add and remove items. We find that our initial pack always has more pieces of clothing than we need. We lay it all out on the bed and discuss. Does Dave really need three button-down long-sleeve shirts or will one do? Do I really need three cocktail dresses or will one dress, and a skirt with two different shirts work instead? By the time we’re finished, we have always scaled down to half the amount of items and have never missed what we didn’t take with us. Trust me, this tried and true piece of advice works!
I used to pack different outfits for each situation and ended up bringing a lot of clothing that I could only wear once during the trip. I now only bring a few items and make sure that all of them can be worn together. A few well chosen complimentary shirts, pants, shorts (and skirts for the ladies) can mix and match together, creating several different outfits.
Both Dave and I also lean towards lightweight wrinkle-free clothing. They take up less space and wash and dry quickly. Remember, you can hand wash your clothes in your hotel room and hang them to dry. Travel specific clothing like ExOfficio, sold by TravelSmith, is made for multiday use and wash & go situations. If you’re not a fan of washing your clothes in the sink, you can always go to a laundromat or send them out through a laundry service. We usually do the latter every couple of weeks during our travels, as a much-needed luxury.
Suggested items:
Indispensable Long Travel Skirt
Convertible Neckline Short Sleeve Handkerchief Tunic
We are the king and queen of layering. As adventure lovers, we tend to travel to many different types of climates. It’s easy to pack light for a tropical destination, but what do you do when you are going to places like Ireland in autumn or even an Alaskan cruise in the summer? This is where layering comes in. We pack an outer shell that is both windproof and waterproof and then carry clothing that can be layered underneath. A merino wool base layer is lightweight and quick drying, and a wool or fleece mid-layer keeps you warm. Once you put on your outer layer, you are prepared for nearly every situation. This worked well for us while climbing to Mount Everest Base Camp and fared great in the unpredictable weather of Iceland.
Suggested items:
Outer Layer: Women’s Seattle Hooded Rain Coat
Inner Layer: Gabriel Beaded Merino Wool Sweater
We discovered packing cubes last year and haven’t been able to travel without them ever since. We use a mixture of packing cubes and compression sacks so we can roll and squeeze our clothing into very small spaces. When carrying down jackets, we stuff them into the compression sack, and then zip them up to become even smaller. We then throw them in the bottom of our bag, where we barely give them a second thought.
Suggested items:
Eagle Creek Packing Cube Set
It’s important to carry all prescription medications with you while traveling, but don’t bring an entire pharmacy! Unless you need something very specific, you can usually buy what you need for a common cold, stomach ache, etc. during your travels. As Rick Steves says “Don’t pack for the worst case scenario. Pack for the best case scenario and buy yourself out of any jam.” We agree 100%.
Suggested items:
Eagle Creek Pack-It Wallaby
We encourage you to take our advice and pack smart your first time out of the gate. You may think traveling lighter will be difficult, but you’ll find that most of the items you intended to bring won’t be missed at all. You’ll be having too much fun enjoying your destination to worry about that piece of travel gear you left behind.
