I really agonized over the purchase of my latest jacket. For about fifty dollars more, I could get a jacket that was .8 ounces lighter than the other one. It sounds crazy just writing that. In the end I found a deal to get that jacket for the same price, so I was spared the agony of having to make decision.
Managing every ounce in a backpack sounds ridiculous. I get it. It seems like obsession gone awry, excess for its own sake.
But a couple weeks ago, walking through Budapest, I decided to take my backpack with me for the day. I wasn’t sure if I’d find some time to sit and do some work, and we were thinking of going to baths, where I’d prefer to have my own soaps. But, as it was our first day in a new city, there would be a lot of walking.
We barely took public transport, instead walking miles up and down streets, across bridges, and up a huge hill for the view. And, for maybe the first time, I realized that I didn’t notice the weight of my bag at all. At nine pounds or so, it was so light that it didn’t encumber me in any way.
I almost never travel with anyone who doesn’t just travel with a small or medium sized backpack. Anything beyond that is such an encumbrance that it’s incompatible with my style of travel.
But although it’s doable with a medium sized back, or even a heavier small one, there’s a cost to it. I’ve walked around with people looking for a luggage locker, because they didn’t want to carry twenty pounds around for half a day. We’ve had to go out of our way to check into an Airbnb rather than just going straight into town. And, with five or six hours at the airport, heading into the city for lunch and a walk around just isn’t as appealing with a larger bag.
That’s not to make anyone with a larger bag feel bad. There are obvious benefits to it, as well. One of my frequent travel companions always has snacks in her bag, and I’m sometimes the beneficiary of those snacks.
But the point is that there’s a real tangible benefit to having a tiny backpack. We all have different goals and values, but I think it’s easily worth giving up a little warmth, snacks, and versatility to be able to go anywhere anytime, without any consideration for one’s bag.
That crossover point occurs for different people at different levels, and I don’t have enough experience to predict where it is for any one person. I don’t even know where it is for me, only that somewhere along the line, slimming from 30lb to 9lb, having a my backpack with me became a complete non-issue. And the lighter and smaller it becomes, the more eager I am to have it with me.
If you travel a lot, as an experiment, go super light one one trip. Maybe it’s a trip to a warm place so you can leave behind warm clothes. And maybe you give up things like your ipad and extra shoes, just to see what it’s like. I think it’s one thing to have a heavier backpack and say you don’t mind it, and another to experience what it’s like to travel with a bag so light that you don’t notice it’s there. Just don’t forget it somewhere…
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Photo is me packing preaching the gospel of ultralight packing in a chapel in Budapest castle (not my top recommendation in Budapest).
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