Are you getting ready for your next adventure, possibly even a long-term travel one, and everyone is saying how you need to pack light?
If you are an overpacker who’s been toying with the idea of light packing for a while, this post is for you.
We overpacked majorly when we went full-time backpacking and trust us, we regretted it big time. (Wanna hear something funny? We were convinced we packed light when we were setting off. Very soon we discovered we really did not! 😅)
Since then we have been packing as light as possible for every trip.
And in this post we’ll tell you why you should give it a go too.
Ready to be convinced?
Alright then. Read on.
Oh and we’ve also thrown in useful tips on how to actually pack light, cause we are nice like that!
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Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.
After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆
During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia.
And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful tips and info with you!
Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own adventures too!
What does packing light actually mean?
First of all, what *actually* is packing light??
Many travellers by packing light mean packing into a bag that fits the hand luggage requirements on a plane.
While airline-dependent, it generally does mean a backpack up to the size of 40l.
Note that on budget airlines, like Ryanair, even this size (40l) would be considered as an extra that you have to pay for. Only small daybags or handbags are free, so always check the airline’s rules.
When we were doing research for our full-time travels and read that many backpackers fit all their stuff into 40l bags, we were like: NO WAY!
At that point we didn’t have much experience with backpacks, but we kinda expected to go more into the 70-80l range.
Thank vodka we didn’t!!
We soon discovered that that would have been a major mistake – don’t even look at backpacks that size if you are going full-time backpacking. You will come to regret it.
In the end, we went with the middle option of a 58l backpack for Daniel and a 50l for Mirka (both amazing Ospreys btw).
So for us packing really light means not taking our big Ospreys and travelling just with daybags.
But we realise that not everyone is a full-time backpacker and so your definition of packing light might be different.
All this is to say that packing light is a process, not a state.
You start wherever you are (whether it’s a big backpack, 2 suitcases or a whole caravan of stuff) and reduce. And you keep reducing until you possibly can’t reduce anymore.
8 reasons why you should pack light
Reason 1: Saving time
It saves you time and energy!
If you have just hand luggage, you are spared one, possibly awful, queue at the airport. Queueing at the check-in/bag drop-off, especially during peak travel times, like summer or Christmas, can be the worst start to a holiday or a trip.
If you’ve never experienced the feeling of rocking up to the airport with a small backpack and sailing through security straight to duty free, you are missing out. Try it out next time you fly – keep reading to see the two challenges which you can try!
Reason 2: Saving money
It saves you money as adding big luggage is sometimes more expensive than the flight itself. 🤯 This is some business idea airlines came up with, right?
Imagine how much money you would save if you cut out the luggage fee. That’s x2 fee on each trip per person, so if you are a couple or a family, it can easily save you hundreds of £!
Btw if you need help with saving money, make sure to check out the 7 things we did to save money to travel full time!
Reason 3: Saving time vol. 2.
It saves you time waiting for your luggage in your destination = more time for exploring and enjoying your holiday!
Similarly to the check-in queue, the feeling of just getting off the plane and walking straight out of the airport (after a toilet stop, of course!) while everyone else stands irritated around the luggage carousel… oh it’s the little things in life.
Reason 4: Risk-free
If you have no big luggage you are not risking that it will be delayed or lost (this happened to us before and it was not fun 😭). The same applies to your luggage being stolen or forgotten. If you only have a small backpack or one small suitcase with you, there is less to watch over and worry about. And who wants to worry on a holiday, right?
Reason 5: Speed (be like Flash. Or Sonic)
You can move around easier without big luggage – for example, as you walk to a train, your accommodation etc. Convenient, if you land somewhere late at night, you are tired and the last thing you want is to be dragging a big suitcase through the cobbled streets to your hotel.
And if you are long-term travelling? Your speed might be the difference between making the once-a-day boat to a beautiful island… and being left behind. (Thankfully, not speaking from personal experience although we did do plenty of running with our backpacks. Not fun. We were wishing we had packed light the whole time).
Reason 6: Less packing
Excited about your trip but tired of just the idea of packing for it? Here is a solution – travel light, which means you don’t have to pack as much! These days we pretty much just take the same stuff on every trip and only change up the outfits. That means packing is super fast for us (and so much less stressful).
Reason 7: Freedom
There is something about not having big luggage that makes you feel more free in general. It’s probably a mix of not having to queue as much, not having to worry as much, not having to think as much and, generally, feeling smug that you are a next-level traveller who can pack light. 😆
Reason 8: Less unpacking
The less you pack for your trip, the less you have to unpack when you come back! So if the sight of a pile of post-holiday laundry and still more stuff in the unpacked suitcase covers you in cold sweat, try packing light.
Force yourself to take less and you will be grateful for it when you are back from your trip.
Pro tip – how to get started with packing light
Start small.
If travelling light is intimidating for you, don’t suddenly try to cut down from 2 big suitcases to a small backpack.
That’s crazy stuff.
Instead, if you’ve never travelled light, try one of these two challenges:
Packing light: Challenge 1
This is a challenge for a longer trip.
The idea is that you do your next longer trip (let’s say 5+ days) with less luggage.
It doesn’t mean you have to reduce your stuff to a hand luggage. But try and be more mindful about what you are packing.
The best category to reduce? Clothes and shoes.
This might be hard, especially if you are a woman.
For guys, identify what is the category where you usually pack a lot and try to reduce it.
Things that might help:
- Think about your clothes in terms of outfits. Lay everything you are planning on taking on the bed and try to mix and match. See how many outfits you can create. And then see if you could still create enough outfits if you were to leave a couple of tops and couple bottoms at home.
- Look up capsule wardrobe ideas. This will help you think about your pieces of clothing in a different way and will help you see how you can mix and match things to create interesting outfits.
- Choose a colour palette for your trip and stick to it. This can make planning your outfits a lot more fun. Are you going on a summer holiday? You could, for example, decide to stick to citrus colours – shades of yellow, orange and green. Christmas holiday? Try and see if you can work with just red, green and white.
- The best tip? If you can afford it, you could *technically* justify buying some new pieces for your wardrobe. If you look into creating a capsule wardrobe or you discover you could really use a pair of versatile sandals, buying new might be the right motivation you need to get started with light packing. It will make the transition from an overpacker to a lightpacker more exciting and less painful. But! You do have to promise to get a lot of use out of your new item/s! Promise?
Packing light: Challenge 2
This one is for shorter trips.
Now, sometimes packing light on shorter trips is actually more challenging.
Why?
Because even if you go away just for one night, you instantly need all the things necessary for a night stay. Things like pyjamas, cosmetics, slippers etc.
So there is less you can just easily leave at home.
Whereas, on a longer trip, you will have to take all those things for an overnight stay, but there are many extras that can usually be left behind, such as 5 dresses or 6 pairs of shoes.
The one thing short trips are great for though?
Trying our “go without” rule.
You can read more about it below, but, basically, try not taking some things you would usually use at home in 24hrs.
A short trip will help you test it out, to see how long you can go without certain things and it will reduce your luggage, getting you one step closer to packing light!
The one rule to remember
Okay, let’s talk more about the “go without” rule.
This is the one thing we use to pack light for shorter trips.
First, a disclaimer. We know that many people have kids and/or medical needs and can’t do without certain things. The idea here is to reduce what you can and as much as you can.
Here is what you can do:
- A few days before you pack, start paying attention to what you use daily.
- Then think whether you could manage a few days/week/however long your trip is without it.
- As we said previously, always start with shorter trips, unless you are super hardcore (in which case, we applaud you 👏).
Yes, you love your full, 30-min daily skincare routine, but will your skin really suffer if you skip it for one week?
If yes, then pack the products.
If no, go without.
It’s simple.
Here are some things we go without on shorter trips:
- Vitamins and supplements
- Make up (pack just a few staples)
- Shower gel (use accommodation amenities)
- Shampoo (same as above)
- Skincare (take just the basics)
- Own towels (use the ones provided by the accommodation)
- Accessories (again, take just the minimum – one pair of sunglasses, one pair of earrings etc. Ideally whatever you are wearing on the travel day, so you don’t pack anything extra)
Tips on packing light
Packing light is definitely a skill. Which means you can develop it with a bit of practice. We are not saying you have to travel more to work on this skill, but it’s all in the name of personal development, right? 😉
The good thing is, there are many tricks and hacks to make packing light easier.
Here are some tips we use to pack light:
- Get packing cubes
All backpackers swear by them but we feel like they are still unknown outside of the travel community. If you are not sure what packing cubes are, read our guide to find out more about this amazing invention that lets you pack loads and loads without taking up space (serious magic stuff).
- Roll clothes
First, get the packing cubes. Then learn how to roll clothes instead of folding them. It will elevate the already amazing packing cubes. To figure out how to roll your clothes, look up videos of how soldiers do it. Learn from the best.
- Reduce clothes
You are travelling. It’s okay to rewear clothes (not talking about underwear here, of course 😅). If this sounds scary to you, see our tip about a capsule wardrobe.
- Thin, quick-drying materials
Have some basic clothes which you can always pack, for every trip, which are made from thin, quick-drying materials. Think plain T-shirts, trousers or underwear. Stuff that is either necessary (underwear) or perfect for creating a capsule wardrobe (versatile trousers – like these ones that Daniel loves). These clothes not only pack well, but you can handwash them easily too, if needed. Look for them in sports shops, outdoor stores or shops that sell functional clothes (such as Uniqlo).
- Reduce shoes
This one is hard because shoes, for some reason, generally suck. So if you find a good pair of shoes, get it. You have our permission. In general, you should always pack shoes that are comfy and suitable for a variety of occasions. And travel in the heaviest ones you are taking on your trip, of course.
- Travel in bulky clothes
Everyone knows the “layering up like on a Ryanair flight” trick, right? 😆 Well, utilise it. Layer up. And if that’s not comfortable/it’s too hot, at least carry your bulky jacket with you on a plane/bus/spaceship. Even if you don’t wear it. Never let jackets take up space in your luggage.
- Solid cosmetics
So many products are now available as solids, if you aren’t using them, you are missing out. They are perfect if you only have hand luggage – no spilling, less bulky, less heavy. And no 100ml limit on them either!
What do you think then? Have we convinced you to start packing light? If yes, let us know in the comments how you got on! If not, let us know what the problem is and we will do our best to help you! 😊