I'm going to steal their approach at rolling up clothes, though.
You go from "loose rolls of clothes" to "solid bundles of fabric". Makes it so you can take in/out individual items rather than having everything randomly unrolling every time you try and pull something out.
This way things have their place and you know where to find something specific.
(I hate all the weird color combinations and designs that a lot of companies use, but thankfully Smartwool has a good deaign with their Hike Classic Edition Ankle Socks)
I was under the impression I have to send them in and they are repaired. Nope. Probably my mistake to assume.
Not so much. Now a couple of decades later, I've got a house and garage crammed with stuff. Yesterday I had a plumber here working on a leak, and this morning I have no running water, and here I am bravely holding back tears. My inner dialog is "this is unacceptable!" It turns out that climbing on the hedonic treadmill is practically effortless, but sliding down it is full of splinters.
I lived in Mexico for 10 years with just two duffelbags of clothes and essentials. I could carry both on a plane unchecked and be anywhere with nothing left behind, and I loved it.
Now I look around me in my apartment I share with my girlfriend and have things I wouldn't have even conceived of, like a gaming PC with two monitors (for what??) and a closet full of clothes as if I don't wear the same 5 things.
There’s nothing like the pleasure of idling in a pointless MMO on one screen while half-watching youtube autoplay on the other. Alternate Monster with White Claw and you’ve got peak hedonism.
One in the middle for a game
One to the right for a video
One to the left with systems stats and an RSS feed
Now bouncing between multiple Champions League games in the middle of an afternoon with easy access to good espresso…
I have a garage and a shed (OK, fine, it's a 24x36 barn) and a basement and a home office that barely contain the enormous quantity of my stuff at home. And yet I honestly think the highlight of this summer was waking up to the sunrise on one of the remotest parts of the Appalachian trail through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with no possessions that wouldn't fit in a 22L ultralight backpack - including several of the same items as this guy's kit.
On the one hand, most of the stuff is replaceable, "fungible" if you like, rather than sentimental. On the other, I keep it because I like to have certain capabilities, like cooking and auto repair and home building - I can't fit a tablesaw or pressure washer or food processor in a backpack; I've got a rack of 24 giant totes in the garage with painting supplies and plumbing supplies and bike parts and specialty auto repair tool cases and on and on that each occupy more volume than the one backpack this guy lives out of. I also recognize that this is a colossally inefficient way to allocate things among a group of people: I'm not going to pay a painter $1500 to do a crappy job to repaint my bathroom when I can do it myself with far greater quality for $100 in paint and a couple hundred bucks worth of tools in a giant tote, and neither are most of my neighbors, but this means that a sizeable fraction of people in the neighborhood live around our own personal totes of painting supplies.
If I was going to pay someone else to build and repair and maintain and clean the house/apartment/condo/hotel that I live in (when I'm not in a tent, that's only about 5% of my time), and to take care of the cars and bikes that I ride in and on, and to cook the variety of food that I eat, and on and on, I would have a lot less stuff. If I bought tools to do these tasks that I would use once and then sell/give/throw them away...that would be unaffordable for me. One of the lessons that my Dad passed down to me is to never buy a thing unless you have the resources in time, price of consumables, tools, and space to clean it, maintain it, fix it, and store it - those are real costs beyond the sticker price of a new toy.
Where does the money come from that allows one to sleep in hotels, ride in rental cars, travel in airports, and eat in restaurants for years on end?
If you keep your standards modest, the math isn't as bad as it intuitively seems.
A $100 hotel per night is the equivalent of a $3000 mortgage/rent. And if you're living out of one bag you don't necessarily need that and probably have cheaper options like hostels (or tent camping) available.
If you're working a software job or have worked such jobs long enough to have a few million in assets gathering interest, the cost of living isn't prohibitive.
If I had a few million in assets I'd be retired
Different people make different choices on how to spend their money. Some spend their money on cigarettes, or sports season tickets, or modifications to cars, or collections of things. Some give most of their spare money to their church or a charity. Some send money off to relatives. Some travel.
Hotels wherever you are probably aren't $100 a night.
If you have a mortgage below $1000 you have something that almost no one in a western nation will ever see again. Congratulations, but your anecdote is irrelevant to basically everyone.
The current 30 year fixed mortgage rate is about 6.3%. It should probably be higher. A $1000 payment would mean a loan for about $160000 - significantly less if property taxes and insurance are included in that mortgage payment. There are very few places in the world with a significant number of available jobs where most people can buy a house for that.
Let's look through the midwest and throw a dart at Akron, OH. You're within commuting distance of Cleveland, you've got a university and an airport, there are probably jobs.
Property taxes are 1.8%. Home insurance is hard to estimate but let's pretend $1500/yr. Average home sale price is around $137K. That puts you closer to $1200/mo, and most places are far worse.
You don't have to sit at home in retirement. You can go out and be involved in any number of communities - volunteer, join local government, go do fundraising for a cause you care about. The biggest difference there is that if you're not enjoying it you can just leave and not worry about how you're paying rent.
Can work for money or not, but if you are and your employer creates unacceptable or undesirable conditions you can immediately say Fuck You and just go do something else without worrying about covering the necessities of life.
It means you get to choose what to work on, instead of being forced to do work you don’t want to do to keep a roof over your head and food on the table.
That said, the cost is not significantly different from other forms of living. The average rent in SF/NYC/Seattle/London/etc. is sky high as well.
The $4 baseball cap isn't bad :) Darn Tough socks are also arguably also pretty cheap over a lifetime of use since the company mails you a free replacement pair if you wear one out
For western standards they're not particularly expensive either. The most expensive things are the Macbook and the iPhone, and like 30%-40% of the US population has one or the other.
My apartment in Guadalajara was $200/mo.
so essentially no one in the entire world?
As for your final question, I was living in a cheap country. Rent was $200/mo with roommates. Taxis/Uber was cheap. Food was cheap. I made a modest wage in software.
This goes for Mexico's budget airline Viva Aerobus too.
For me, in situations like this the frustration comes from having invested so much into something that isn’t delivering what it was supposed to.
For example, when my 20 year old car broke down it was an inconvenience, but I could also shrug it off because I got my money’s worth out of the car long ago.
If an expensive brand new car broke down I would be inconvenienced, but the situation would be much more frustrating because I spent so much on a new car to avoid these issues.
Same. Exactly the same.
I have often reflected that I have never been as happy as when I had the least stuff, either.
I often wonder if it’s a) correlation or causation and b) whether the stuff is caused by dissatisfaction or the dissatisfaction is caused by the stuff, or both.
Either way, I’m currently undergoing an intentional downsizing in my life, toward minimalism. Not the kind where I use it as an excuse to buy (more) expensive minimalist gear either.
I’m shedding hobbies and interests that I have because I believe that they’ve become distractions that I bury myself in. Replacing them is far from my mind, but prising them out of my fingers is a very real challenge. It’s hardly backpack living, but it’s definitely moving in that direction.
> I’m shedding hobbies and interests that I have because I believe that they’ve become distractions that I bury myself in.
Maybe you just haven't found the right hobby? Hobbies should feel rewarding, not like a distraction.
And perhaps? For me, the reward comes from the learning. (Who would have thought, being a software engineer by trade).
Luckily my brain has a self-invalidating cache, but my home, not so much. Perhaps I will find the right hobby, but it should not be something that involves the accumulation of things, because the things weigh a hidden cost of possession. It’s this hidden cost that hurts, like a tax, an inefficiency of the mind, or being. It’s insidious because it’s almost impossible to attribute the friction with the possession, because you’re often not actively dealing with it, but it’s there. It’s like, you know you have 32gb of RAM, but for some reason you’re only working with 20gb but you can’t inspect what’s stealing the other 12gb. It’s only after removing things from disk, do you start to see the RAM getting freed up, and then you begin to appreciate the extra mental resources.
This may be a bit specific to me since I bought an older house and car in the past year and they require a bit more TLC. My partner and I painted all of the rooms (tools are just paint, brushes, and rollers). I've replaced almost all of the outlets and switches, including putting in a few zigbee switches (Sonoff ZBMINIR2s to be specific) since we have no overhead lights in any of our rooms and the switches don't control the right outlets... The only tools for that work are a screwdriver and a wire stripper. We also hung some cabinets in our living room and put up some bookshelves (made easier with power tools, but possible with hand tools). When it got warm, we did a bunch of work outside including some brick edging (bucket, mason line, and a trowel) and a fire pit (shovel, level, rake, and tamper).
Cars require some more tools but you can do pretty much every bit of maintenance work with a standard set of wrenches, a jack, and jack stands.
Everything just sits against the wall or in a toolbox in the garage. It's a big 2 car garage but it fits a home gym set-up, a TV on a cart, a workbench, a bunch of furniture that we need to get rid of on FB Marketplace, and there's still room to pull in a car (mine is in there right now since I'm changing the spark plugs).
I've been practicing this from a different perspective. It's not necessarily bad to have stuff or buy stuff, but you have to spend just as much time getting rid of things and evaluating their continued usefulness as you spend shopping and buying new things.
In tech terms, if you have a queue which you only ever add items to, well we all know what happens.
This second part of the process is overlooked, and particularly because our corporate overlords don't make any money from this careful consideration and management of our lives and the items within it. At least with my parents generation -- the boomers -- they went all in on purchasing with never getting rid of anything. Like a dragon and its hoard. Looking at craigslist estate sales is so crazy, because you see someone's lifetime of absolute junk they spent all their time accumulating, but obviously no time getting rid of anything. In fact, they just died and made it someone else's problem to deal with it.
I enjoy the outdoors but it’s also a great reminder of how much I love my dishwashing machine. Repairing it might take a few hours every few years, but it saves far more time on net.
Not sure if I'm missing a joke, but the whole point of the analogy being a treadmill is that there's nothing to fall down. Regardless of positive (running forward) or negative (going backward on the treadmill) life changes, your happiness will probably stay relatively consistent because you're on a treadmill and there's nowhere to go.
The live out of a backpack lifestyle is definitely a unique way to experience the modern world and I'm sure it's fulfilling for the author, but you can even tell in their post that life caught up with them somewhat and they needed to start staying in one place a little longer in order to maintain social relationships. Their linked post about walking every block of Manhattan and tracking all of their movement since 2015 feels like the exact opposite of a minimalist lifestyle and it seems to me like they live out of a backpack not out of some anti-materialism lifestyle, but instead just as a practical way to fuel this obsession with traveling and tracking.
I admit, I've seen the author's Instagram story about walking 100k steps in a day in NYC and watched the whole thing because it's interesting, but I also take that and posts like this with a grain of salt. I'll happily take my horde of shit I need to get rid of in the garage over obsessing about how I can optimize tracking my every movement.
- A comment I saw elsewhere on HN today
It's quite rational, in many cases, to consider loss of an object X worse than gain of X. A less rigorous example I like to use: it's far easier, and unequal, to kill a person than revive a person.
People's intuitions aren't going to work right for situations that are impossible. I don't think you should use that example. (Or if you mean medical revival from the edge of death, then it's very difficult to visualize a "kill" that's actually an equal amount of damage.)
And things you own are fungible while people are not, which is itself enough to ruin the analogy.
That's not the point of the treadmill analogy.
It's rather that you need to keep walking to maintain your stationary position, just like on a treadmill.
Meaning the level of headonism you become accustomed to fades/blunts with time, and you want more, so you need to keep moving forward to stay at the same (hedonic) position (level).
What the parent said, then, is valid: "climbing on the hedonic treadmill is practically effortless", being on a hedonic treadmill is our default psychological state. But to slide off and accept less hedonic level is very difficult.
Spoken by one who obviously has not fallen on a treadmill! Allow me to correct your misunderstanding:
Falling on a treadmill is almost precisely the same as being drunk and disorderly and falling while facing the door of a saloon: that is, as if two thugs had grabbed your arms and thrown you unceremoniously and bodily out the door legs first and face down. Meanwhile you are (unsuccessfully) struggling to right yourself for some unknown reason [it's like a reflex response].
Not a nice experience: it taught me to always use a treadmill that had the safety clip that stops the machine if you move too far.
As for the comparative experience (being thrown out of a bar by thugs), the less said, the better.
The lifestyle appealed to me too and I even worked towards it, but I don't think it could be a full time thing for someone who loves making things, "building a life" does in a sense require some permanency past your laptop.
(As an aside, the experience actually made me less enthusiastic about nature and gave me a deeper appreciation of civilization. Never in my life did I have such deep gratitude for having a flat paved sidewalk to walk on.)
More in line with this thread: Our house is full of stuff. It's a long story that ends up being: four adults living in the space that holds two comfortably.
Having the trailer lets us spend time in a relatively uncluttered environment. IT's a reset that lets me not get quite so worked up about the time I spend not-camping.
None of this is, in any way, cheap.
we grow with our container
we are all goldfish
My very small, very expensive apartment has had no running water throughout the work day for the past two weeks because of water main construction (which I get woken up to at 7am every day). There's a jerk chicken restaurant next door to my apartment that blasts music all day long outside. Roaches and mice and rats. Long crowded subway commutes. I do hate this life in various ways, but I guess it toughens you up and you get used to it.
Vervaeke's "Meaning Crisis" talks have interesting things to say about this sense of the world between modes of "having" (material) and "being" (existential).
Fromm's point is we get mixed up. We try to satisfy our being needs within
the having mode. We suffer from "Modal Confusion". Think about how much our
culture is organized around this because it serves a lot of market interests
if I can confuse you, if I can get you to try and pursue your being needs
within the having mode.
When you are at home, you expect to have running water, on a hike, you expect not to and plan around it.
But there are things you expect while on a hike that are unlike your daily life at home. Things like your day job, traffic, pollution, etc... If you had to share your trail with diesel trucks and get regular calls from your boss, you would probably be upset, even if that's what you have every day at home.
I used to own only things that I could move on my own and fit in a normal car, until I had more disposable income and hiring movers became a non-issue.
I still try to maintain non-attachment to material things but I now welcome enjoying material things in a functional way. For example, I own a ton of kitchen gadgets and that allows me to make interesting food, but I'm not married sentimentally to any particular gadget.
Things change, I guess.
Criticizing "hedonism" is its own kind of hedonism, or in common parlance, a first world problem. It is a luxury that cannot be indulged by poor societies.
The good news is, it took me nearly 20 years before I started taking hot showers for granted again. It really did make me very grateful for a lot of things.
But I’ve also had similar thoughts to you.
I watch a lot of hiking videos of the PCT etc as one day I’d like to walk it.
When I watch those videos, and when I see people on social media telling folks to “drop out of the system, be free.” I can’t help but wonder exactly who is going to prepare their dehydrated meal packs for them.
Absolutely nothing wrong with taking such trips, made me a better and more grateful person, but it’s not an alternative lifestyle.
Nobody is reinventing the universe, they just want a buffer.
A buffer is a well made item that you can repair yourself, so you're not forced to purchase a replacement.
A buffer is a shoebox with a lifetime supply of your favorite shaving razor.
A buffer is a garden, a pantry of canned goods, a few hens to lay eggs for you.
Each of these buffers insulates the bearer from the effects of supply chain disruption or even unemployment. Walmart could be out of eggs and razors -- but you'll be fine for quite some time, even if you didn't incubate your own chicks or make the razors by hand.
> farms get their input from the ground and sky, but this hasn't been true in centuries
Yes, industrial scales require industrial inputs, but a few hens will happily yield you a few eggs a day while living off your garden scraps and the insects they scratch up. And their waste returns nutrients to the soil -- a boone for a garden.
> Criticizing "hedonism" is its own kind of hedonism
false dichotomy. Of course capitalism and our indulgence in material goods has gone too far. That does not mean we have to be totally pious in life.
I don't think that's where we're headed, but I like imagining.
* https://promiseofjustice.org/news/louisianans-illegally-kept...
* https://www.corrections1.com/law-and-legislation/articles/re...
Maybe the number of sailors in deplorable conditions is equal to number of prisoners, worldwide. 0.2% of world population?
To me this vision of us being able to do whatever we want, while machines are available to take care of our necessities, to the extent we chose to rely on them, is almost heaven-like.
And for a prehistoric context, according to researchers such as James Suzman, earlier in human history, we were a lot closer to this ideal than we are now [0].
[0] https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/for-95-percent-of-human...
Or in other words, there were no automatic maintenance machines in the Star Trek universe at the time, it was all handwork still. Manufacturing and food prep was done by machines which solves some part of it I suppose.
Your future isn't realistic.
Just workers organization and democracy prevents it
It's like kink-shaming being someone's actual kink.
Criticizing "hedonism" is its own kind of hedonism because you are overindulging yourself in your own sense of pride and smugness for "being better than everyone else"
Not that the author of TFA is doing this, but claiming that you have overcome materialism while at the same time posting about it on instagram with your latest iphone, recording yourself on insta360 cameras, with your apple watch-recorded heart-rate superimposed on your videos is a bit silly.
There are things I can't think of my days/weeks without. So for
> In 2015 I got rid of everything I owned that didn’t fit in a laptop backpack
There go my badminton rackets, cricket bat, and cycle. I couldn't care less about everything else :)
(To be fair, the rackets may possibly fit into my Osprey 45L. Never tried.)
On a more serious note: How much does health-care certainty factor into such travels? I am someone who doesn't have a family. So if a sudden death comes, I couldn't care less (I mean as of now - in advance), but I am perennially scared of falling sick and possibly needing care and hospitalisations, and when travelling (or without a base i.e one-bag kind of setup) and then there's at least the allergies, it becomes such a nightmare if you live in a country that doesn't have universal health care and is decidedly third world irrespective of the GDP.
I am asking because when people blog about such plans and minimalism, the gory details of behind-the-curtain things are often left out, maybe not deliberately.
As it is, you can theoretically run ios apps on Apple Silicon, but most app vendors disable that..
My main use case for an ipad while traveling is to watch downloaded movies on a plane. "AR" (not really) glasses like nreal air are way smaller and lighter than an ipad and makes watching movies on my phone pretty amazing..
Me personally? Nothing. I hate them. I never want anybody to touch my screen.
However, I've talked to at least one team that has disabled their app on MacOS who thinks having a UI designed for touch-screen run via a trackpad is too janky and would lead to a bad UX for their customers.
I've run their app via playcover, and it IS janky, but its a lot better than the weight of an iPad in my backpack.
The only difference here is that this person is well-funded, so uses the latest high-end gear to do it, instead of a bindle.
Yes, hobos do still exist. My recently deceased cousin-in-law was one, and proudly called himself a "hobo."
Yes, they have smartphones.
Pack the absolute minimum. If you really need something, you can almost always buy it wherever you are going. Even trekking in the deep Himalayas, there was always a spot to buy an extra t-shirt or socks every day or so.
That was back when flights included two free checked items.
On my second trip to Europe one of my suitcases was full of T-shirt swag to give out at a conference. Lugging both up the stairs, across the train tracks, and back down was a hassle.
Both of these were over 20 years ago.
And then there's the story at https://notalwaysright.com/a-steam-powered-cruise/392530/ of a couple trying to bring a full-size espresso machine on their cruise, so they can have their special coffee.
Totally understandable! Amazing wine - I didn't want to leave Constantia. But I picked myself up and dragged myself to Stellenbosch !
And at the end of the trip, I didn't want to return home. Such an incredible country that still holds a very special place in my heart
I didn't.
Things were a lot looser then. I brought a 6-pack of Negra Modelo as carry-on for a trip to Europe. The airport x-ray staff in Albuquerque recognized it on the screen, which impressed me. They had no problem with it.
Bulky gifts.
Bulky sports equipment.
Lots of kids' clothes. Kids' toys. Kids' books. Kids' medical kit.
Clothes that span multiple seasons or climatic zones: warm, cold, heavy rain, snow. Extra shoes. Especially when you know that your things will get wet and that you will have only occasional opportunities to dry them.
Suit/dress/fancy shoes if going to a wedding or other formal event.
Add that, and 80L is not much volume...
My favorite way of traveling involves a 20l backpack and a small checked bag. There is usually enough space for whatever I need, I don't have to worry about overhead space, and I don't need special travel versions of the things I use. But sometimes I take a larger (~100l) suitcase, or even both for longer trips with multiple activities.
As for trekking in the Himalayas, you should always carry clothes you don't expect to need and gear you hope you won't need. Mountains are objectively dangerous, and bad things do happen occasionally. Such as the unexpected blizzard on the eastern side of Everest last weekend.
As an aside, you should absolutely wash your clothes after buying them before wearing them. They're covered in chemicals that aren't great for your skin. I usually pack a week's worth of clothes and do laundry once a week while traveling. Doing laundry more often is a drag.
Not saying I always take that entire combo, but almost always more than 1 pair.
Certainly, if you've a history of ankle injuries or some other podiatric necessity, go for it. But for me, a pair of good walking shoes and a pair of good sandals is all I realistically need.
Do you have foot health problems? For much of my life I've had a single pair of shoes I wear almost daily and have never had problems with bacteria. The only issue I've found is going sockless. Even then you can put a little foot powder into the shoes once a week and it kills everything in them.
but really, every person i've seen who "activates" a lifestyle like this one only ever seems to wear black. i suppose it's the choice of any committed rationalist, but i think it's dull
also, fine so long as you don't need to go any where that requires a different type of shoe
Though I agree a colourful linen shirt for example (pink, yellow) or a merino pullover wouldn't break your back
Because of the need for minimalism in travel, my wardrobe does tend to be relatively conservative and muted, but it's not all-black all of the time. You can certainly have some color.
Black is timeless, hides stains and sweat, easily layers of you want to buy something to add to it, matches multiple colors of trouser/jean/shoe.
I vow on my next trip to pack fewer jeans (2 pair vs. 4), more socks (4-6 thin pair vs 3), fewer overshirts (1 vs 3, maybe a second that is "classy").
I value having boots along with running shoes.
I'm a 2 bag traveller. Even with my bloated clothing budget, shoes and toiletries volume, I was able to fit it all in a 46L carry-on backpack + a normal backpack, with a satchel rolled up for use on daily walks.
Hard to describe how liberating it is to have so few possessions. So many choices you don’t have to make. You become so fleet of foot that serendipity is everywhere.
Glad I got the chance to do it
The thing is, after years of doing it, learning new languages, making friends all over, and then leaving knowing you might not see them again for ever or for long stints, you start to feel the yearning to be able to connect with people on a deeper level.
Now I have an apartment and basically only travel for weddings, I still go super light. But there is a joy in having variety in clothing or sneakers to wear. Friends who you've had multiple conversations with over the year's, even family who comes to visit you.
I'm happy I rid myself of it all, but I'm also happy that now my apartment has the basics, and maybe a bit more. And I'm fine with it. Life doesn't have to be binary, you can mix and match and end up happy either way.
I asked for advice from an NGO who moves countries often. She said what happens is the NGO members become part of the extended connection, which helps with that situation.
Even when I was a nomad, I wouldn't have been without a suitcase. My big hobby then was dancing - mostly salsa and tango - and I needed several changes of clothes and dance shoes. And, umm, not all black clothes.
To make it worse, indoor smoking was legal, so I would come home with stinky clothes that I wouldn't want to wear again until washing.
I also did some upper undergrad/grad level visiting teaching, and would stay at a staff members home, or in one case the home of the parents of one of the grad students. I brought a dozen or so greeting-style cards with nice pictures of the city I used to live in, so I could leave them as a thank you, with an image of what for them would be an exotic place.
A rolling stone gathers no moss, as they say.
We have a nice airbed (oxymoron?) in our apartment that gets used maybe 3-4 times a year. It takes up more space than the author's backpack, but it's also great whenever a friend or family member would like to visit on short notice (along with a set of sheets, towels, collection of hotel toothbrushes...).
I am trying to build a normal life in one place for the foreseeable future, with a place full of stuff again. :)
I can't pretend I don't have my own contradictions going on, so I'm not having a go at the author. But I did find it a little funny when reading it.
You'll find people posting about upgrading their bag from the $300 Aer Travel Pack, to the $400 Goruck GR2 because of style preference. I've seen someone talking about repurchasing items they already own in a particular color to match their packs color scheme.
I think the motivation for many has nothing to do with being anti-consumerist and more about just freedom to travel without paying-for/carrying-around checked-in luggage and all the other benefits of travelling light, which is fine.
I think YouTube has caused a big increase in this. One bag, EDC, Ultralight - the videos are all completely the same. "Here's a bunch of things I just bought, and here's a bunch of things I've used for a month and am throwing away". With YouTube they can get paid to do it though, and get to add a new dimension to their hobby which lets them connect with others.
As you say, all of this is fine. I certainly can't cast judgement either, I for sure have my own issues with over-consumption.
That's like... 40 grams of CO2 for those 2 trips for a t-shirt. Aka, a 2 min uber ride.
Shipping containers are incredibly efficient.
Modern large container ships consume about 200-300 tonnes of fuel per day, and could carry 742 millions t-shirts [1]. It takes 16 days to do something like Shanghai - LA, so that ends up being like 20 grams per shirt per trip.
A transatlantic round-trip alone can be 2.3tCO2 [2].
[1] Page 48 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6...
[2] https://co2.myclimate.org/en/portfolios?calculation_id=82395...
I've travelled w/ a Montbell Versalite and Arcteryx Cerium LT for the past few years and both are like new, each probably getting around 200-300 wears in primarily city use while traveling to over 40 cities. Just picked up a Montbell Travel Umbrella (3 ounces!) a couple months back as I'll be in Mexico City for awhile and it rains like half the year.
Now I wear sturdy cotton, linen, leather, denim, and the extra weight is just a couple more calories burned.
To me packability and efficiency reign supreme, and I just reflexively know I’m wearing a delicate item and react accordingly to my environment when I wear it.
It’s similar to the sunglass paradox. For many years, I owned fairly cheap pairs and lost them often. Then suddenly I spent $300 on a pair of Oliver Peoples… had them for 10 years, finally gave them to an ex-gf who loved them more than I did.
You can in fact change semi-reckless behavior when the quality of the item dictates it. Perhaps the extra anxiety isn’t worth it, but this is an article about one bag travel - which I do - so it fits.
I do think there's value to learning how to live with less, and it also helps unencumber you more than just in physical weight, but spiritually, to allow yourself to explore and go forth without concern. I could just hop on a train, bus, plane, and go somewhere else even as a side trip without needing to be concerned with any of my belongings because it was all with me all of the time.
I agree with the author on a lot: 1) it's not a good way to live long term, 2) traveling with as little as possible completely transforms the traveling experience, 3) zero-bag travel is great, 4) a good quality small bag with well designed compartments is critical, 5) M-series Macs are the only way to go, 6) two thumb drives is very convenient if you're not worried about searches, 7) darn tough socks, 8) first aid with bandaids/antiseptic/mylar blanket, I also include benadryl, ibuprofen and other common OTC meds.
I disagree on: 1) I prefer a 2M USB-C cord over 1M, 2) I have mostly cotton or merino clothes and try not to use any synthetic fabrics, especially no synthetic underwear, 3) I prefer jeans, especially in colder climates and 4) carrying "stuff" on you long term (like a jacket with things in the pockets) can get sort of annoying after a while.
And finally, extra stuff I carry that the author doesn't: separate camera, snacks (mostly nuts), Garmin inReach, handkerchiefs, wired earbuds, flashlight, knife, an eye mask, sometimes a Travelrest pillow, and two sizes of paper notebooks and pens.
Granted, wilderness backpacking has completely different standards for smells and grossness, but the comparison carries over to the higher standards of the "front country." In hot, sweaty weather, synthetic underwear gets noticeably grosser and smellier than wool over the course of a day.
I have an older pair that is 100% wool (I don't recall the brand; they might be a very very old SmartWool product) but the lack of stretch makes them less comfortable.
Editing here since my original comment is too old: in a pinch, I've also had much better results washing wool underwear in a hotel bathroom than synthetic underwear. Contrary to their reputation, neither wool nor synthetic underwear dry quickly, even with a hair dryer, but wool dries faster, feels cleaner after washing, and in the worst case scenario is much more comfortable wet than synthetic underwear.
I should try the smartwool underwear because there stuff is better than the competition, especially the small players.
A layered clothing approach helps a lot. I wear an undershirt (Icebreaker Merino T) every single day, which helps me to regulate my body temperature between hot and cold climates, without requiring a major increase in the amount of clothing I have to bring. The only outerwear I had to bring on my trips was a single wool peacoat and a packable windbreaker/rainjacket. By using layers, I was able to use the same set of clothing between 45C and -25C, across 4 continents with no real trouble.
- I can't do zero-bag travel, bags are just too convenient. I have at least a little foldable backpack. For example, if I have a jacket, I like the ability to put the jacket inside the bag if the weather calls for it. Or maybe I want to carry a water bottle. Zero-bag means stuffing your pockets, carrying stuff by hand, etc... not very convenient if you ask me.
- I don't really like bags with compartments, I find they get in the way more than they help. Instead, I use a regular bag and put stuff in ziploc bags if I need some organization. It also protects from rain.
- For the USB-C cord, I use 3m, even as an everyday carry. It may seem over the top but sometimes, the power outlet not where you want to plug your phone. For example you may want your phone charging on your nightstand while the socket is on the other side of the bed. 3m lets you cross the bed, 2m doesn't.
- I love synthetic fabrics, dries faster than natural fibers, it is important to me as dry time can be a problem when doing laundry while travelling. Merino wool is great too, but I keep cotton for home.
- Not a fan of jeans during travel, take forever to dry, and they are not that hot for how heavy they are. They make great work clothes (their original purpose), and are relatively fashionable, but during travel when I am not going for style, I use convertible hiking pants.
- I don't travel with a knife, too much of a problem with security. Though I sometimes carry a "swisstech utili-key". It has a blade but it really looks like a key, so it is stealthy. It is unusable as a weapon, but if some overzealous security guy takes it away from you, it is super cheap so it won't be a big loss.
P.s. fellow synthetic avoidant. mostly for microplastics ? dunno.
Beyond facts, there is also a certain ugly vibe to plastic clothes. They’re cheap and impersonal and disposable and typically generic. I have never really fallen in love with a polyester product. When it came time to throw away my polyester clothes, I wasn’t surprised to find that everything I really loved was wool/cotton/silk.
Daily now I see people living on the street with a lot more, but still with needs of all sorts.
In some schools of Buddhism, the tradition was to live with only one bowl and one spoon. The practice was to beg daily - yes, for food, but mainly to submit to the judgment of society as to whether one's practice is worth it to others. The premise was that people would give if they see you as worthy, not because they pity you.
I would ask the OP to reflect publicly on what he discovered about his own attachments, sense of place, and relations with others and himself. That could be helpful even to people in more tangled circumstance.
Interesting. So the practice of (these schools) of Buddhism requires that there be non-Buddists?
I guess it's easier to dispose of eating utensils at every meal. Or have the money to eat restaurant meals for every serving.
It still exists today. A friend of mine was a monk for many years and would make daily alms rounds.
It also happens in other lineages of Hinduism too. A Baul teacher of mine was supposed to do a short teaching tour here in the US a few months ago and actually got turned away at SFO by immigration because the immigration officer just couldn't understand that she doesn't make money and eats all her meals from alms. He told her no one exists like that anymore, detained her, and sent her back to Bengal.
- Icebreaker Merino T-Shirts https://na.icebreaker.com/en-us/collections/mens-tshirts?cou...
- Paka Alpaca Wool Hoodie: https://www.pakaapparel.com/products/alpaca-hoodie?variant=3...
I wear those t-shirts in hot climates because of how breathable they are and the Alpaca Wool Hoodie is literally the best sweater I've ever owned. Super breathable, lightweight and I've washed it a total of 4 times in 3 years.
(I'm also convinced that front-loading washers make clothes last longer because they don't literally beat your clothes to death.)
To quote some mountain guides I talked about this - its a great second layer in snowy sports, ie ski touring. Wicking of sweat ain't great compared to synthetics (and thus drying takes also much longer), but when wet it keeps warmth, unlike synthetics or cotton. As top layer it sucks since as mentioned it has little resistance to abrasion comparatively, and everybody wears some sort of backpack out there. I have synthetic shirts that lasted 10 years either frequent gym going or intense mountain sports, not a single hole or tear. None of merinos survived that long.
I talk about cheaper brands like Decathlon but also Ice Breaker, the heavier/thicker ones.
Not talking about hoodies here, those seem much thicker material and never worn those, synthetics served me for such role very well so far.
Merino is the only fabric I've found that can handle multiple sweaty days or even workouts without a hint of smell.
100% this. Merino is great if your use case is any warm / hot / humid climate where you want to wear your shirt for multiple days...
As other replies have mentioned, merino is definitely fragile (both of mine had holes within a few months). But the caveat being that I literally wear them every 2nd day (I own two day-use tshirts (2 more for night/spare) and rotate them daily, so they probably got 5 years of use in the year that I've owned them.
They are even more amazing for anti-smelling than synthetics with silver woven into them (like Lululemon Silverescent). They can go for weeks without washing (I've tested with other people's noses). Caveat being if you spill something on them or absorb a ton of barbecue smoke, they will need a wash (or at least spot cleaning).
I think merino tshirts (2 pair), lightweight synthetic everything else, powerful phones or ultralight laptops + USB-C has enabled folks like me to travel indefinitely (except in winter) with a 20-25L bag or less ※².
※¹ - https://unboundmerino.com
※² - That is if I didn't have a family incl. toddler, in my case I'll still LARP onebagging for our 1-4 week trips.
I have an iPad Mini for reading and sketching, although I like paper more and more. I also sometimes sacrifice lightness for fashion, because I feel self-conscious travelling solo dressed like a bin bag.
I also have a lot of cheaper gear that so far never needed to be replaced. Most of it is from Decathlon. I only buy The Good Stuff once the test version falls apart. It's rarely necessary.
I could never bring myself to replace my electric shaver.
The biggest weight saver is USB-C. Retractable USB C cables are also great. Everything becomes a power bank for everything else.
I'd go iPad only, it's a versatile device after-all, but the truth of it is: it can't beat a laptop for "real work" (unless, real work is replying to emails and running an extremely cut down version of excel).
Yet, a laptop is significantly more awkward to read with or watch media. When flying I have (nearly) lost a screen to someone reclining in front of me while I was using my laptop; this is not an issue with iPads.
As it stands, the iPad is practically an essential, it's just so versatile and useful that it's omission would cut comfort more than it's weight. But I need an additional device, likely a laptop. One can't live without headphones either, and at least a smart-phone for payments, SMS and phone-calls.
So, it looks outsized, but a laptop can't substitute an iPad, and an iPad can't substitute a laptop (yet; it's a software failing mostly)
Certainly not a bad amount (5hrs) but enough that it becomes a conscious "I will have to charge this thing if I use it all day" thought.
I'm not trying to nitpick, this is genuinely what makes my brain hesitate.
Really the right answer here is a folding phone.
I'd want an ereader as well, but when push comes to shove, I can read on my phone just fine. My Kobo Clara BW is small and light enough to be almost unnoticeable.
I don't think I'd be annoyed making calls with a tablet though. I'd just use bluetooth. For me the challenge would be that having no phone would mean I'd have to carry something bulkier everywhere. So, in conclusion, I have no great ideas and I'd be forced to do phone + light laptop.
For me a bicycle is crucial for getting out and about, and I have done some long distance trips across continents with big mountain ranges to get over, with stove, tent and sleeping bag. This opens up a whole new level of 'minimalism'. Where possible, every item has to be 'dual use' to some extent, so that fleece hoodie doubles up as a pillow. Furthermore, every stupid travel gadget has to go, so no water purifier, no first aid kit, no 'stuff sacks', no special toiletries bags and no evening-only leisure clothes/shoes.
But this is luxury! The real pros are refugees. Imagine walking from Iraq to France, having to avoid every border guard, with no food in your stomach and just the clothes you wear as belongings.
In all fairness to the author of the article, the abundance of tech can be fully justified if he is a web developer and needs to make sure everything works on all of the devices that matter. That doesn't explain the Kindle, however, books (reading matter) has to be a priority item. From past experience, I would get rid of pretty much everything before getting rid of the reading matter.
bring one of everything. No redundancy. The gains from being ultra light, single-item-multi-purpose, are immeasurable
In my case, that means bringing aquatabs to back up my primary water treatment system and a second way to strike my stove. An extra 2 grams for aquatabs versus 4 weeks of greasy diarrhea? Check. Ten grams for a second mini bic or small fire steel versus cold soaking meals that I designed for cooking? Check.
But I do agree with you that bringing less in general frees you to move faster, go farther, and enjoy the journey even more.
At the end of the day my trail family had 4 levels of redundancy between us.
As mentioned in the article, it’s better (financially and socially) to stay in locations for a medium length of time. If you do this, then the overhead of a single suitcase is very minimal, and you get far more flexibility with clothing - particularly if you’re staying in colder areas. E.g. NYC in winter.
I see people living out of their cars when I go to the library. It looks messy. My son gave up on Boy Scouts partially because camping and "urban outdoorsman" have become synonymous. The kids don't think camping is cool--at all.
That's a sad indictment of the state of our culture. Canping is cool. Being an outdoorsman (or outdoorswoman, etc) is one of the greatest things a human can do.
Between a backpacking trip to northern Europe to 3 day quick trip to Chicago, I can be ready to in like an hour and still, according to friends, be the most prepared.
It also bled into my daily life and I picked up some really good habits. I am not a minimalist but I would say I have very little clutter.
So worth it to try it a few times even if you never actually do it.
Might be able to impart wisdom without the mess of backpacking days on end; or maybe the lessons have to be hard-earned?
Best advice:
Travel light
But still, mind where you are going. If it is the mountains, you still want to bring warm clothes and they just are heavy.
I am right now preparing for the mountains and think of whether to take a tent or not (the huts for sleeping are mostly closed already)
The heavier the backpack, the less fun is walking with it.
And that works also as a metaphor for everyday life. The less shit you take with you, pulling you down, the easier it is to make progress.
That said, these are the 3 main lessons I got:
- Everything needs a place. I need to picture that place before I even buy the thing, while at the store. When you are trying to fit everything into one backpack, you practice this a lot.
- Occasional I go look through all my belongings and toss. I did this a lot when I felt my backpack got too heavy or big. Do this enough times and getting rid of a belonging becomes emotionally normalized and easy.
- This may all seem like a lot of work but only at first. Why? Because it creates a mental feedback loop that discourages hoarding. You remember what kind of items you throw away so you stop even collecting them. For example, I use to keep all USB cables but I would always throw them out during these “spring cleanings” so now I throw them when I first get them.
So I encourage trying it yourself because things like having a feedback loop or being okay with discarding junk doesn’t come from just reading about it. Similar to being okay with being rejected when dating, you have to do it enough times so it becomes comfortable.
Funny. One bagging travel turned me into USB cable hoarder. This stuff always breaks, gets lost on the road, and it is quite handy to have stash of spares at home.
I hate shopping for random stuff, ordering cables from Amazon is a lottery and fire hazard these days.
So I buy good stuff in bulk and discounts. If I find good shoes, I buy ten pairs, before they are discontinued.
My living room wall is now covered with stacks of boxes with supplies. Look does not matter, I do not live there most of the time anyway.
I own exactly one pair of shoes at the moment. Occasionally I also have slippers.
This is not living.
I think if I were ever to get married I would probably buy a house or something, but ideally my partner would also be as mobile and flexible as me.
My loadout was very similar, though I had more clothes and music gear because I was strictly living inside. "Golfing" backpacks that are insulated are very underrated, think the capacity was closer to 15.5L. They don't really make them to accomodate 17" laptops anymore, and you shouldn't have one that big, but the extra space in the sleeve is great. Strong endorsement for American Giant! Especially the heavy zip up hoodies, running pants, and shirts, some of which I've had for almost 20 years at this point, and Oddball socks (if you have big feet).
They aren't for everyone, but the rather thin/rough gym-style towels are great as you can get 3 into the space of a normal one once you've mastered rolling your shit up and they dry quick. When your boxer briefs inevitably wear out, cutting the band off and using them to constrain other things while the leftover cloth makes for great snot/cleaning rags. Save your plastic grocery bags, they're useful for so much and compact well.
Cannot understate how much better this makes air travel. Can still be shoved under the seat in front of you. No checked bags or secondary carryons removes so much potential for bullshit. As the bag is still soft, you have to be deliberate with where you pack things or you will crush them. You'll want to consider the placement of electronics TSA is going to make you pull out, and expect secondary screening. The density of shit in the bag tends to cause this if they're still using old xray machines instead of that new 360 degree shit.
I ended up also lugging around a workstation and monitor. It was worth the logistical pain and my new limit became "fits into the trunk of a rental sports coupe", avoiding planes was worth while everything was still ongoing. I would not attempt doing this with modern Apple Silicon. Can't stand what mac os has become and there are too many caveats. Any high end ryzen laptop with an nvidia gpu is preferable. If you do anything in/with multimedia or streaming, you'll be thankful the first time you can lean on it as an encoder (and the USB 3.2 port will actually be able to handle the throughput of a Magewell USB capture card).
Hard to undersell the 'freeing' aspect. If wherever you are sucks, for whatever reason, it doesn't take much time to be packed and gone. It's not for everyone. Have met some fantastic lifelong friends from couch surfing and renting rooms listed on craigslist, which is vastly superior to AirBNB, where I encountered scams so frequently that I swore them off entirely.
It changes you, too. Once you settle again you'll realize what you really care about.
Now I am settled down with a family and I no longer have the travel bug, but I enjoy it still if the opportunity comes up.
My observation when I'm talked to people about my experiences is that they imagine travel is a lot more expensive than it actually is. The most expensive thing I ever had to pay for was my plane ticket to get out of the US. Once I was abroad, even flights were significantly cheaper.
Do you find yourself more time pressured? More stressed? Spending more on conveniences to make life easier?
It's not like I was homeless, I would know I wanted to spend a month or thereabouts in a city and I'd get an AirBnB or otherwise arrange accommodations, I'd pay for a coworking space to have a good place to work with stable internet connectivity (this actually was one of the most difficult things in some parts of the world, back then), and I'd eat like the locals either cooking at the AirBnB or going to local restaurants/cafes.
I don't think being nomadic has to mean living like a hobo, those are not necessarily the same things. I never stayed anywhere that didn't have basic indoor plumbing at least, although a few times I'd have to hand wash clothes in a sink and hang them to dry outside the window, which was kind of a bummer but not a world-ender.
Overall, my productivity didn't suffer at all, and I didn't find it stressful from the things you mentioned with even a modicum of planning ahead. In fact, being able to explore different parts of the world and head out when I felt satisfied or got bored, meant that I always had some sort of moment for inspiration that helped to fuel both my curiosity and my work.
I'm extremely productive and I'll work weekends, but if on a Tuesday at 11am I feel like going on a trip, I absolutely will and you can't stop me.
Granted this was no life of luxury, but I wasn’t exactly holding back on much either.
OTOH - I mostly travel with a 30L backpack just for my camera gear ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I feel like if I dropped my desire to wear a variety of clothes (collared shirts, jackets ...) I could almost imagine this one bag life, especially when each item is designed to be modular and multipurpose (S-biners!)
I would have a few issues with this particular list though, mainly all the polyester clothes (my only poly clothes are "technical"/sports oriented, otherwise cotton/wool/linen etc...) Not sure exactly where I gained this dislike, I guess I just prefer natural fibers for comfort reasons.
Also, as a hardware-oriented engineer, I would have a hard time packing all the lab equipment/projects up. Perhaps could be solved by finding a good hackerspace, but fundamentally being interested in real-world physical technology means more "stuff" to carry around.
It would definitely be interesting to see a yearly stats breakdown of how many times I used each object. There are definitely many zeroes in that list.
E: Also, I'm too used to Linux and too attached to freedom (in principle) to switch to a Mac, even though the M-series power efficiency is unmatched.
I was the save everything, archive everything guy. I had a box of receipts for daily purchases at one point. I downloaded and burned all the movies I could.
Then I started nomading and now my life fits entirely in one 50lbs bag, which I still find way too much and I wish I could backpack like this guy. I can do monthly trips on a tiny backpack, but at some point some stuff is missing (for example I'd have to throw away nail clippers every time I take a plane during this time)
You're constantly making and throwing away relationships. I found this the hardest part.
Your lifestyle is subsidized by society. You depend on other people and services to make it work. You either have to eat out all the time or make many small trips to grocery stores and rent places with furnished kitchens. There is no self reliance, no preparation for things to go wrong besides saving money and hoping you can buy your way out.
There are opportunity costs. If OP had bought real estate in 2015 they would be better off financially. It's one of the reasons I stopped living in a bus and bought a house. Had I bought the last two times I "moved" in 2011 or 2016 I'd have almost enough money to retire and live OP's lifestyle permanently.
Yeah, this lifestyle basically only works as a single young adult. Once you have a significant other, it's very, very hard. Once you have a kid, it's impossible.
Also why is ecological footprint even important itself? Our eco system has no more reason to exist than any of its components, including humans.
What I would like to see is a norm on numbers of children. Personally, I think that having more than the replacement number - i.e. more than 2 - is straightforwardly unethical given the stress our planet is under. But by the same token, 2 or fewer is fine. And it would be nice if those who choose to have none got a little more respect for it.
We also have cultural pressures, which can shape individual behavior. We could have a culture where the default is not to have kids, but that you should not have kids unless you are stable and secure enough to have then and are prepared to invest sufficiently in raising them.
Also, have fun not having anyone to take care about you when you grow old. And your retirement won't be worth shit either without a new generation to keep the economy going.
Yeah no thanks, fuck your anti-natalism. You might as well remove your own ecological footprint if you would deny your children's their existence for that reason.
And even if it's "all of it", if you can make some big company or semi-common job 0.00001x more efficient then that's a bigger impact than having kids.
2. Even if they did do the same thing, getting it done 30 years earlier has a bigger effect.
3. I still don't think it's right for me to take 100% credit for everything my kids do.
If you don’t have kids, their contributions won’t exist.
But importantly my kids might be more capable than me or less capable than me to effect change. Who knows!
> If you don’t have kids, their contributions won’t exist.
My choices alter a million things about the future. If we look at everything I was a critical step in causing then we're going to massively overvalue my contributions.
Also, shouldn't all my contributions be chocked up to my ancestors if that's how we're doing it? Leaving me with no points of my own?
I've been doing it with my significant other for 5ish years now. I would say it's _much_ harder to do it solo and I would've settled down long ago if it wasn't for her.
Maybe it's much harder for her then, since you're the one who wants to settle down but she has to drag you around with only a backpack!
She feels the same way.
I would imagine if you had significant other to join you on this lifestyle, it would be significantly easier since your companionship is covered.
I know I'd be much happier travelling with my partner than solo.
OP could also have bought stocks in 2015, and perhaps done even better than buying a house. Since the beginning of that year, the S&P500 has more than tripled, while housing has gone up about 50% (though of course leverage helps). For all we know, OP does hold stocks, which wouldn't cramp his lifestyle at all.
Plus he claims to spend less with this lifestyle, which also helps.
I always wondered about the cost effectiveness of these alternate living arrangements. Like the probability of having to rely on huge amounts of savings seems high versus having a stable setup. And having a stable setup is already so expensive. I can't imagine eating out for every meal. I can cook food for a week for the price of 1 or 2 premade meals. And then you can't carry much so what are you constantly rebuying things? Idk seems like a lifestyle for the rich / lucky / people who have a great life safety net.
Everyone lives in and depends on society. I don't think that means you're being "subsidized"; if anything the footprint of living like this is much smaller than someone who owns a house full of stuff and drives a car every day. (At least if you skip the routine flying part. Trains and boats are great)
The difference between going to the supermarket and then cooking your food vs going to eat at a restaurant is just relying on the restaurant existing.
The restaurant existing relies on people visiting it, so by visiting it, you are helping the restaurant and they are helping you. I just cannot agree that this lifestyle is "subsidized" by society. Enabled, sure, but modern lifestyle is enabled by society and that's generally a good thing.
It’s a highly freeing exercise that is hard but doable. Only works for vacations (a day to a month) though.
> You're constantly making and throwing away relationships. I found this the hardest part.
very true. it's harder to keep in contact with freinds who you make deeper connections with. But whats the alternative, to not make them in the first place?
> Your lifestyle is subsidized by society. You depend on other people and services to make it work. You either have to eat out all the time or make many small trips to grocery stores and rent places with furnished kitchens. There is no self reliance, no preparation for things to go wrong besides saving money and hoping you can buy your way out.
True, I eat out every meal, have a membership at a coworking space, and either go for runs or use public outdoor gyms for exercise.
I've been following up on and off for a bit, seen his posts on reddit, etc.. I'm not sure how he funds his lifestyle; he seams to just walk all day...
So no, his life style is much subsidized by society as someone with his own home. The subsidy is probably relative to your footprint. So maybe less?
> You're constantly making and throwing away relationships. I found this the hardest part.
I've been thinking about it too. I've made a few relationships but as soon as they break (or I break) off the trail, the relationship goes with it.
I don't think this is avoidable. You are seeing way more people than a sedentary life allows. You are probably not going to make these relationships in a small 300K city.
> There are opportunity costs. If OP had bought real estate in 2015 they would be better off financially. It's one of the reasons I stopped living in a bus and bought a house. Had I bought the last two times I "moved" in 2011 or 2016 I'd have almost enough money to retire and live OP's lifestyle permanently.
I bought crypto, so it paid off way better than any real estate market in the world and all that money is liquid and ready to buy you a rental anywhere in the world.
Years ago, going for carry-on only, with a heavy tech load (VR) and thus light everything else, commercial bags embodied non-viable design-space tradeoffs. Flying two bags, with varying size and mass constraints, plus wearing layers with pockets, needed to transform on arrival into something like one comfortable heavy backpack with an excellent waist belt.
"The pack frame can be my 'portable workstation'" is... not a well-served commercial niche. Maybe someday we'll upload bag designs for rapid prototyping, but not just yet. And just a good COTS waist belt could blow the volume budget.
So, build-a-bag. Sort of the "backpack = dry-bag + straps" concept, but dialed up. As in "dry-bag = nylon-sack + plastic-bag + shaping-strappage + backups", and "straps = vecro strips + strapping + TSA-compatible adhesive + ...". Etc. Core of weight belt became a form-fit layup of velcro. Which hooked into the laptop, with velcro pads on it's back to support a frame shelf. And so on. Life deflected me from travel before it was used much, but for a heavy pack, it trialed comfortable. And became two nylon packable shoulder bags for carry-on. I was pondering combining TSA-acceptable selfie sticks with wheels.
Again, not used. And bouncing around with luggage would have been bad. And very not "It Just Works" - travel/life as DIY engineering exercise. And it could look odd. But even with now relaxed tech constraints, I'm tempted to try something similar someday. So, has anyone attempted/survived/considered/seen something similar?
OP treats clothing as disposable, buying swim shorts for swimming and ditching them before moving on, buying more t-shirts when in one place and ditching them before leaving. I hope they are donating them for re-use.
Between medication, toiletries, and general hygiene products I could fill nearly half a bag, and that's just for me to stay healthy, I don't have any cosmetics. Travel sized toiletries are fine temporarily, but significant plastic waste if used long term.
And beyond OP's lack of human connections, they are also lacking sentimentality. My house is filled with pictures, art, sculptures, drawings, cards, books, plants, all given by friends and family, and which remind me on a daily basis about those human connections.
Like top level athletes who sacrifice their bodies in ways that we should not generally aspire to (we admire and respect), OP is doing things that for most people would sacrifice health and wellbeing.
My friends know I take no material things and all I need is a picture on my phone. The occasional tiny gift is only saved until I visit my parents' home and dump it there.
The fact that you're "dumping" gifts at your parents' home suggests a few things. It hints at a callousness regarding relationships, particularly with that choice of words, although that may be reading too far into it.
It also suggests that you do intend to return to the gifts eventually. That you see the nomadism as temporary, that you'll always have your parents' home to return to, or that you eventually intend to settle down. That's fine, maybe that's a natural change at some time in your life, but it would also suggest that this nomadism is not sustainable. It also demonstrates the privilege you have, in being able to return to somewhere, being able to have the best of both worlds. That's also not a bad thing, but it's worth recognising the privileged position you're in.
Everything expires, the stuff/mementos I saved in my teens is now gone. My situation only speeds this process up due to practical reasons. If gifts reach my dumping ground I do care about them, I'm just very liberal with words.
I have no intention of returning even just to my home country, nor of collecting my stuff from there. Nomadism taught me to be minimal and even if "I settle" it doesn't mean I will start hoarding stuff.
Given how long I've been at it, I disagree that it's not sustainable. The only "end" I see to my situation is that I find someone who convinces my heart to do it. But I'm too picky to settle, both with places and with people. Now that's the issue.
> it's worth recognising the privileged position you're in
Absolutely, but my point was only that people do not need a lot of stuff, and that applies to unprivileged people even more so than it does to me.
There will always be someone more "out there" than you. Traveling longer, with less, doing more, going farther. It's tempting to follow these people or to compare yourself to them.
I've also met people who are equally adventurous, equally worldly who travel in smaller chunks (2 weeks to 1 month then back home to recharge).
Go out there and see the world. Try to slow down as much as you can and don't focus on seeing "everything" but instead on doing things that are meaningful to you.
Most importantantly don't feel like you need "more time" to make it worthwhile. Just go!
I can do with like 2 shirts, gym clothes, 2 pairs of underwear, 2 undershirts, and I wear my jacket, in a tom binh synapse, about 25L. With electronics it starts getting tricky to get stuff in and out.
I had been planning the construction of a velomobile and trailer, with solar panels, batteries, digital piano, small fridge, more than 20L of water capacity, integrated sleeping quarters… essentially a miniature, human-powered RV (in fact very close to New Zealand’s freedom camping vehicle rules; with a few realistic changes it could be certified). Suitable for roaming Australia, only needing restocking/dumping every three or four days. Obviously much heavier than backpack travel (laden, 120–140kg, excluding rider; but at least this wasn’t my grand-piano-cycle design¹), but significantly more independent in other ways. I planned to build it, then cycle around Australia for a year (average 50km/day), then unless my situation changed, sell my house and continue indefinitely.
Well, I moved to India and got married last year instead. So my velomobile will never happen. :-)
—⁂—
¹ It calls for some pretty crazy gear ratios if you want to be able to climb any sort of slope, but I worked things out enough to be confident the concept is sound, with careful component choice (e.g. the tyres I’d otherwise prefer to use are only rated to 150kg, so either different ones will be needed, or doubling the wheels in some way). Less thoroughly imagined is the pipe-organ-cycle. Horizontal mounting honestly makes it surprisingly practical… though you might want to stop at 16′ pipes, five metres long is already getting unwieldy. Sadly I don’t think wind harvesting would be viable to drive an organ of any real size; you’d need a separate blower.
Things you can't do traveling long term.
● for many it means no hangout friends. Because you're not there. You move on in 1 to 8 weeks
● no shopping. Yea, I know, some people are doing it precisely because they want to avoid consumerism. But, most people are used to traveling for a few days to 1-2 weeks max, then coming home. For most of those people, shopping for trickets, clothing, in this far away place is a joy. But, that joy is much harder to come by when you can't go back and stash your loot. All you can do is replace something you have. Buy new shoes and throw away the old ones, etc..
● no crafting / diy / maker stuff - If you're into making things you need tools and storage for materials. Not going to have those living out of a backpack/suitcase. Even little things. In my apartment I have a shelf full of stationary stuff, paper clips, push pins, rubber bands, cellophane tape, masking tap, markers, glues of various kidns. All that is not something you can travel with so if that's your hobby or if inspiration strikes while living that way you're kind of out of luck. If all you make is digital and so all you need is a notebook/tablet/phone then this is less of a problem.
● no stability - it was strange knowing I'd be homeless if I didn't start planning something before the current rentle period was up. I'd arrive somewhere and immediately have to start looking for new hotels/airbnbs for the next stop or two.
It also got somewhat tiring to arrive, look up the sights, and find that to some degree they start to get too similar. Going to an art museum 2-3 times a year is fun. Going to one every week and, at least for me, it started to get repetative. Same with visiting yet another old building. They are all great. But, they're great twice a year, not twice a week.
It's definitely gotten easier though. 12 years ago I had to buy a sim in each location. They sucked and didn't have much data. That's much better today. Free-ish wifi is more ubiquitous than it was then too.
Personally I'd just recommend traveling more often but keeping a home base. I also found that throwing away all my stuff I think was a mistake. Those things I got rid of because they were on my shelves but I never picked them up, I only realized after I got rid of them was that their point was not to be used, their point was to remind me of times, places, and people at the point in my life when I acquired each one. With them gone there is nothing to trigger those memories.
I think one thing that helps with some of this is staying in Hostels often even if they are sometimes a bit uncomfortable.I feel like people in hostels kind of speed-run friendship because they are low in time and need connection so people are very candid and open. Then instead of having to do research usually there's someone going the opposite direction to you and can recommend stuff to see.
I also 100% agree about museums and tourist attractions. This is why I often will only spend 1-2 days in a big city to get my bearings and hopefully catch some tips from a fellow traveler and go find the unique stuff in smaller towns or out in nature as soon as possible.
https://bpev.me/notes/how-i-travel-packing
It changes your relationship to objects for sure. I see something cool in a store and my first thought is "ooof but that looks heavy".
For other commenters, overcoming materialism means not being attached to objects. Not necessarily living on a backpack. The idea is to have objects if you can, but don't suffer for their loss, or their gain. Seneca, the stoic thinker, might be a great read to start.
- Lama Thubten Yeshe
Matthew 6:19. He was talking about backing up to the cloud ;)
The author seems to partially grasp this notion with a clear intent (focus, spontaneity). However, the emphasis on stuff seems notably anti-minimalist. I suspect the objects in the author's life could have an even smaller role than they do. Some 3/4 of that post was dedicated to the objects; what about walking, or attention, or connecting with locals... aren't these the real challenges/opportunities?
Take for example a mentor of mine who would travel to a new continent and craft a new material life: buying a van (old and used) in the tourism off-season, finding a cheap stove, gathering some padding and bedding, etc etc, continuously replacing and evolving his kit, never attached to any object, willing to forget about the whole thing, spending maximum time in nature and connecting with friends. You almost forgot about this guy's material life because his non-material life was so rich: gregarious, generous, present in nature, skilled in his pursuits. The kit was just a tool so that he could be in the places he wanted to be in, and not the other way around. If he were to blog about his lifestyle, he would probably highlight less the object he found and more the fact that he found it because he had his eyes wide open.
That's a lot of words to say that I believe this author could focus on the spirit of minimalism and drop some of its decorations. Minimalism is not black clothing and small backpacks, but rather a clarity of mind and simplicity in approach. I don't mean to be a total drag – I support and encourage this author.
How does he "not buy stuff frequently" if he discards & buys new swim suits (and presumably other stuff) as needed?
Sounds like this guy has a pretty cool & minimal lifestyle but I suspect there's some exaggeration and elision going on in this post.
And here is that. As someone on an indefinite backpack + small luggage travel for 4 years, I am suspicious of anyone claiming to only own the small backpack of the OP. It's not impossible but either 1. you go for a large backpack. the ones backpackers carry. or 2. the OP has somewhere where they can store stuff.
The reality I've come to as I kept downsizing is: 1. either
pavel_lishin•4mo ago
This is absolutely true, especially when traveling solo.
nradov•4mo ago
Scoundreller•4mo ago
Always fun to lose your contact lens solution at a transit airport that doesn’t embrace “one stop security” and find yourself tracking some down on a Sunday. Fuck you Heathrow.
pavel_lishin•4mo ago
But I do have a Wallet Ninja that's useful that's only ever been questioned once, and never taken away. And I used to carry a small knife that folds into a key, and nobody ever noticed until one particularly bored TSA agent decided I couldn't take it with me. I should really order another one, or dozen, and treat them as "disposable" for traveling with.
synack•4mo ago
lm28469•4mo ago
unglaublich•4mo ago
Aurornis•4mo ago
I’ve done this with various things I forgot, like a phone charger for the local outlet type.
sib•4mo ago
bongodongobob•4mo ago
unglaublich•4mo ago
nradov•4mo ago
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...
kube-system•4mo ago
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...
discomrobertul8•4mo ago
coffeebeqn•4mo ago
zikduruqe•4mo ago
- James Mattis
kstrauser•4mo ago
Note that crazy stuff like self defense absolutely, positively does not enter the equation. I mention that only because some people get weird about it in both directions, both "eek, you carry a weapon around?!", and "ooh, ever get to stab anyone?!" No. My primary self defense mechanism is good running shoes and decent stamina.
Aurornis•4mo ago
avidiax•4mo ago
https://www.swisstechtools.com/product/detail.html?id=111
You could bring the Swiss Army Jetsetter, but the problem with that is that you are almost certain to get stopped by US security every time, and deal with a 1-15 minute delay depending on how well the particular agent you get knows their rules around scissors and how many times they mistakenly call your item a Swiss Army "knife". To save yourself some trouble, just put it on an s-biner on the outside of your backpack, and ideally extend the tools so it is obvious there's no knife.
https://www.victorinox.com/en/Products/Swiss-Army-Knife%E2%8...
AlotOfReading•4mo ago
turrican•4mo ago
hylaride•4mo ago
Of course, if you need to lug more (for special occasions or business), that's another matter, but it still makes my jaw drop when I see people travelling on vacations with massive roller luggage that often sucks on cobblestone streets or lugging up stairs.
arccy•4mo ago
Even better these days there are laundry sheets that are light / compact.
gruez•4mo ago
This doesn't make any sense. Going going to a random shop to buy a rain jacket is inevitably going to be worse than doing careful research and ordering from the cheapest retailer. Moreover after you bought your first rain jacket, then what? Buy another next time it rains? If not, why not just buy it ahead of your trip and pack it?
b_e_n_t_o_n•4mo ago
perfmode•4mo ago
ileonichwiesz•4mo ago
Also, these things make great souvenirs. Every time I wear my merino wind buff, I think of that little Irish town on the Atlantic coast where I bought it, and how wet and windy it was.
hylaride•4mo ago
That means constantly planning for every eventuality, which means always carrying an over-sized/over-stuffed piece of luggage. If you travel enough, you want to minimize that. Weight adds up, especially jeans and pants.
No, I don't always go and buy a rain jacket. Most of the time the forecasts are decent enough for most trips that I'll buy a cheap umbrella, wait it out, or something if things go sideways. But it did cause me to browse through some stores I'd never have bothered go into. For me, unexpected things can sometimes result in delights like that.
I saw a jacket that felt very nicely made, had nice materials, had a lot of high-quality seams (my wife's friend was a seamstress and taught us what to look for in quality clothing), and was a perfect fit and colour.
I'm far more willing to buy sweaters or other things that keep you warm, though.
b_e_n_t_o_n•4mo ago
Doesn't even need to be a suitcase, a big duffel bag can hold just as much clothing and be more convenient for carrying around, although you still need to check it at the airport.
kakacik•4mo ago
Ie I've recently spent 2 weeks in remote islands in Sulawesi, Indonesia and didn't bring enough mosquito spray. Well, on whole island chain I was in, nobody in tiny local shops ever had one. When asked, they told me they suck up malaria if caught and move on, sort of how we deal with flu. Luckily dengue wasn't there. So suck it up I did, luckily it seems I avoided it (knock on the wood).
With spray comes sunscreen. Some basic diving equipment. Non-tiny first aid kid. Some photography stuff. But yeah for that one I could still put it all into 1 medium backpack, just liquids travelled separately. For that Nepal, backpack was bigger. For Aconcagua, there was an extra big duffel bag. If doing full camping and cooking, one backpack but much bigger.