How to Travel Light: A Guide to Lightweight Travel

There are many reasons you’ll want to consider traveling light. Actually, on any trip, it’s important not to take lots of things that are unnecessary. Here are some hints and tips about how we can save space, and often expenses, when traveling for different purposes and by different means. 

Backpacking & Camping 

There is a clear and obvious reason that you will want to save space, and weight in particular, when backpacking or camping. Everything you have with you is going to be on your back, and even if you are taking public transport as your main means of getting there a heavy pack still will be a, very literal, burden. When camping even more so, especially if you are hiking or climbing! The fact that you are trying to complete an expedition as well as vacationing makes the weight of everything you carry important. You should have a list of all gear and it’s weight so you can add up your total pack weight, and remember to include food and water in this! A general rule of thumb is that you should have a pack weighing less than 20% of your body weight for hiking, and even lower if you are climbing.

Air Travel

With air travel being so accessible, and it has been increasingly so since the 1960s and 1970s with the introduction of large commercial passenger jets such as the Boeing 747. But even with such large planes weight is a seriously delicate balancing act and so luggage allowances are often fairly tight, especially if you travel on a budget airline. So it’s important to be aware of your allowances before you fly as you can then plan accordingly and even if you need to purchase extra weight allowance this is often more economical if you book in advance.

Touring 

If you are touring in a vehicle then storage space is often at a premium depending on the size of your car and how many passengers you are taking. So you might need to look at solutions such as roof-racks and trailers. One idea is to combine taking a trailer with accommodation, there are many trailer-campers you can get such as these ultra-stylish retro teardrop trailers. No matter how you do it make a list of essentials and make sure that this is satisfied before you load up on other items, remember that various things can be bought on arrival, such as food.

Taking the Family

Children are always the worst when it comes to packing for a trip. If you leave them to their own devices then they will inevitably pack a suitcase of toys and if you do it for them you will, no doubt, pack the wrong clothes or toys or whatever. On trips this is one of the few times where screen time is a great idea, it keeps them occupied and a tablet or cell phone takes up a lot less space than a whole bag of toys and games, there are tons of family-friendly apps that you can all enjoy.