(I’m in Haifa this week at Wikimania, which is what prompted this post.)
There are two kinds of travellers — people who wing it, and compulsive hyper-rational utilitarian minimalists, like me. This blog post will bore or horrify the former group, but I hope it’ll be useful for the latter :-)
I travel with a small carry-on rollerboard, and yet I have what I need for pretty much any situation. That’s because I iterate — every time I have a problem on a trip, I refine how I pack so it never happens again.
And I have made a lot of mistakes. Running out of Sudafed once cost me half an afternoon in Amsterdam, where only one pharmacy is open on Sundays, and, by the way, pseudoephedrine is illegal anyway. Over the years I have forgotten and needed to hunt down all kinds of things, often in countries where I don’t speak the language. Out of sheer absent-mindedness, I have bought laptop power cables and phone batteries on no fewer than five continents.
But now I am pretty much optimized. Here’s what I do.
Use case #1: On the plane
On the plane, I’m space-constrained and weight-constrained, I’m either working or killing time, and my needs are totally predictable.
I always wear the same jacket with zippered pockets, with my passport and boarding pass in the left and my phone on the right. I never think about them because I know where they are.
My laptop and e-reader live in brightly-coloured neoprene sleeves, so I don’t leave them behind. A zippered pouch holds my earphones, plus a travel-sized power cable for my laptop, plus a phone charger. On night flights, I bring a tiny flexible-neck USB-powered light so I don’t irritate the people beside me by using the overheads.
I carry a ziploc bag that holds alcohol wipes, hand sanitizer, antiseptic ointment, paper napkins, pseudoephedrine, benedryl, ibuprofen, lip balm, a toothbrush and paste, mouthwash and a plastic spork. Most of that was recommended by Dan Pink, who gives excellent advice about how to keep from getting sick and jet-lagged on long flights.
The one thing I will never fly without is pseudoephedrine, because it’s illegal or restricted in many countries. If I get sick travelling and don’t have pseudoephrenine for my flights, I end up deaf and miserable for days afterwards. (Hello Lima, Nijmegen, Buenos Aires and Bangalore!) I’ve tried plenty of substitutes, and pseudoephedrine is the only thing that actually works.
Use case #2: Charging stuff
The first thing I do when I get settled in a hotel is plug everything in.
I carry this style of travel adaptor, because it’s self-contained with no parts to break or lose. The ones I own are black but I’d rather have them in a bright colour so I would notice when I am leaving them behind.
I carry the Monster outlets-to-go powerstrip, which is recommended by Larry Brilliant on Kevin Kelly’s wonderful Cool Tools blog. I have the four-outlet version as well as the three-outlet version: the latter is smaller and I’ve never missed having a fourth outlet. And I use these converters to connect the powerstrip to the travel adaptor. This set-up gives me the ability to simultaneously charge three devices from one outlet, which is useful in hotel rooms and has made me lots of friends in conference centres and airports.
All my mobile devices are micro-USB, but I carry a bunch of adaptors anyway: they don’t take up much space and have been useful when I’ve accidentally brought an old mini-USB charger or needed to charge my phone from my laptop.
Use case #3: In the hotel, getting washed and dressed
Clothing: I don’t pack anything that’s bulky or needs ironing or dry-cleaning — I mainly pack unstructured clothes (like knits) in solid neutral colours, and I roll them so they’re compact and don’t wrinkle. I don’t pack like things together –all socks or all T-shirts– instead, I put complete outfits into ziploc bags sorted by date.
Toiletries: I carry a lot of different items, so I aim to keep the amount of each super-small. I buy micro-travel-size items from places like Minimus, and when I can’t get something in a small size, I decant from bigger containers into small leakproof plastic bottles like these from The Container Store. And because leakproof is more aspirational than actual, I pack those bottles into self-sealing waterproof bags. And then I pack those bags, perhaps somewhat freakishly, into a single zippered mesh pouch.
Use case #4: Out of the hotel, working
I normally just need my laptop and phone, plus chargers. But because my Droid Pro only gets about eight hours out of its extended battery, I also carry an external battery pack which can fully charge my phone at least two or three times before needing a charge itself. It’s a little bulky to carry around, but better than not having connectivity.
Use case #5: Something goes wrong
I’ve got scans of my passport and credit/debit/ID cards online, plus the helpline numbers. I haven’t needed any of this yet, but when I do it’ll be there.
And, I keep a pouch tucked in a corner of my suitcase that holds stuff I won’t normally need, but will be grateful to have if I do. It includes a mini first-aid kit, laundry soap, tiny amounts of painkillers and other medications, a couple of granola bars, a manicure kit, some pressure point tools for stiffness and pain following long flights or long sessions on my laptop, miniature basics –mostly from Muji— like glue and tape and pens, plus a multitool and a few duplicate essentials like phone batteries and chargers. I add something new every now and then, but mostly I don’t touch it or think about it: it just lives in my suitcase.
That’s what I do. If you’ve got more or better hacks for ridiculously-efficient travel, please share them in the comments :-)
Wow, and here I thought I was a well-organized traveller! Love the Monster powerstrips, no more moving and unplugging those fridges…
Ha, Dirk! Didn’t you once publish something analytical and fastidious about your relocation to the Bay Area from Zurich? I think our brains work kind of similarly :-)
Suggestion: re-usable cable ties to keep your cables tidy. (They’re the same as conventional ones, except with a little extra bit of plastic to release them). Of course, you can get the velcro ties used by pros, but they cost more.
I wing it (meaning that when leaving the house, I check for laptop, credit card and passport only), I was definitely not bored, not horrified either, more fascinated with what some people do and where they get the patience to bind cables neatly :-)
A while ago, I bought a small and a large rollerboard and love them intensely. However, for trips of more than four days, clothing plus the essentials alone make the small one too small, at least in winter. Which brings me to the most important travelling tip for travelling light that you did not mention: Be a small person! Size S rulez!
So, does this rollerboard work for you even for trips of 10 days, two weeks, three weeks?
I could live out of it indefinitely. I am quite small :-)
I love this post! I also agilely pack but without quite as much refinement and finesse. Things I do: keep a permanent toiletries kit with medicines etc. that I can just top up as needed, which saves from having to chase down a million things (like sudafed) and also means I can pack for an impromptu overnight trip in 5 minutes and still have everything. It also includes a couple of hotel sewing kits (those tiny ones with buttons) and a tube of superglue; both have proved useful in repairing luggage or clothes. More things: this REI pillow (http://www.rei.com/product/763637/rei-self-inflating-travel-pillow); foldable headphones; foldable shoes (!) (the Gap city flat, which I just found and adore; tiny bag means an extra pair of shoes, which is pretty useful); a sweater with a hood, for sleeping on planes (I just did this trip without my beloved hoody sweatshirt and regretted it). Also, a small and secret pocket in my main suitcase where I stash cash in a couple of currencies, a spare credit card and a random ID (driver’s license, school id)… bad news if your bag gets lost, but super helpful if your purse gets stolen, which is more likely. This squirrelly habit usually just means I am confused about where the extra credit card is, but it saved me in BA post wallet-snatching.
anyway, have a good trip back, and hope it is not as epically tiring as mine.
Oh, and this will make you laugh at me, but I recently took to carrying sachets of instant coffee around with me (http://www.amazon.com/Mount-Hagen-Organic-Instant-25-Count/dp/B001NN531Y), which has totally saved me in random hotel situations where there’s a teakettle but nothing decent to drink. It’s just an acknowledgement that I get wicked caffeine headaches… also, I always carry emergen-c.
I would never laugh at that! Travelling through rural southeast Asia, I used to carry so-called coffee singles for exactly that reason. It was a step up from instant —basically ground coffee in a filter pouch— and it saved me lots of caffeine headaches in places where coffee’s not part of everyday culture.
This blog post is surfacing the finicky people in my circles: I am enjoying it :-)
Aww and here I was looking up finicky in the dictionary, only to find out that it doesn’t apply to me :-(
Anyhow, on my last trip (three weeks in British Columbia), I needed a strong young man next to my seat to help me get my suitcase in the overhead compartment. That felt wrong on so many levels.
So, I should definitely get the travel adapter before my next trip to Switzerland, I always forget that they are so neutral, they even have their own power sockets…
Very cool post; I got the feeling I was reading a post of a future, more globe-trottery version of me :) although one carry-on isn’t big enough for me when I travel with my bulky camera gear.
I subscribe to a lot of what you and other people wrote in the article & the comments (e.g. folding clothes = awesome, hidden extra credit card & cash, etc.).
Another thing I would emphasize is versatility. When you want to pack light, but also be prepared for many kinds of contingency, versatility is a must.
Unordered list of versatile items:
Ziploc bags — I mostly use them to carry electronic items & cables individually (no messy cables that way, plus it protects them from dust & humidity), but they can also come in handy if for some reason you need to carry food (e.g. israeli cocktail tomatoes or plums). I always carry a few extra in various places.
Zip-off pants — There are several versions of those. My favorite is the one with 2 zips, one at shinbone level (with an extra vertical zip so you don’t have to remove your shoes to get it off) and one above the knee. Extremely convenient when traveling to places with changing weather, or when you need below-the-knee pants when visiting a religious building in a hot country (Hello Jerusalem!)
Rechargeable AA batteries — (and possibly AAA as well if you have use for them) Extremely versatile; they don’t take much space but are pretty universal. If you want them to be truly universal, you can use them with a solar charger, then plug in the device you want to charge to the batteries. That way, the inconsistent Sun-powered charge voltage is delivered to the batteries, while your electronic device is delivered a constant voltage from the batteries and is safe. Also, many pro/semi-pro cameras come with AA batteries adapters so you can take pictures even if your Nikon battery died.
Smartphone — It is truly amazing what you can do with a smartphone these days. Most smartphones come with built-in GPS, and enough memory to bring a lot of useful info with you. With the latest Google Maps app, you can download up to 10 areas of a 10-mile radius for offline use: extremely convenient if you want to find your way with your GPS and you don’t want to use horrendously expensive roaming/data, or if you just don’t have access to 3G; GPS works everywhere. There are also apps that allow you to download unlimited OpenStreetMap content, which is pretty awesome: you can download entire continents. Many smartphones also come with a built-in compass: much more energy efficient than the GPS. A smartphone can also serve as a flashlight and a travel log. Coupled with the solar charger & AA batteries, the smartphone is pretty much the ultimate versatile survival tool, along with a Swiss army knife or multitool.
Insulating canteen bottle covers — I use them to protect my camera gear but they can also revert to their originally intended use case.
Spare shoelaces — I carry them in case mine break, but they can also be used as a multi-use string to tie stuff up.
Trash bags — Multi-use, and they take no space at all. Ugly, but excellent improvised protection against the rain for you or your gear.
And also:
Laundry — Basically reduces by half the amount of clothing you need to bring. In some places, you can use the hotel’s laundry service, or buy laundry directly at the hotel or laundromat, but sometimes none of that is available. For the last Wikimania I brought ~5 outfits for 10 days. Note that this will work better in hot countries, if you want your clothes to dry reasonably fast.
Offline PDF copies — It’s good to have copies of your documents online, but I also like to have them on my devices if I’m offline. I use DropBox to synchronise them across devices (computer, phone, etc.).
Untearable document sleeve — I have a couple of untearable, washable plastic sleeves (18x24cm) in which I usually put a paper map folded to the right dimensions, and centered around the area I’m in. I usually get the map from the hotel’s reception. Extremely convenient when you need a map and it’s pouring. Also resistant to children and/or clumsy friends. Pro tip: put the map upside down, so the open side is at the bottom when you look up the map; that way the water can’t get in.
Polar clothing — Don’t bring that bulky wool sweater your grandma so kindly knit for you, but instead take a pair of polar sweaters that will keep you warmer, will take less space, and will dry faster. Also, when traveling to cold places, layers are the way to go. You can put on both sweaters if you’re very cold, or one at a time and have redundancy.
Redundancy is almost as important as versatility. Versatile items usually duplicate other items, which is good.
For example, my carry-on is a regular fabric bag, but I have another water-resistant unfolded foldable inside bag of the same size in it, in which I actually put all my stuff. Useful to protect the content of your bag from both humidity and pickpockets. And the inside bag can be used independently if, for some reason, you need an extra bag. These foldable bags are cheap and take little space, so you can even have several of them (with you, or at home) and customize them with pockets / zip / velcro depending on the nature of your trip. I use velcro for additional internal pockets and to attach camera gear protection. Velcro strips are cheap and can come with an adhesive side, so you don’t have to knit them onto your surface.
Sorry for the braindump — One should never unleash my contingency planning OCD :)
Heh. You guys are inspiring me to go buy ziplocks and pillboxes :)
Oddly, I am not at all finicky at home — only when traveling.
OMG Guillaume, great notes!
Back in the late nineties, my father canoed 6,000 km across Canada, from the Fraser River in British Columbia to the Saint John in New Brunswick. It was difficult and dangerous, and a lot of what you wrote here is exactly what he did. He would adore you and your contingency planning. Kudos :-)
Hi Sue, this is the best travel advice I have ever come across. No wonder you were at ease with yourself in Haifa.I Really enjoyed reading this blog. Simply the best
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Second time reading this
I really loved it
Do you reuse the plastic bags where you put the leakproof bottles and complete outfits or do you use new ones for each trip?
One more, how do you store the passport/credit card scans online so that they are safe? (having these in my gmail doesn’t seem very safe…)
Great post, I enjoyed it very much.
“I carry this style of travel adaptor, because it’s self-contained with no parts to break or lose. The ones I own are black but I’d rather have them in a bright colour so I would notice when I am leaving them behind.”
Consider putting strips of brightly colored plastic/vinyl tape (like electrical tape) on your black easily not noticed as you leave small objects.