Japanese Buddhist monks and Rick Steves taught me everything I know about packing in one bag, and I’ve been practicing. Let me clarify what I mean by bag. This is not a checked bag or roller carry-on bag, but the kind you fit under the seat in front of you, often called your personal bag. I’ll tell you how we pack in one of these bags for every summer trip we’ve ever taken.
My first encounter with minimalist packing came when I was a young girl in 1976. My Japanese father hosted a group of Buddhist monks from Japan who were walking in the Continental Walk for Disarmament and Social Justice. The monks were otherworldly, not only in their chanting, but how they traveled. Their luggage was one small bag each, smaller than many purses. They didn’t even have a back-up set of their glorious orange flowing robes, which they washed when necessary. If their robes had pockets, they probably could have packed in those. They not only traveled for years with few possessions, it was how they lived. They understood the saying: Travel light, live light, be the light.
My second inspiration came in 2002, when we were planning our first big trip. I watched every travel show possible, which were mainly by travel guru Rick Steves. My favorite was when he showed how to pack in one bag, which looked more like a messenger bag than a typical carry on. I decided if the travel god Steves said it could be done, then it must be possible for even mere mortal packers like us. But we’d have to do a Rick Steves version plus three kids, one of them a two-month-old newborn. Can you fit a stroller and car seat into a messenger bag, and they have Huggies in Europe, right?
There are services that will pick your luggage up at your door and deliver them to any address in the world. But if this isn’t in the budget, you will be self-hauling your stuff everywhere.
The happiest traveler is always the one who packed the lightest. Why? Because packing light = freedom.
For the quiet cynics who are already thinking, “Ya, but I have a teenage girl who needs fashion choices and a bushel of hair products,” I feel your suffering, times three. Trust the monks, Steves, and me–if I’ve made this a reality in my world, it can happen in yours, too.
10. Hockey Bag or School Knapsack?
I aim for transparency, so you should know–we pack one of two ways, like monks or like a hockey team. Unlike many travelers, we haven’t made significant investments in luggage. Never have, probably never will. We use whatever’s kicking around the house, with the exception of an REI bag we bought for the world trip. When we moved to Guatemala for a few years, we packed in what we had, which was an abundance of the girls’ gently used hockey bags (meaning they did not have that roadkill smell inside–Canadians know what I mean). When we pack like monks, the girls empty their school bags on the last day of school, we launder them, and that’s where their summer gear goes for our trip.
9. When can I pack like a hockey team?
How do you choose the right size bag? The short answer; your personal stamina and bench press number. You can pack like a hockey team when you won’t have to dislocate our shoulder by actually handling your bags. When we go on a cruise we pack with reckless abandon, throwing all the sandals and flip flops in there willy-nilly. Have at it! We may need 3 people to lift that heavy beast into the trunk, then we dumpster-drop it off curbside at the port. At the end of the trip, we need a small village to lift it back into trunk. We have minimal consequences for our overpacking.
8. When do you pack like a monk?
When you plan on being extremely mobile, you’re moving from place to place, hotel to hotel, or traveling for a great length of time with many locations. Whenever we aren’t going somewhere to settle down for a while, we implement our one bag rule, whether it’s for a summer or a year. That soft bag needs to fit under the seat of a plane, or on your lap whether you’re on a packed train or in a taxi/Uber/Lift that has no trunk space. Some days you may have your stuff on your back for most of the day, while walking and doing stairs. It needs to be able to fit into the small lockers they have at museums, and allow you to climb 6 flights of stairs in buildings with no elevators. You need to be portable, go anywhere, do anything. How big your carry-burden is during any mobile travel day directly impacts your choices for that day. The last thing you need is for your bag to anchor your mobility, limit what you want to see, where you want to go.
7. Big Luggage Issues
Some days you are in transition, you’re homeless, but you also want to see the city you’re in. If the hotel won’t hold your luggage, you must find lockers. Due to security concerns, lockers are becoming more rare and often won’t fit something larger than a generous purse. You must always circle back to the locker, which may not be convenient if you are migrating only one direction to the airport or another part of the city. Lockers aren’t cheap and are often full, and you’ll need a few. No lockers? Then one person may need to become the bag babysitter–who wants to do be left behind? Many restaurants are tiny or are have tightly packed with tables. They don’t want your baggage in their aisles.
6. Roller bags?
Some people choose bags with rollers. We do not and I’ll tell you why. They are heavier, they are noisy, they trip other people in really tight situations like crowded airports, subways, malls. You also can’t tuck them comfortably into your lap in crowded public transportation or taxis. Older cities have lots of stairs, cobble stone streets, uneven sidewalks. In Venice, for example, unless the water taxi can pull up to your hotel, you have to walk to get to your accomodations. Roller bags hamper one’s true mobility as a traveler.
6b Kids roller bags?
Some people think little kids need roller bags or they’ll hurt their backs. Our take is, if you’ll hurt your back, you’ve still packed to much. Kids are also notorious for tripping adults with their trail behind them bags.
Summer in Europe 2004
Summer in Europe 2004
5. But I’m a fashionista, don’t judge me!
My response to that is, so happy for you. You still need to pack all that fashionista energy into a compact bag that will fit comfortably under an airplane seat. Take a variety of light compact earrings to express yourself. The fewer things you bring the more room you will have to buy new clothes along the way. If you need variety, bring clothes to give away en route once you find new favorite items to buy.
4. When to begin one-bag training.
If our girls could wear a backpack to school carrying their lunch, books, and gym shoes, they were carrying their clothes for summer trips. At three years old they can carry a couple of sundresses, a bundle of underwear and their teddybear. We’ve done it many times. Our girls have learned since they were toddlers to pack light or they will regret it during the trip. They have bribed sisters to take stuff for them in their bags, they’ve strapped large souvenirs to their bodies, tried to give their clothes away to their sisters. We had a rule that you can’t complain that your bag is heavy since that’s your own packing-fault. The girls quickly became minimalist packers. They would rather have a jacket with a hood than tote an umbrella. They will use a rolled up sweatshirt instead of a travel pillow. It’s my parenting philosophy that it’s never too early to teach kids to carry their own luggage, read, and share Cheetos with their mom.
3. Strategies
~ Thanks to washing machines, it doesn’t matter how long you are gone, you can pack the same amount of stuff. We wash a load every week. If you don’t like doing laundry all I have to say is… so sorry.
~ Pack neutral, versatile clothing that you can see repeatedly in your photos.
~ Share items that you can as a family, hair products, sunscreen, toothpaste, chargers, camera lenses.
2. Ship and Swap
When we traveled to 32 countries for more than a year, we were zigzagging from warmer to colder climates. We were also buying souvenirs along the way we didn’t want to haul around the globe. We mailed packages from Paris, Tokyo, and Thailand back home which had souvenirs and new winter clothes we didn’t want to give away, but didn’t want to haul through the warmer climates. Everything made it home safely except for my left grey Freye boot. A good reminder that favorite items are best left at home, unless you don’t mind hopping. We also gave lots of clothing away as we bought new things.
1. Packing THE bag.
Wear the bulky stuff on the planes; sneakers, jeans, long sleeve shirt, sweater or sweatshirt, and jacket. Without exception, we are always cold on planes, you can knot a sweatshirt to make a great pillow.
In the bag:
~ long sleeve shirt
~ Lulus or other soft pants
~ pair of shorts
~ 3 cotton t-shirts
~ 5-7 underwear
~ flip flops or light sandals
~ extra bra
~ 1-2 socks
~swimsuit
Must have a outfit combo suitable for a nice restaurant or church service. The girls always see clothes they want to buy–shirts, pjs, dresses, so they’ve cut back on what they pack and leave more space for acquisitions.
Toiletries
~favorite lip stuff, eye-liner, mascara (optional)
~ small deodorant
~ travel toothbrush
~ compact brush, hair ties
~ extra contacts, case, sunglasses
Toiletries and make-up are heavy, so minimize. Also keep in mind this is a carry on bag, so liquid and pointy restrictions apply. Shampoo bars are wonderful and not liquid.
Gadgets
~ phone and individual charger
~ laptop and charger
~ camera, GoPro, batteries, chargers
We share toothpaste, hair stuff, camera charger chords and lenses, voltage changers.
Paul packs more than we do, but he does this thing called exercise. He can also carry more without whining.
That’s it, and we’re off. North Americans may find this minimalist packing, the monks would call it excessive. Have fun finding what works for you.
