Packing

My wife and I do two types of travel; heavy and light.

An example of heavy travel would be our trip to California and Arizona last winter. We were driving, and so had a lot of room in the car. We take big suitcases, along with several other types of bags. There are a few extra boxes to organize things. We pretty much take everything that we think we might need or want. Plenty of clothes, and shoes, and even a pair of folding bikes.

Sometimes we do the opposite. Normally, this would be when air travel is involved. We don't like waiting around in airports for luggage to arrive; paying extra for all those checked bags. Our response is to take everything we require in carry-on bags. Of course, we can't take the bikes.

Our carry-on bags are small, to fit within every airlines size requirements. We don't want to travel in a minimalist way just to have the airline insist that our cases be checked anyway. That would totally defeat the purpose. This means that our bags are ridiculously small. What are we able to take?

It isn't much. The only loophole is that airlines all allow an extra “personal item.” If this item is in the form of a bag, like one for a laptop, extra regular packing can be put inside. Small second bags are called “totes,” and must be of a certain small size, but it means more packing room.

For our most recent light trip, I took three sets of shirt, underwear, and socks. Only two fly in the bag, and the other set on my body. I wear one pair of pants, and the only other is in the bag. I wear the only jacket that I take, and one of only two pairs of shoes. A bathing suit doesn't eat up much room. Toiletries are very stripped down.

All I take is a toothbrush, toothpaste, a couple of disposable razors, and some floss. When crossing borders, one is supposed to carry any pills or medications in the original packaging. My only real “medication” consists of a single low-dose aspirin daily, but I do take glucosomine and omega 3 oil, which come from the vitamin department of the store.

I carry only enough of each to get me through the trip, and haul them in the original packaging as required. As soon as borders are done with, the pill bottles get dumped and the contents transferred into a wee plastic box. When I return home it's empty. No cross-border pills to worry about.

These days electronics are essential. When going heavy, I bring my big camera, a smaller one, my ipad mini, a laptop computer, and an ipod, along with all the necessary cables, cords and chargers. It fills a pretty big bag. Helen's similar load gets heaped on top.

Going light with electronics means my big, best camera can't come along. I take my tiny camera, ipod, and ipad mini. Helen wants her big camera, iphone, and full sized ipad. It is still a pretty big pile when going carry-on style. The chargers go into my single, clothing bag, and the devices onto my body.

I wear a travel vest made by the Scott-e-vest people. It has a stupid amount of pockets. The two ipads go into huge chest pockets, and my ipod and camera vanish into a couple of the others. Helen carries her own phone, and either carries her camera, or it goes into somebody's carry-on bag.

Helen travels similarly low in clothing and such. She does need a special pillow, which we have to figure out how to cram in someplace. To make it fit, it gets sealed into a special plastic bag from which all air can be sucked. It ends up looking very pancake-like.

So we toddle off to the airport, with our wheeled bags following along, and our totes strapped on top. We are effectively wearing 1/3 of our wardrobes onto the plane, and my vest is darn heavy being stuffed with electronics and odds-and-ends.

What this all means at the other end is daily sink washing. We only take fancy-fabric quick dry clothing. Cleaning a shirt, underwear, and socks each day per person is no great hardship, but means a steady flow of things to wear. Pants will have to be washed, too, but far less frequently. We save that for times when we have several days in a row in one hotel.

If you think it would be hard to get yourself to do that every single day for perhaps a month, I agree. That's why I have three sets along. Once in a while I can skip the task, but will have a double chore the next day with no escape. If you think you could only face hotel-room washing once a week, you'd have to carry 7 sets of clothing, plus one to wear on the last day. Now that would be a big chore. You still end up washing one set for every day.

This might all horrify you, and for a trip with flying, rental cars, and taxis it is quite optional. For a trip with flying, trains, streetcars, and walking it is not.

Let's say you are flying to Barbados to stay in a resort for two weeks, and then flying home, you don't need to do it our style. Get driven to the airport, check in a few bags, fly, pick up your luggage, grab a taxi, get to the hotel and relax. Reverse it all on the way home.

Instead, let's have you do the same when travelling in say, Germany, by train, and car. Check in your bags and fly, pick them up. Then drag the load to the train, and onto the train. It will be a wrestle all the way. Get them off the train, and down the street to catch the streetcar, then get them on, and off, and on foot for a couple of blocks, then up the stairs to your room.

Our way in Germany would have you pulling a single wheelie bag behind you as you comfortable walk from place to place, easily lifting the small load when necessary, and even pumping it up the stairs to get to your room. You would even be comfortable shopping on the way, or visiting a restaurant.

It is so painless for us to wander about with our stuff, that we are able to take the easiest and cheapest route to get to Vancouver airport for our trips. We don't drive there, spending a fortune on parking and ferries.

Instead, we walk a kilometre to a bus stop in our neighbourhood, and ride to the ferry that way. We travel as foot passengers on the boat, which is a bargain, and catch another city bus on the other side. From that bus, we walk a bit downtown to get to the train, which takes us out to the airport. On the other side we likewise use public transit if possible.

Let's say the airline charges $25 per checked bag, and a couple is checking two. You might think it is worth $50 to travel heavier. You might be right. I might even do it, too. However, it would actually cost a heck of a lot more.

Take that example, and apply it to a 2-week trip to Britain, starting in London.

Couple A, drives to the ferry, rides, drives to the airport, parks, flies to London, takes a cab to the first hotel. Round-trip for the ferry is about $80, and parking for 2 weeks is a cost of about $200, and the London taxi is $20. Add on the $25 per bag airline fee. Don't forget that you'll pay again on the way home. It comes to $420.

Couple B, takes the bus to the ferry, rides, bus to downtown, train to the plain, no bag fee, and transit to the London Hotel, and all again going back. That cost is about $56.

Those two big bags end up costing $364 more than travelling light. Actually, it would be more due to needing taxis and rental cars to haul them from place to place. City buses, streetcars, and subways all become impractical. In Europe most people use transit, and we are able to move around like locals. It's part of the experience.

You would end up paying a lot more for a bunch of extra underpants, and shoes that you probably won't ever use.

If you must have more stuff, you could buy a pair of shoes at your destination, a half-dozen socks and underpants, and a few shirts, and still end up saving money, even if you threw them away before flying home. $364 buys a lot of underwear. If it would kill you to do that, buy the extras and when it's time to head home, buy a cheap bag and pay for just that one on the return flight. If you do, make sure you can handle dragging it home from the airport. If I did it, I wouldn't bring it home. Helen wouldn't let me throw it away, but we could surely donate it to a thrift shop or charity. She'd like that.

If you really get into going tiny, there ends up being vastly more room than you expect. Last time I packed light, I kept wondering what I was going to fill the space with. A pair of my favourite cargo shorts got added, but it wasn't enough. Luckily, Helen came to my rescue with some stuff that didn't quite fit in hers. There was still a little airspace inside, which is good. Might just want to buy something when on vacation.

So we get an easier trip to the plane, and get to move around like locals when we get to the other side. It also saves a significant amount of money.

It makes you think about what you really need to survive. Do you need all those clothing choices, or hair-care products? Do you really? At home I like an electric razor, an electric toothbrush, use mouthwash, and have preferred shower products. None of those travel with me when we go light. Instead, I take a few disposable razors, a regular toothbrush, no mouthwash, soaps, or cleansers.

Luckily, I'm bald and so don't need a comb or hairbrushes.