Hairdryer - I
don’t remember the last time I was in a hotel room that didn’t have one, and
many guys maintain a short haircut which really doesn’t require this huge
unnecessary device.
Shampoo
–
If you don’t mind hotel room toiletries, you can skip packing soap and shampoo.
Coffee
press or water heaters – at this point even low-end hotel
rooms are equipped with what is admittedly pretty low-end coffee, but if you’re
not too picky you might just go with what they offer rather than weighing
yourself down with your own supplies. For me, coffee is pretty essential, so just
to be confident I pack along a few Starbucks instant
coffee packets. Easily the best instant coffee out there, and
works for hot or iced coffee in a pinch. I also pack Ziploc with about a
quarter cup of powdered whole
milk.
I didn’t know this stuff existed until my first trip to Australia a few years
ago, and it’s so much better than the powdered coffee “whiteners” provided in
many hotel rooms.
Camera –
unless you are a professional or devoted amateur photographer, the awesome
camera in your smart phone is probably plenty good for most of your photography
purposes. My phone actually has a campus about 10 times as crisp as my first
digital camera which I thought was so awesome at the time.
Books – I
used to imagine that during my traveling I would plow through three or four
dense books, and would typically return with 8 pounds of books that I packed
and never once opened. Just load up your Kindle – or even better, Kindle app on
your phone – in advance with zero extra weight. Maybe my guide to 1-bag travel is a good place to start!
Computer –
before you reflexively pack a laptop, ask yourself whether all of your tasks
for this trip can be managed with just your phone. I can do a PowerPoint
presentation, respond to emails, and even do some light word processing using
just my phone.
Laundry
Bag
- the dry sack that I’m recommending for your hotel room laundry also works
great, on the way home, as an airtight dirty laundry bag. Alternatively, use
one of the plastic laundry bags in the hotel room for this purpose.
Workout
equipment – I have traveled with my exercise
bands and TRX
equipment, both of which provide great hotel room workouts without taking up a
lot of space. I have also done a few in room workouts using the ValSlide -
it’s an idea which seems great on paper, these things pack light, and are versatile
enough for upper and lower body exercises. But I can’t say I really ever loved
it enough to make it a regular part of my travel workout. And anyway most hotels have decent, although not great,
workout facilities where the creative guest can put together a decent full body
or cardio workout.
A jump
rope
takes up almost no space, and dedicated runners will probably get in their
workouts outdoors (ask the hotel concierge or other staff recommendations for
jogging routes to the hotel).
The “Scientific 7 Minute Workout” was kind of a craze a couple
of years back, but fads aside it is actually a really good bodyweight workout
requiring no equipment (and which actually takes about 8 minutes to complete).
With any luck at all, you’ll have the hotel pool completely to yourself – on
occasion, let your workout be a few quick laps. Even with one-bag packing, I
find that it’s easy enough to always have a pair of swim
goggles handy.
Gifts
and souvenirs - I see a lot of tourists boarding flights
with bags full of gifts and trinkets from places they’ve visited. It’s really
nice to think of others on the road, and it feels good to bring home something
special from an exotic location. But most of this stuff can be purchased online
during your travels, or immediately upon your return home. A lot of the really
cool cheaper souvenirs I have seen in my Australian travels were actually,
according to the fine print, manufactured in China. Purchasing those gift items
in Australia, and packing them back home with me, seemed like a remarkable
carbon footprint when you think about the journey from China to Australia and
back home to central Massachusetts.
It’s easier to simply have it drop shipped from the
source. And you can still present these gifts with comments like “they eat this stuff at every meal over
there and I thought it was weird at first but I really came to like it, so I
thought you might like to try it as well.” Or “I always think of you when I see snow globes, and this Louvre snow
globe might look great on your piano.”
However, if you run across a really singular or handmade
item that strikes you as the perfect gift for someone-bag home, ask the vendor
if they can mail the item for you so you don’t have to pack it. Alternatively,
pop into the local post office and mail it home yourself. Having mailed about
10 pounds of gift items (and an extra pair of jeans which I never should’ve packed
in the first place) from Australia to the US, I can warn you that this option
is not cheap and should be reserved for those really special items. At the time
I was convinced my nephews really needed those boomerangs.
You know what makes a really light souvenir? Remembering
that the word “souvenir” is actually
a French verb meaning “to remember,”
a postcard sent back to friends or loved ones from your travel destination is
affordable, pretty easy to locate in almost any locale, and adds no weight to your
one-bag minimalist travel system. If you will be traveling within your home
country, pack stamps in advance to save time during your travels - just drop
the postcard off at your hotel to make it super easy.
And if you’re thinking of purchasing an item for
yourself, consider this: research described
by
Harvard Business School’s Michael Norton and University of British Columbia
professor Elizabeth Dunn indicates that, for the purposes of personal happiness
and well-being, our money is better spent on experiences than on material
goods.
Get more awesome travel tips and 1-bag packing ideas by checking out my
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