[HN Gopher] Indefinite Backpack Travel
___________________________________________________________________
Indefinite Backpack Travel
Author : renjieliu
Score : 232 points
Date : 2025-10-02 17:12 UTC (4 days ago)
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| pavel_lishin wrote:
| > _Onebag travel is unquestionably the best way to travel.
| Traveling without luggage removes just about every pain point
| associated with flying, such as checking bags, overhead
| compartments, bag fees, waiting in line, and needing to drop off
| luggage before an adventure. Just stroll into the airport an hour
| before your flight, and walk off your plane directly to your
| destination._
|
| This is absolutely true, especially when traveling solo.
| nradov wrote:
| Not really true since you can't even bring a little pocketknife
| or other cutting tool with you.
| Scoundreller wrote:
| And different countries having different rules.
|
| Always fun to lose your contact lens solution at a transit
| airport that doesn't embrace "one stop security" and find
| yourself tracking some down on a Sunday. Fuck you Heathrow.
| pavel_lishin wrote:
| Yes, that's one thing that I really dislike. I'm very used to
| carrying my Leatherman supertool around with me, and it irks
| me that I can't do that.
|
| But I do have a Wallet Ninja that's useful that's only ever
| been questioned once, and never taken away. And I used to
| carry a small knife that folds into a key, and nobody ever
| noticed until one particularly bored TSA agent decided I
| couldn't take it with me. I should really order another one,
| or dozen, and treat them as "disposable" for traveling with.
| synack wrote:
| Swiss army knives are cheap and easy to find in every city.
| lm28469 wrote:
| You can fly with a swiss army knife in europe, or at least
| nobody ever questioned me. If you buy local everywhere you
| fly look for opinels, for $10 you get the perfect
| camping/food knife
| unglaublich wrote:
| And throw it away every time? Or at least give it away or
| so?
| Aurornis wrote:
| Leave it at the hotel/hostel. I leave a small note so the
| cleaning staff knows it's abandoned, not lost and in need
| of return.
|
| I've done this with various things I forgot, like a phone
| charger for the local outlet type.
| sib wrote:
| Back in the the before times of the '90's, when it still
| existed, I flew on SwissAir in a premium cabin for work;
| they _gave_ all the passengers Swiss Army knives as a gift
| while we were in the air...
| bongodongobob wrote:
| I have every time I've traveled. Lighters as well. TSA is
| fucking useless.
| unglaublich wrote:
| Most airports allow for 1 < 5cm knife and 1 lighter.
| nradov wrote:
| Nope, not in the USA.
|
| https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-
| screening/whatcanibring/...
| kube-system wrote:
| Lighters are allowed though:
|
| https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-
| screening/whatcanibring/...
| discomrobertul8 wrote:
| why do you need one? I see a lot of "edc" stuff online where
| people seem to carry knives and tools with them everywhere
| they go. I've never found a need to do so and never been
| caught out in a situation where I would have benefitted from
| a knife.
| coffeebeqn wrote:
| Having some kind of a sharpish edge is pretty useful in my
| experience. I just use a keychain multi tool that's more
| like a screwdriver than a knife but you can open things you
| can't with just your hands. A real pocket knife I only
| bring when camping or renovating or something like that
| zikduruqe wrote:
| "My good reason to carry a knife is that God gave me rather
| weak teeth and rudimentary claws in an evolutionary trade-
| off. The hairy-armed person who figured out how to put an
| edge on a suitable rock made it possible for us to be
| recognizably human in the first place. I wear a wristwatch
| whether or not I have an appointment to keep, and I carry a
| pen and/or pencil because I am a literate person whether or
| not I have a specific writing task ahead of me, and I carry
| a knife because I am a human and not an ape."
|
| - James Mattis
| kstrauser wrote:
| When I was a kid, my dad told me that all gentlemen should
| carry a pocket knife. (And presumably gentlewomen, too, but
| he was addressing me at the time.) I carry a nice Spyderco
| Para 3 with me at all times when I'm not flying somewhere
| and use it multiple times a day for random stuff like:
| trimming a loose thread on my shirt, digging out a
| splinter, trimming a hangnail before it can snag on
| something, cutting a length of rope, popping a piece of
| glass out of my shoe, opening an envelope, cutting tape on
| a box, slicing an apple or a piece of cheese, and so on ad
| infinitum. On the very few occasions where I didn't have
| it, I've reached for my phantom knife and been bummed to
| realize I didn't have the tool I was counting on. Without
| exaggeration, I use it every single day.
|
| Note that crazy stuff like self defense absolutely,
| positively does not enter the equation. I mention that only
| because some people get weird about it in both directions,
| both "eek, you carry a weapon around?!", and "ooh, ever get
| to stab anyone?!" No. My primary self defense mechanism is
| good running shoes and decent stamina.
| Aurornis wrote:
| If you can't go without, just buy one at the destination.
| Leave it at the hotel with a note that it's free for the
| taking when you leave.
| avidiax wrote:
| I have heard that people often forget that this is on their
| keys, and it is very rare that it is noticed:
|
| https://www.swisstechtools.com/product/detail.html?id=111
|
| You could bring the Swiss Army Jetsetter, but the problem
| with that is that you are almost certain to get stopped by US
| security every time, and deal with a 1-15 minute delay
| depending on how well the particular agent you get knows
| their rules around scissors and how many times they
| mistakenly call your item a Swiss Army "knife". To save
| yourself some trouble, just put it on an s-biner on the
| outside of your backpack, and ideally extend the tools so it
| is obvious there's no knife.
|
| https://www.victorinox.com/en/Products/Swiss-Army-
| Knife%E2%8...
| AlotOfReading wrote:
| If only it could solve the pain points from _other people_ ,
| especially overhead compartments and TSA/customs.
| turrican wrote:
| It's uncomfortably close to bribery, but Precheck/Global
| Entry is worth every penny.
| hylaride wrote:
| People freak out about this, but all it boils down to is
| bringing enough socks, underwear, and shirts for ~5-6 days, 2
| pairs of bottoms, and (depending on weather) or a combination
| of 2 and/either sweaters and an outer shell. Wear the biggest
| stuff (pants/sweaters) on the plane. After that be willing to
| do laundry, which will often put you in a position that's
| outside the tourist mainstream and force you to slow down and
| take stalk for a few hours (single use detergent packs are a
| thing, but you can also just bring a few tide pods in a zip-
| lock bag). Freak weather events can be used as an excuse to
| shop for clothing, too (the best rain jacket that I ever bought
| was in this situation in the Netherlands - it was expensive,
| but I'm still using it a decade later - a fantastic souvenir
| that people always complement me on when wearing it).
|
| Of course, if you need to lug more (for special occasions or
| business), that's another matter, but it still makes my jaw
| drop when I see people travelling on vacations with massive
| roller luggage that often sucks on cobblestone streets or
| lugging up stairs.
| arccy wrote:
| > single use detergent packs are a thing, but you can also
| just bring a few tide pods in a zip-lock bag
|
| Even better these days there are laundry sheets that are
| light / compact.
| gruez wrote:
| > Freak weather events can be used as an excuse to shop for
| clothing, too (the best rain jacket that I ever bought was in
| this situation in the Netherlands - it was expensive, but I'm
| still using it a decade later - a fantastic souvenir that
| people always complement me on when wearing it).
|
| This doesn't make any sense. Going going to a random shop to
| buy a rain jacket is inevitably going to be worse than doing
| careful research and ordering from the cheapest retailer.
| Moreover after you bought your first rain jacket, then what?
| Buy another next time it rains? If not, why not just buy it
| ahead of your trip and pack it?
| b_e_n_t_o_n wrote:
| I don't think they have the same definition of "best" that
| you do.
| b_e_n_t_o_n wrote:
| I think it depends on how you're travelling. If you're
| staying in hostels and moving locations frequently (v common
| for solo travel), walking/busing instead of uber/taxi, using
| just one bag is peak. But if you're staying longer or you
| have your own room, getting rides places etc, then it might
| be worth having more clothes and dealing with lugging your
| suitcase around occasionally.
|
| Doesn't even need to be a suitcase, a big duffel bag can hold
| just as much clothing and be more convenient for carrying
| around, although you still need to check it at the airport.
| kakacik wrote:
| Depends where you go, if planning some 3 week remote hiking in
| ie Nepal it may not be the best approach.
|
| Ie I've recently spent 2 weeks in remote islands in Sulawesi,
| Indonesia and didn't bring enough mosquito spray. Well, on
| whole island chain I was in, nobody in tiny local shops ever
| had one. When asked, they told me they suck up malaria if
| caught and move on, sort of how we deal with flu. Luckily
| dengue wasn't there. So suck it up I did, luckily it seems I
| avoided it (knock on the wood).
|
| With spray comes sunscreen. Some basic diving equipment. Non-
| tiny first aid kid. Some photography stuff. But yeah for that
| one I could still put it all into 1 medium backpack, just
| liquids travelled separately. For that Nepal, backpack was
| bigger. For Aconcagua, there was an extra big duffel bag. If
| doing full camping and cooking, one backpack but much bigger.
| mhitza wrote:
| A rather depressive color pallet, pick your black, silver or
| white :)
|
| I'm going to steal their approach at rolling up clothes, though.
| ramses0 wrote:
| I'll do you one better- take ~6ft of paracord, tie a simple
| loop in one end and a stopper-knot in the other. You can then
| use the noose-end to start a loop and wrap the remainder (zig-
| zag) around the rolled clothes and tuck the stopper knot
| underneath the criss-cross sections.
|
| You go from "loose rolls of clothes" to "solid bundles of
| fabric". Makes it so you can take in/out individual items
| rather than having everything randomly unrolling every time you
| try and pull something out.
| stevezsa8 wrote:
| I tried the rolling clothes thing. And it does work. But as I
| got older, I found using packing cubes to be better.
|
| This way things have their place and you know where to find
| something specific.
| darntoughsocks wrote:
| Darn Tough socks.
| yonaguska wrote:
| I still have mine from ~7 years ago. I only wear them during
| winter but still.
| baldeagle wrote:
| My wife dropped a small mint for darn tough socks like three
| years ago as a father's day gift. It's been delightful.
| spongebobstoes wrote:
| I find them too small, they're hard to get on my feet. Good
| quality tho.
| hitarpetar wrote:
| check out Wide Open, new line of wider socks from DT
| avn2109 wrote:
| Still not wide enough. If anybody has wider reccos in big
| sizes other than "oddball" brand, I'm all ears.
| entropie wrote:
| I had a small hole in them and contacted support and they told
| me to send another photo of the socks after I destroyed them.
| Then I got reimbursed.
|
| I was under the impression I have to send them in and they are
| repaired. Nope. Probably my mistake to assume.
| mikestew wrote:
| Despite the brand name, I can't imagine that darning socks
| would be more economical than just shipping a new pair.
| delichon wrote:
| I lived out of a backpack for two months on a Pacific Crest Trail
| hike. I got comfortable with it and told myself that I had
| overcome my materialism, and could henceforth live happily
| without a lot of stuff and conveniences.
|
| Not so much. Now a couple of decades later, I've got a house and
| garage crammed with stuff. Yesterday I had a plumber here working
| on a leak, and this morning I have no running water, and here I
| am bravely holding back tears. My inner dialog is "this is
| unacceptable!" It turns out that climbing on the hedonic
| treadmill is practically effortless, but sliding down it is full
| of splinters.
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| Yeah, when we stop moving, it's so easy to start hoarding.
|
| I lived in Mexico for 10 years with just two duffelbags of
| clothes and essentials. I could carry both on a plane unchecked
| and be anywhere with nothing left behind, and I loved it.
|
| Now I look around me in my apartment I share with my girlfriend
| and have things I wouldn't have even conceived of, like a
| gaming PC with two monitors (for what??) and a closet full of
| clothes as if I don't wear the same 5 things.
| TimorousBestie wrote:
| > like a gaming PC with two monitors (for what??)
|
| There's nothing like the pleasure of idling in a pointless
| MMO on one screen while half-watching youtube autoplay on the
| other. Alternate Monster with White Claw and you've got peak
| hedonism.
| riversflow wrote:
| You missed the geekbar and the penjamim. For max effect
| also put on a twitch streamer in a different game, listen
| to imported pop music or edm, and idle in a discord. Oh and
| have a collection of fidget toys on your desk.
| Mr_Eri_Atlov wrote:
| My ideal is 3 monitors
|
| One in the middle for a game
|
| One to the right for a video
|
| One to the left with systems stats and an RSS feed
| jimbokun wrote:
| To each his own. This sounds terrible to me.
|
| Now bouncing between multiple Champions League games in the
| middle of an afternoon with easy access to good espresso...
| LeifCarrotson wrote:
| I met a family who had just moved to Wisconson from Italy
| last week. The four of them (Mom, Dad, ~14yo son, and ~12yo
| daughter) packed everything they were going to bring with
| them into a backpack and two checked bags each. Incredible!
| What would you pick?
|
| I have a garage and a shed (OK, fine, it's a 24x36 barn) and
| a basement and a home office that barely contain the enormous
| quantity of my stuff at home. And yet I honestly think the
| highlight of this summer was waking up to the sunrise on one
| of the remotest parts of the Appalachian trail through the
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with no possessions that
| wouldn't fit in a 22L ultralight backpack - including several
| of the same items as this guy's kit.
|
| On the one hand, most of the stuff is replaceable, "fungible"
| if you like, rather than sentimental. On the other, I keep it
| because I like to have certain capabilities, like cooking and
| auto repair and home building - I can't fit a tablesaw or
| pressure washer or food processor in a backpack; I've got a
| rack of 24 giant totes in the garage with painting supplies
| and plumbing supplies and bike parts and specialty auto
| repair tool cases and on and on that each occupy more volume
| than the one backpack this guy lives out of. I also recognize
| that this is a colossally inefficient way to allocate things
| among a group of people: I'm not going to pay a painter $1500
| to do a crappy job to repaint my bathroom when I can do it
| myself with far greater quality for $100 in paint and a
| couple hundred bucks worth of tools in a giant tote, and
| neither are most of my neighbors, but this means that a
| sizeable fraction of people in the neighborhood live around
| our own personal totes of painting supplies.
|
| If I was going to pay someone else to build and repair and
| maintain and clean the house/apartment/condo/hotel that I
| live in (when I'm not in a tent, that's only about 5% of my
| time), and to take care of the cars and bikes that I ride in
| and on, and to cook the variety of food that I eat, and on
| and on, I would have a _lot_ less stuff. If I bought tools to
| do these tasks that I would use once and then sell
| /give/throw them away...that would be unaffordable for me.
| One of the lessons that my Dad passed down to me is to never
| buy a thing unless you have the resources in time, price of
| consumables, tools, and space to clean it, maintain it, fix
| it, and store it - those are real costs beyond the sticker
| price of a new toy.
|
| Where does the money come from that allows one to sleep in
| hotels, ride in rental cars, travel in airports, and eat in
| restaurants for years on end?
| Arainach wrote:
| >Where does the money come from that allows one to sleep in
| hotels, ride in rental cars, travel in airports, and eat in
| restaurants for years on end?
|
| If you keep your standards modest, the math isn't as bad as
| it intuitively seems.
|
| A $100 hotel per night is the equivalent of a $3000
| mortgage/rent. And if you're living out of one bag you
| don't necessarily need that and probably have cheaper
| options like hostels (or tent camping) available.
|
| If you're working a software job or have worked such jobs
| long enough to have a few million in assets gathering
| interest, the cost of living isn't prohibitive.
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| My mortgage is under a thousand :O
|
| If I had a few million in assets I'd be retired
| Arainach wrote:
| ....and?
|
| Different people make different choices on how to spend
| their money. Some spend their money on cigarettes, or
| sports season tickets, or modifications to cars, or
| collections of things. Some give most of their spare
| money to their church or a charity. Some send money off
| to relatives. Some travel.
|
| Hotels wherever you are probably aren't $100 a night.
|
| If you have a mortgage below $1000 you have something
| that almost no one in a western nation will ever see
| again. Congratulations, but your anecdote is irrelevant
| to basically everyone.
|
| The current 30 year fixed mortgage rate is about 6.3%. It
| should probably be higher. A $1000 payment would mean a
| loan for about $160000 - significantly less if property
| taxes and insurance are included in that mortgage
| payment. There are very few places in the world with a
| significant number of available jobs where most people
| can buy a house for that.
|
| Let's look through the midwest and throw a dart at Akron,
| OH. You're within commuting distance of Cleveland, you've
| got a university and an airport, there are probably jobs.
|
| Property taxes are 1.8%. Home insurance is hard to
| estimate but let's pretend $1500/yr. Average home sale
| price is around $137K. That puts you closer to $1200/mo,
| and most places are far worse.
| lisbbb wrote:
| Retirement sucks, tbh. The lack of well-defined purpose
| is awful.
| Arainach wrote:
| I feel like the real problem is tying one's purpose to
| employment. If you can't find value in your life without
| someone telling you what to do you should take some time
| off work and reflect deeply on that.
|
| You don't have to sit at home in retirement. You can go
| out and be involved in any number of communities -
| volunteer, join local government, go do fundraising for a
| cause you care about. The biggest difference there is
| that if you're not enjoying it you can just leave and not
| worry about how you're paying rent.
| ghaff wrote:
| I certainly feel a lot better than where I was latterly.
| Would have preferred some projects that got a bit
| sidetracked for various reasons. Overall, pretty happy
| not having a full-time job. As I clean some things up
| though, definitely looking forward to having a more
| scheduled (if part-time) plan.
| dsr_ wrote:
| Humans always and only generate their own purpose. The
| awfulness is entirely on the side of having to work hard
| to sustain yourself.
| fragmede wrote:
| sorry if this comes across the wrong way, but you don't
| have to be retired. there's plenty of purposeful things
| you can find to give your life meaning. Given that you
| don't need to be paid, there are even more opportunities
| that could benefit from your expertise that you've built
| up over your career or careers.
| jimbokun wrote:
| Retirement just means Fuck You money.
|
| Can work for money or not, but if you are and your
| employer creates unacceptable or undesirable conditions
| you can immediately say Fuck You and just go do something
| else without worrying about covering the necessities of
| life.
| holoduke wrote:
| Nah. That's not how it works. I could retire, but choose
| to keep working. The idea that you can simply step out is
| based on the idea that you don't need work.cbut in my
| case I need it for its social aspects and to stay
| motivated to do things. I still have the same issues as
| other people where in the mornings I just want to stay in
| bed. But I still go to work. Because I know it's
| ultimately a better choice.
| ElevenLathe wrote:
| In other words, it's not a problem if you're one of the
| wealthiest people ever to exist in human history.
| Arainach wrote:
| At no point was this positioned as a "for everyone"
| approach. It requires resources and compromises. None of
| the gear in this article is particularly cheap.
|
| That said, the cost is not significantly different from
| other forms of living. The average rent in
| SF/NYC/Seattle/London/etc. is sky high as well.
| probablynish wrote:
| > None of the gear in this article is particularly cheap.
|
| The $4 baseball cap isn't bad :) Darn Tough socks are
| also arguably also pretty cheap over a lifetime of use
| since the company mails you a free replacement pair if
| you wear one out
| skeeter2020 wrote:
| >> worked such jobs long enough to have a few million in
| assets gathering interest
|
| so essentially no one in the entire world?
| exe34 wrote:
| I have a load of crap I've accumulated over the years, but I
| try to regularly look at and consider everything, with the
| aim of simply imagining life without it. I'm reasonably
| confident that I could get rid of most of it without missing
| it much if I had to - but for now I'm still holding on to
| them in case they become useful again. It currently costs me
| less to keep them than to replace them in the future.
| AaronAPU wrote:
| I think in general we fill whatever amount of space we have
| available. Nature abhors a vacuum.
| Aurornis wrote:
| > My inner dialog is "this is unacceptable!" It turns out that
| climbing on the hedonic treadmill is practically effortless,
| but sliding down it is full of splinters.
|
| For me, in situations like this the frustration comes from
| having invested so much into something that isn't delivering
| what it was supposed to.
|
| For example, when my 20 year old car broke down it was an
| inconvenience, but I could also shrug it off because I got my
| money's worth out of the car long ago.
|
| If an expensive brand new car broke down I would be
| inconvenienced, but the situation would be much more
| frustrating because I spent so much on a new car to avoid these
| issues.
| beaker52 wrote:
| > I got comfortable with it and told myself that I had overcome
| my materialism, and could henceforth live happily without a lot
| of stuff and conveniences.
|
| Same. Exactly the same.
|
| I have often reflected that I have never been as happy as when
| I had the least stuff, either.
|
| I often wonder if it's a) correlation or causation and b)
| whether the stuff is caused by dissatisfaction or the
| dissatisfaction is caused by the stuff, or both.
|
| Either way, I'm currently undergoing an intentional downsizing
| in my life, toward minimalism. Not the kind where I use it as
| an excuse to buy (more) expensive minimalist gear either.
|
| I'm shedding hobbies and interests that I have because I
| believe that they've become distractions that I bury myself in.
| Replacing them is far from my mind, but prising them out of my
| fingers is a very real challenge. It's hardly backpack living,
| but it's definitely moving in that direction.
| rockostrich wrote:
| As always, moderation is important for any normal person. I
| think that applies to minimalism as well. Use it to cut
| unnecessary stuff out of your life, but unless you're some
| outlier then it's probably not good to try and live the most
| minimalist life that you can without causing some terrible
| mental health effects along the way.
|
| > I'm shedding hobbies and interests that I have because I
| believe that they've become distractions that I bury myself
| in.
|
| Maybe you just haven't found the right hobby? Hobbies should
| feel rewarding, not like a distraction.
| beaker52 wrote:
| Of course.
|
| And perhaps? For me, the reward comes from the learning.
| (Who would have thought, being a software engineer by
| trade).
|
| Luckily my brain has a self-invalidating cache, but my
| home, not so much. Perhaps I will find the right hobby, but
| it should not be something that involves the accumulation
| of things, because the things weigh a hidden cost of
| possession. It's this hidden cost that hurts, like a tax,
| an inefficiency of the mind, or being. It's insidious
| because it's almost impossible to attribute the friction
| with the possession, because you're often not actively
| dealing with it, but it's there. It's like, you know you
| have 32gb of RAM, but for some reason you're only working
| with 20gb but you can't inspect what's stealing the other
| 12gb. It's only after removing things from disk, do you
| start to see the RAM getting freed up, and then you begin
| to appreciate the extra mental resources.
| rockostrich wrote:
| Not sure if you have a background outside of software
| engineering, but as someone who got a degree in
| mechanical engineering and then shifted over to software
| engineering I've landed on home/car maintenance as a
| pretty good base hobby to fall back on. There's always
| more to learn, you can do most of it with a pretty
| limited set of tools, and it has the added bonus of
| improving daily life.
|
| This may be a bit specific to me since I bought an older
| house and car in the past year and they require a bit
| more TLC. My partner and I painted all of the rooms
| (tools are just paint, brushes, and rollers). I've
| replaced almost all of the outlets and switches,
| including putting in a few zigbee switches (Sonoff
| ZBMINIR2s to be specific) since we have no overhead
| lights in any of our rooms and the switches don't control
| the right outlets... The only tools for that work are a
| screwdriver and a wire stripper. We also hung some
| cabinets in our living room and put up some bookshelves
| (made easier with power tools, but possible with hand
| tools). When it got warm, we did a bunch of work outside
| including some brick edging (bucket, mason line, and a
| trowel) and a fire pit (shovel, level, rake, and tamper).
|
| Cars require some more tools but you can do pretty much
| every bit of maintenance work with a standard set of
| wrenches, a jack, and jack stands.
|
| Everything just sits against the wall or in a toolbox in
| the garage. It's a big 2 car garage but it fits a home
| gym set-up, a TV on a cart, a workbench, a bunch of
| furniture that we need to get rid of on FB Marketplace,
| and there's still room to pull in a car (mine is in there
| right now since I'm changing the spark plugs).
| gtowey wrote:
| There's more to it than that.
|
| I've been practicing this from a different perspective. It's
| not necessarily bad to have stuff or buy stuff, but you have
| to spend just as much time getting rid of things and
| evaluating their continued usefulness as you spend shopping
| and buying new things.
|
| In tech terms, if you have a queue which you only ever add
| items to, well we all know what happens.
|
| This second part of the process is overlooked, and
| particularly because our corporate overlords don't make any
| money from this careful consideration and management of our
| lives and the items within it. At least with my parents
| generation -- the boomers -- they went all in on purchasing
| with never getting rid of anything. Like a dragon and its
| hoard. Looking at craigslist estate sales is so crazy,
| because you see someone's lifetime of absolute junk they
| spent all their time accumulating, but obviously no time
| getting rid of anything. In fact, they just died and made it
| someone else's problem to deal with it.
| rockostrich wrote:
| > It turns out that climbing on the hedonic treadmill is
| practically effortless, but sliding down it is full of
| splinters.
|
| Not sure if I'm missing a joke, but the whole point of the
| analogy being a treadmill is that there's nothing to fall down.
| Regardless of positive (running forward) or negative (going
| backward on the treadmill) life changes, your happiness will
| probably stay relatively consistent because you're on a
| treadmill and there's nowhere to go.
|
| The live out of a backpack lifestyle is definitely a unique way
| to experience the modern world and I'm sure it's fulfilling for
| the author, but you can even tell in their post that life
| caught up with them somewhat and they needed to start staying
| in one place a little longer in order to maintain social
| relationships. Their linked post about walking every block of
| Manhattan and tracking all of their movement since 2015 feels
| like the exact opposite of a minimalist lifestyle and it seems
| to me like they live out of a backpack not out of some anti-
| materialism lifestyle, but instead just as a practical way to
| fuel this obsession with traveling and tracking.
|
| I admit, I've seen the author's Instagram story about walking
| 100k steps in a day in NYC and watched the whole thing because
| it's interesting, but I also take that and posts like this with
| a grain of salt. I'll happily take my horde of shit I need to
| get rid of in the garage over obsessing about how I can
| optimize tracking my every movement.
| msluyter wrote:
| Perhaps the joke is that the valence of going backward or
| forward isn't equivalent. IIRC, some studies show that people
| will generally accept smaller gains to avoid the possibility
| of loss. Eg, loss has a greater (negative) emotional impact
| than equivalent (positive) gains.
| vacuity wrote:
| > I don't think it's reasonable to compare the risk of
| suffering a large loss with the risk of missing out on a
| large gain. If your annual income is $N, missing out on a
| gain of $N is bad, but not nearly as bad a suffering a loss
| of $N.
|
| - A comment I saw elsewhere on HN today
|
| It's quite rational, in many cases, to consider loss of an
| object X worse than gain of X. A less rigorous example I
| like to use: it's far easier, and unequal, to kill a person
| than revive a person.
| buellerbueller wrote:
| This, in a nutshell, is why Effective Altruism sucks.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Isn't this the accepted advice for investment. Putting
| money in something that gains X% consistently with years
| of proven sustained growth vs putting money in something
| with potential 100X% growth but could give you negative
| growth if it fails has always been the advice in long
| term financial planning
| zevon wrote:
| I don't know if you use some sort of safety treadmill but on
| many, you will fall if you don't/can't run anymore. There's
| your metaphor for life. Also, running on a treadmill is/can
| be viewed an image for _not_ moving forward despite all the
| running you do.
| taneq wrote:
| Yeah, I thought the treadmill image was about having to
| keep running just to stay in the same place (a Red Queen's
| race) rather than anything about falling down.
| raffael_de wrote:
| Two months isn't really that long.
| ortusdux wrote:
| we forget quickly
|
| we grow with our container
|
| we are all goldfish
| jameslk wrote:
| Your IKEA Nesting Instinct kicked in. The things you own ended
| up owning you
| dylan604 wrote:
| Did we just get a visit from Tyler Durden?
| kridsdale3 wrote:
| Hey! We have the exact same briefcase.
| carabiner wrote:
| I thru-hiked the PCT in 5 months 10 years ago. Same experience.
| I remember eating on the trail 2 bricks of instant ramen for
| dinner every day and being utterly content. It was the most raw
| form of living I've ever experienced.
| 65 wrote:
| Maybe one good thing about the torture of living in NYC is you
| get used to the torture of living in NYC.
|
| My very small, very expensive apartment has had no running
| water throughout the work day for the past two weeks because of
| water main construction (which I get woken up to at 7am every
| day). There's a jerk chicken restaurant next door to my
| apartment that blasts music all day long outside. Roaches and
| mice and rats. Long crowded subway commutes. I do hate this
| life in various ways, but I guess it toughens you up and you
| get used to it.
| yard2010 wrote:
| This resonates deeply with my personal experience, why does
| everyone like this? Is this becoming magical at some stage?
| adolph wrote:
| > I got comfortable with it and told myself that I had overcome
| my materialism
|
| Vervaeke's "Meaning Crisis" talks have interesting things to
| say about this sense of the world between modes of "having"
| (material) and "being" (existential). Fromm's
| point is we get mixed up. We try to satisfy our being needs
| within the having mode. We suffer from "Modal
| Confusion". Think about how much our culture is
| organized around this because it serves a lot of market
| interests if I can confuse you, if I can get you to try
| and pursue your being needs within the having mode.
|
| https://www.meaningcrisis.co/episode-7-aristotles-world-view...
| GuB-42 wrote:
| It hurts a lot more if you are unprepared.
|
| When you are at home, you expect to have running water, on a
| hike, you expect not to and plan around it.
|
| But there are things you expect while on a hike that are unlike
| your daily life at home. Things like your day job, traffic,
| pollution, etc... If you had to share your trail with diesel
| trucks and get regular calls from your boss, you would probably
| be upset, even if that's what you have every day at home.
| dheera wrote:
| I used to do the one bag thing while travelling until I had
| more disposable income and could afford taxi rides, baggage
| fees and all of that.
|
| I used to own only things that I could move on my own and fit
| in a normal car, until I had more disposable income and hiring
| movers became a non-issue.
|
| I still try to maintain non-attachment to material things but I
| now welcome enjoying material things in a functional way. For
| example, I own a ton of kitchen gadgets and that allows me to
| make interesting food, but I'm not married sentimentally to any
| particular gadget.
|
| Things change, I guess.
| drewg123 wrote:
| Its _SO ANNOYING_ to have to carry an Apple Silicon macbook AND
| an ipad. I 'd love to see a touchscreen option for macbook and
| the option to run in ipad mode. But that would probably
| cannibalize sales.
|
| As it is, you can theoretically run ios apps on Apple Silicon,
| but most app vendors disable that..
|
| My main use case for an ipad while traveling is to watch
| downloaded movies on a plane. "AR" (not really) glasses like
| nreal air are way smaller and lighter than an ipad and makes
| watching movies on my phone pretty amazing..
| pavel_lishin wrote:
| Out of curiosity, what is it about touchscreens that's such a
| big selling point for you?
| achenet wrote:
| not the person you're responding too, but I'm writing this on
| an older ThinkPad L390 Yoga with touchscreen, and I gotta
| say, being able to scroll on the screen when reading large
| documents (like PDF textbooks), or to just touch the part of
| the screen you'd like you're cursor to be if you've got
| multiple windows open is really nice.
| faeyanpiraat wrote:
| apple pencil
| dredmorbius wrote:
| Wacom tablet?
| abdullahkhalids wrote:
| As someone who uses a Wacom tablet daily, it is not
| convenient for traveling because you don't always find
| the right table to use it. I can imagine OP wants to use
| his tablet while sitting on his bed in his hotel room.
| drewg123 wrote:
| Great question..
|
| Me personally? Nothing. I hate them. I never want anybody to
| touch my screen.
|
| However, I've talked to at least one team that has disabled
| their app on MacOS who thinks having a UI designed for touch-
| screen run via a trackpad is too janky and would lead to a
| bad UX for their customers.
|
| I've run their app via playcover, and it _IS_ janky, but its
| a lot better than the weight of an iPad in my backpack.
| Arainach wrote:
| They're inherently convenient and fast to use. As I'm typing,
| it's far more ergonomic to take my middle finger and swipe on
| the screen to scroll than to reposition my hand to have two
| fingers on the trackpad. For extended reading I can keep one
| hand at the edge of the screen to scroll with a thumb instead
| of cramping my wrist. Zooming is quickly and intuitively
| obvious rather than having to figure out where my mouse
| cursor is, reposition it, do a pinch gesture or Ctrl plus
| (where IS the plus key? It seems to vary on every laptop I
| own), etc.
| unglaublich wrote:
| I believe product design votes against it because it would make
| all macbooks always be smudged and scratched, looking shit.
| Arainach wrote:
| Which is simply not true. Decades of touchscreen PCs show
| this isn't the case. My Surface Laptop 3 is 6 years old with
| thousands of hours of use (including constant touch and a
| fair amount of pen) and the screen isn't scratched and
| doesn't look bad at all.
| nihzm wrote:
| I don't think this is the reason. Since Apple stopped making
| new interesting product lines they are very attentive about
| not having one line cannibalize the sales of the other(s) as
| it happened with the iPod and iPhone. This is also the reason
| why iPads will never run macOS and vice-versa.
| criemen wrote:
| If only the macbook opened more than the 120 degrees (or so)
| angle with the screen I'd be sooo happy already (no touch
| required).
| bartvk wrote:
| I also recommend the 3F UL Gear tents. I bought the Taiji 2 for
| motorcycle trips. Very roomy for one person.
|
| https://3fulgear.com/product/freestanding-tent/taiji-2/
| kulahan wrote:
| For what it's worth, at least in cold weather, roominess isn't
| really desirable. You should have a pack that can handle
| inclement weather and a really tiny tent in a perfect world.
| bartvk wrote:
| On one hand, you're right and I do have a smaller tent. On
| the other hand, on a motorcycle you have a lot of bulky
| clothes and you need to put them somewhere. So it's always a
| bit of a balance.
| kulahan wrote:
| Very fair; I forgot about that weird dichotomy!
| Mistletoe wrote:
| I love this post but ain't no way I'm going minimalist and
| carrying a MacBook AND an iPad.
| Mr_Eri_Atlov wrote:
| For what it's worth, he did in fact abandon the ipad
| JamesAdir wrote:
| I'm always suspicious of a long list of affiliate links in one
| article.
| unglaublich wrote:
| As the author says: The post is 10 years old and updated and
| read millions of times. Why would you _not_ put referral links
| there? It's just a more direct form of advertisment.
| reaperducer wrote:
| "Indefinite backpack travel." We used to call this being a hobo.
|
| The only difference here is that this person is well-funded, so
| uses the latest high-end gear to do it, instead of a bindle.
|
| Yes, hobos do still exist. My recently deceased cousin-in-law was
| one, and proudly called himself a "hobo."
|
| Yes, they have smartphones.
| unethical_ban wrote:
| Hobo to me suggests lack of access to transit and housing on
| demand.
| bparsons wrote:
| I am always confounded when I get off a flight at a vacation
| destination and see people dragging these 80L roller bags around.
| What are you putting in there?
|
| Pack the absolute minimum. If you really need something, you can
| almost always buy it wherever you are going. Even trekking in the
| deep Himalayas, there was always a spot to buy an extra t-shirt
| or socks every day or so.
| discomrobertul8 wrote:
| Often mine is relatively empty on arrival and I fill it with
| wines and other souvenirs to take home
| octo888 wrote:
| Back when you could bring the more fun stuff back from Europe
| (meat, cheese etc) my big suitcase would be well over half
| empty on the way out. Quite a bit heavier on the way back ;)
| dalke wrote:
| On the return from my first trip to South Africa I carried 12
| bottles of wine in my luggage.
|
| That was back when flights included two free checked items.
|
| On my second trip to Europe one of my suitcases was full of
| T-shirt swag to give out at a conference. Lugging both up the
| stairs, across the train tracks, and back down was a hassle.
|
| Both of these were over 20 years ago.
|
| And then there's the story at
| https://notalwaysright.com/a-steam-powered-cruise/392530/ of
| a couple trying to bring a full-size espresso machine on
| their cruise, so they can have their special coffee.
| octo888 wrote:
| > On the return from my first trip to South Africa I
| carried 12 bottles of wine in my luggage.
|
| Totally understandable! Amazing wine - I didn't want to
| leave Constantia. But I picked myself up and dragged myself
| to Stellenbosch !
|
| And at the end of the trip, I didn't want to return home.
| Such an incredible country that still holds a very special
| place in my heart
| nradov wrote:
| If I'm going scuba diving at a vacation destination then I need
| a large roller bag just for dive gear, plus another carry-on
| bag for my camera rig. There's no way I'm going to dive with
| shitty rental gear (except for simple, heavy stuff like tanks
| and weight belt).
| scruple wrote:
| We travel out of a single roller bag for a family of 5. Plus we
| each have a backpack with miscellaneous stuff. We generally
| leave a little space in the luggage fo whatever we might pick
| up during our stay. Our kids are 6, 6, and 4 and we're
| currently on day 8 of 11 in Hawaii. It's been fine, we just do
| laundry every 2-3 nights.
| tetromino_ wrote:
| > What are you putting in there?
|
| Bulky gifts.
|
| Bulky sports equipment.
|
| Lots of kids' clothes. Kids' toys. Kids' books. Kids' medical
| kit.
|
| Clothes that span multiple seasons or climatic zones: warm,
| cold, heavy rain, snow. Extra shoes. Especially when you know
| that your things will get wet and that you will have only
| occasional opportunities to dry them.
|
| Suit/dress/fancy shoes if going to a wedding or other formal
| event.
|
| Add that, and 80L is not much volume...
| octo888 wrote:
| Shoes are always what get me. Wearing the same pair 2 days in a
| row isn't great for bacteria etc. Plus wanting sandals/flip-flops
| for the beach. Proper boots for any kind of hiking. Then I feel
| awkward particularly in Europe in the evening going to
| restaurants in trainers, so a pair of smart shoes is useful.
|
| Not saying I always take that entire combo, but almost always
| more than 1 pair.
| petsfed wrote:
| I used to be all boots all the time, but I realized somewhat
| recently that unless I'm carrying a heavy load, boots are
| significantly less comfortable than good e.g. trail running
| shoes. If I'm carrying the load that the OP is, hiking boots
| are not really useful for me. If you look at what e.g. extreme
| long-distance hikers are wearing on the Appalachian trail or
| the Pacific Crest trail, its usually trail running shoes,
| because it makes more sense for carrying a light load an
| extremely long distance.
|
| Certainly, if you've a history of ankle injuries or some other
| podiatric necessity, go for it. But for me, a pair of good
| walking shoes and a pair of good sandals is all I realistically
| need.
| b_e_n_t_o_n wrote:
| I can manage Europe with a pair of white Air Force's and flip
| flops. But I do agree. An extra pair of shoes is really nice to
| have.
| losthobbies wrote:
| I hope this doesn't mean I start looking to buy _another_ bag or
| edc stuff.
| kstrauser wrote:
| I bought a GR1 bag earlier this year. I am done with that for
| life.
| tropicalfruit wrote:
| this is like if patrick bateman read the 4 hour work week
| willguest wrote:
| are we allowed to have any colours, though?
|
| but really, every person i've seen who "activates" a lifestyle
| like this one only ever seems to wear black. i suppose it's the
| choice of any committed rationalist, but i think it's dull
|
| also, fine so long as you don't need to go any where that
| requires a different type of shoe
| octo888 wrote:
| It's the most versatile. It's more smart, hides sweat/stains,
| less noticeable if still damp etc. So if you're min-maxing it
| seems like an obvious choice.
|
| Though I agree a colourful linen shirt for example (pink,
| yellow) or a merino pullover wouldn't break your back
| egypturnash wrote:
| "capsule wardrobe" is the relevant term here, you pick 2-3
| colors that work together. It's the femme-coded equivalent.
| https://duckduckgo.com/?q=capsule+wardrobe&t=osx&ia=images&i...
| tristor wrote:
| I wear very little black, but I have tended towards darker
| colors. I've found that using earth tones blends well, similar
| to a capsule wardrobe, and you can incorporate greens, blues,
| and khakis along with darker colors like navy and black. Darker
| shirt, lighter pants, or lighter shirt, darker pants, and
| rotate through. You don't need to have very many different
| colors to effectively dress differently every day of a week or
| even across two weeks.
|
| Because of the need for minimalism in travel, my wardrobe does
| tend to be relatively conservative and muted, but it's not all-
| black all of the time. You can certainly have some color.
| unethical_ban wrote:
| I'm wrapping a trip through Europe and I only packed black
| tshirts and a flannel button-up "for color".
|
| Black is timeless, hides stains and sweat, easily layers of you
| want to buy something to add to it, matches multiple colors of
| trouser/jean/shoe.
|
| I vow on my next trip to pack fewer jeans (2 pair vs. 4), more
| socks (4-6 thin pair vs 3), fewer overshirts (1 vs 3, maybe a
| second that is "classy").
|
| I value having boots along with running shoes.
|
| I'm a 2 bag traveller. Even with my bloated clothing budget,
| shoes and toiletries volume, I was able to fit it all in a 46L
| carry-on backpack + a normal backpack, with a satchel rolled up
| for use on daily walks.
| blackhaj7 wrote:
| I did this for a year and half as I travelled around South
| America.
|
| Hard to describe how liberating it is to have so few possessions.
| So many choices you don't have to make. You become so fleet of
| foot that serendipity is everywhere.
|
| Glad I got the chance to do it
| esafak wrote:
| I experience the same liberation when I go to an all-inclusive
| resort! No choice to make but what to eat (which matters to me
| since I do all the cooking).
| nadermx wrote:
| Before being a digital nomad was cool I went full nomad. I
| remember being in a hostel in Thailand and just throwing away
| everything I had brought, going down to the basics. Ended up with
| a similar setup.
|
| The thing is, after years of doing it, learning new languages,
| making friends all over, and then leaving knowing you might not
| see them again for ever or for long stints, you start to feel the
| yearning to be able to connect with people on a deeper level.
|
| Now I have an apartment and basically only travel for weddings, I
| still go super light. But there is a joy in having variety in
| clothing or sneakers to wear. Friends who you've had multiple
| conversations with over the year's, even family who comes to
| visit you.
|
| I'm happy I rid myself of it all, but I'm also happy that now my
| apartment has the basics, and maybe a bit more. And I'm fine with
| it. Life doesn't have to be binary, you can mix and match and end
| up happy either way.
| qgin wrote:
| I think this is key. I travel nearly zero these days due to a
| long list of reasons, but the mental exercise of thinking about
| whether I could travel with my stuff helps me be more conscious
| about accumulating things that I don't really need.
| dalke wrote:
| I was a nomad for about a year. Towards the end I was tired of
| the constant leaving.
|
| I asked for advice from an NGO who moves countries often. She
| said what happens is the NGO members become part of the
| extended connection, which helps with that situation.
|
| Even when I was a nomad, I wouldn't have been without a
| suitcase. My big hobby then was dancing - mostly salsa and
| tango - and I needed several changes of clothes and dance
| shoes. And, umm, not all black clothes.
|
| To make it worse, indoor smoking was legal, so I would come
| home with stinky clothes that I wouldn't want to wear again
| until washing.
|
| I also did some upper undergrad/grad level visiting teaching,
| and would stay at a staff members home, or in one case the home
| of the parents of one of the grad students. I brought a dozen
| or so greeting-style cards with nice pictures of the city I
| used to live in, so I could leave them as a thank you, with an
| image of what for them would be an exotic place.
| radicalriddler wrote:
| I went backpacking last year for only a little over a month.
| Absolute pain in my chest when someone who I'd gotten to
| known over the past few days said it was their last day lol.
| Asooka wrote:
| >The thing is, after years of doing it, learning new languages,
| making friends all over, and then leaving knowing you might not
| see them again for ever or for long stints, you start to feel
| the yearning to be able to connect with people on a deeper
| level.
|
| A rolling stone gathers no moss, as they say.
| throwawayq3423 wrote:
| "If you're everywhere, you're nowhere."
| et-al wrote:
| Yup, we all go through difference phases of life.
|
| We have a nice airbed (oxymoron?) in our apartment that gets
| used maybe 3-4 times a year. It takes up more space than the
| author's backpack, but it's also great whenever a friend or
| family member would like to visit on short notice (along with a
| set of sheets, towels, collection of hotel toothbrushes...).
| doctorhandshake wrote:
| I'm all for minimalist travel but I feel like I picked up a
| number of cues that the author is buying and disposing of
| (somehow) items seasonally or even on an as-no-longer-needed
| basis. Hopefully that means donating the item and maybe even
| buying used to begin with but it's not mentioned here. I don't
| want to make assumptions but in the worst case this could be a
| very wasteful kind of minimalism.
| coffeebeqn wrote:
| Funny thing is the list is not at all far from "latest Apple
| and arc'teryx" which I'd consider the consumerist side he's
| complaining about but - some of those items are objectively
| really high quality and durable
| bluehatbrit wrote:
| I found this a bit odd, especially when the author mentioned
| they lose their apple watch a lot so buy an older one. It
| feels peculiar to buy such an objectively expensive high end
| item when you know you constantly lose it, and barely use any
| of it's features. To me that is continual overconsumption.
|
| I can't pretend I don't have my own contradictions going on,
| so I'm not having a go at the author. But I did find it a
| little funny when reading it.
| kmoser wrote:
| Even if the author is literally throwing away seasonal items,
| the environmental trade-off is that they probably purchase far
| fewer items than the average person.
| arccy wrote:
| if you travel a lot... maybe the co2 saved from not lugging
| around a cheap thing offsets the production waste.
| doctorhandshake wrote:
| In the limited amount of experience I've had with researching
| these things, embodied carbon can be a much higher number
| than you might think, even with something as simple as a
| cotton t-shirt. Odds are that shirt had already sailed around
| the world once or twice by the time you buy it, and it might
| make its way to another continent once you're done with it as
| well.
| Voloskaya wrote:
| > Odds are that shirt had already sailed around the world
| once or twice by the time you buy it,
|
| That's like... 40 grams of CO2 for those 2 trips for a
| t-shirt. Aka, a 2 min uber ride.
|
| Shipping containers are incredibly efficient.
|
| Modern large container ships consume about 200-300 tonnes
| of fuel per day, and could carry 742 millions t-shirts [1].
| It takes 16 days to do something like Shanghai - LA, so
| that ends up being like 20 grams per shirt per trip.
|
| [1]: https://www.howandwhy.com/15-mins/huge-ship-shirts
| abdullahkhalids wrote:
| If you are flying with any regularity, you are completely
| exhausting your carbon budget. The remaining carbon budget is
| the CO2 if emitted will lead to 2C warming. IPCC estimates it
| to be 1150 GtCO2 in 2020 [1]. Which is ~140 tCO2/person over
| however many years we use to spend this. So if we want to
| limit warming to 2C by 2050, that leaves a budget of
| 4.7tCO2/person/year.
|
| A transatlantic round-trip alone can be 2.3tCO2 [2].
|
| [1] Page 48 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/repo
| rt/IPCC_AR6...
|
| [2] https://co2.myclimate.org/en/portfolios?calculation_id=82
| 395...
| nxobject wrote:
| Similarly (and this isn't a judgment), the ultralight outdoor
| gear - you trade off weight for durability.
| brandall10 wrote:
| When it comes to ultralight hiking gear, don't think
| durability is a major issue if it just sees occasional use in
| urban environments and you take good care of it.
|
| I've travelled w/ a Montbell Versalite and Arcteryx Cerium LT
| for the past few years and both are like new, each probably
| getting around 200-300 wears in primarily city use while
| traveling to over 40 cities. Just picked up a Montbell Travel
| Umbrella (3 ounces!) a couple months back as I'll be in
| Mexico City for awhile and it rains like half the year.
| ghaff wrote:
| I've definitely had durability issues with some of the
| newer lightweight gear even with fairly casual use. But
| mostly not just urban use to be fair.
| tristor wrote:
| I spent 18 months doing this as a digital nomad. When I started
| out I had a rollaboard suitcase, a checked 60 inch bag, a pelican
| full of camera gear, and a 28L backpack. By the end I had a 28L
| backpack only. All that said, there were things I gave up in my
| travels that I missed and make it a point of taking now when I go
| on shorter vacation-like trips. Simple example was having good
| coffee. When I started out I had a jet boil, an aeropress, a
| hario hand mill, and a vacuum container of good beans, by the end
| I had given that up to save space, but there's really no reason
| not to have good coffee if you have the space to do so. I also
| had given up my much better camera gear for a single point and
| shoot camera to cut down on space requirements, since then I've
| taken to traveling with the pelican again most of the time, and
| when I don't I have a micro 4/3rds camera that is better than the
| point and shoot, but almost as compact.
|
| I do think there's value to learning how to live with less, and
| it also helps unencumber you more than just in physical weight,
| but spiritually, to allow yourself to explore and go forth
| without concern. I could just hop on a train, bus, plane, and go
| somewhere else even as a side trip without needing to be
| concerned with any of my belongings because it was all with me
| all of the time.
| owenversteeg wrote:
| I've done this before (not indefinitely, but for many trips
| around the world.)
|
| I agree with the author on a lot: 1) it's not a good way to live
| long term, 2) traveling with as little as possible completely
| transforms the traveling experience, 3) zero-bag travel is great,
| 4) a good quality small bag with well designed compartments is
| critical, 5) M-series Macs are the only way to go, 6) two thumb
| drives is very convenient if you're not worried about searches,
| 7) darn tough socks, 8) first aid with bandaids/antiseptic/mylar
| blanket, I also include benadryl, ibuprofen and other common OTC
| meds.
|
| I disagree on: 1) I prefer a 2M USB-C cord over 1M, 2) I have
| mostly cotton or merino clothes and try not to use any synthetic
| fabrics, especially no synthetic underwear, 3) I prefer jeans,
| especially in colder climates and 4) carrying "stuff" on you long
| term (like a jacket with things in the pockets) can get sort of
| annoying after a while.
|
| And finally, extra stuff I carry that the author doesn't:
| separate camera, snacks (mostly nuts), Garmin inReach,
| handkerchiefs, wired earbuds, flashlight, knife, an eye mask,
| sometimes a Travelrest pillow, and two sizes of paper notebooks
| and pens.
| Onawa wrote:
| Why no synthetic underwear? I feel like I would be miserable
| with only cotton boxer-briefs... I sweat entirely too much even
| in moderate weather to be comfortable in cotton. I am partial
| to Pair of Thieves extra long boxer-briefs, they don't ride up
| at all since I have big thighs. When travelling I can wash them
| in a sink, and they dry way more quickly than cotton.
| dkarl wrote:
| The replacement for synthetic underwear is wool, not cotton.
| For weeklong wilderness backpacking trips, I used to
| vacillate between a fresh pair of synthetic boxer briefs
| every every day, which took a lot of space, and one for every
| other day, which was gross. Now I wear a single pair of wool
| boxer briefs all week, and it feels and smells better at the
| end of the week than synthetic underwear does after two days.
| Same for sleeping: I used to bring a couple of pairs of
| synthetic boxers, and now I'm down to one pair of wool
| underwear. Two pairs for the entire week, one for days and
| one for nights.
|
| Granted, wilderness backpacking has completely different
| standards for smells and grossness, but the comparison
| carries over to the higher standards of the "front country."
| In hot, sweaty weather, synthetic underwear gets noticeably
| grosser and smellier than wool over the course of a day.
| fvrghl wrote:
| Is there anyone making full wool underwear? Everything is a
| blend, which is good for durability.
| twobitshifter wrote:
| https://www.woolly.clothing/
| dkarl wrote:
| Mine are SmartWool brand. According to their web site,
| they use an 88% wool, 12% nylon blend, but I haven't
| experienced any odor issues.
|
| I have an older pair that is 100% wool (I don't recall
| the brand; they might be a very very old SmartWool
| product) but the lack of stretch makes them less
| comfortable.
|
| Editing here since my original comment is too old: in a
| pinch, I've also had much better results washing wool
| underwear in a hotel bathroom than synthetic underwear.
| Contrary to their reputation, neither wool nor synthetic
| underwear dry quickly, even with a hair dryer, but wool
| dries faster, feels cleaner after washing, and in the
| worst case scenario is much more comfortable wet than
| synthetic underwear.
| tristor wrote:
| I also feel the same way. I travel with the absolute minimum
| of synthetic fabric clothing, I have found that by far the
| best material is wool, especially merino wool, and if that's
| not an option something that is natural fiber derived modal
| like bamboo or wood cellulose modal is good. Polyester and
| other synthetic fabrics repel moisture better, but don't wash
| by hand or withstand hard wearing as well as natural fibers,
| and also don't work as well across climates and ecologies.
|
| A layered clothing approach helps a lot. I wear an undershirt
| (Icebreaker Merino T) every single day, which helps me to
| regulate my body temperature between hot and cold climates,
| without requiring a major increase in the amount of clothing
| I have to bring. The only outerwear I had to bring on my
| trips was a single wool peacoat and a packable
| windbreaker/rainjacket. By using layers, I was able to use
| the same set of clothing between 45C and -25C, across 4
| continents with no real trouble.
| GuB-42 wrote:
| Some of my diverging opinions are:
|
| - I can't do zero-bag travel, bags are just too convenient. I
| have at least a little foldable backpack. For example, if I
| have a jacket, I like the ability to put the jacket inside the
| bag if the weather calls for it. Or maybe I want to carry a
| water bottle. Zero-bag means stuffing your pockets, carrying
| stuff by hand, etc... not very convenient if you ask me.
|
| - I don't really like bags with compartments, I find they get
| in the way more than they help. Instead, I use a regular bag
| and put stuff in ziploc bags if I need some organization. It
| also protects from rain.
|
| - For the USB-C cord, I use 3m, even as an everyday carry. It
| may seem over the top but sometimes, the power outlet not where
| you want to plug your phone. For example you may want your
| phone charging on your nightstand while the socket is on the
| other side of the bed. 3m lets you cross the bed, 2m doesn't.
|
| - I love synthetic fabrics, dries faster than natural fibers,
| it is important to me as dry time can be a problem when doing
| laundry while travelling. Merino wool is great too, but I keep
| cotton for home.
|
| - Not a fan of jeans during travel, take forever to dry, and
| they are not that hot for how heavy they are. They make great
| work clothes (their original purpose), and are relatively
| fashionable, but during travel when I am not going for style, I
| use convertible hiking pants.
|
| - I don't travel with a knife, too much of a problem with
| security. Though I sometimes carry a "swisstech utili-key". It
| has a blade but it really looks like a key, so it is stealthy.
| It is unusable as a weapon, but if some overzealous security
| guy takes it away from you, it is super cheap so it won't be a
| big loss.
| elheffe80 wrote:
| So, this article is great and has some great items in it if you
| fit them. The pants look great but max out at 34" waist in the
| pair I checked. The towel is barely 4.5 feet and is far too short
| for a beach towel for someone who is 6' (though I still want it
| because I love these types of towels). I could not do this
| lifestyle though, not now in my life. I was in the military and
| traveled a lot for extended periods of time (year long
| deployments to the ass end of nowhere) and we traveled HEAVY.
| HEAVY heavy. Not my favorite way, and I got to the point where I
| would ship everything home and when we traveled I had a day bag
| with 3 days worth of clothes and such. So there is a crossover of
| this and that lifestyle. I still wouldn't want to go to it, I
| like having a home too much, even if I am renting.
| cynicalsecurity wrote:
| Nothing on his budget or income.
| w10-1 wrote:
| When traveling, I met many who lived by the mantra of self-
| sufficiency. It seemed both to liberate and consume them.
|
| Daily now I see people living on the street with a lot more, but
| still with needs of all sorts.
|
| In some schools of Buddhism, the tradition was to live with only
| one bowl and one spoon. The practice was to beg daily - yes, for
| food, but mainly to submit to the judgment of society as to
| whether one's practice is worth it to others. The premise was
| that people would give if they see you as worthy, not because
| they pity you.
|
| I would ask the OP to reflect publicly on what he discovered
| about his own attachments, sense of place, and relations with
| others and himself. That could be helpful even to people in more
| tangled circumstance.
| AxEy wrote:
| > "In some schools of Buddhism, the tradition was to live with
| only one bowl and one spoon. The practice was to beg daily... "
|
| Interesting. So the practice of (these schools) of Buddhism
| requires that there be non-Buddists?
| mikestew wrote:
| It requires that there be people who aren't monks, as monks
| are the ones out begging. Lay people can own lots of stuff,
| such as houses, hence the term "householders" to mean lay
| people in Buddhist literature.
| CrimsonCape wrote:
| Ironic that the OP's carefully packed bag is lacking a spoon or
| bowl.
|
| I guess it's easier to dispose of eating utensils at every
| meal. Or have the money to eat restaurant meals for every
| serving.
| mbesto wrote:
| Few modifications. I would highly recommend:
|
| - Icebreaker Merino T-Shirts https://na.icebreaker.com/en-
| us/collections/mens-tshirts?cou...
|
| - Paka Alpaca Wool Hoodie:
| https://www.pakaapparel.com/products/alpaca-hoodie?variant=3...
|
| I wear those t-shirts in hot climates because of how breathable
| they are and the Alpaca Wool Hoodie is literally the best sweater
| I've ever owned. Super breathable, lightweight and I've washed it
| a total of 4 times in 3 years.
| turrican wrote:
| I agree with you about the breathability of those merino
| t-shirts, but I think the author is right about their
| fragility. I feel like mine constantly get runs or shrink even
| though I'm careful (I'm a frequent business traveler and they
| do get heavy use). I'm considering switching back to
| traditional undershirts.
| tristor wrote:
| That's weird, because I am still wearing the same Icebreaker
| t-shirts I bought in 2015, a decade later, through many many
| washes. They have thinned out some, and I've added more new
| shirts over time to my rotation, but the very first one I
| bought is still perfectly wearable as a daily undershirt.
| I've never had one shrink, I do have some small holes in the
| oldest shirts, but nothing that impedes its basic function.
| mikestew wrote:
| I think it's like Apple cables: for some they're frayed in
| a month, others still have perfectly serviceable 30-pin
| cables that they've used daily. Personally, I wear Unbound
| merino t-shirts and underwear, and they last for years.
|
| (I'm also convinced that front-loading washers make clothes
| last longer because they don't literally beat your clothes
| to death.)
| kakacik wrote:
| Merino shirts are literally the only shirts I've worn through
| to have holes on various places. Its not that great and vastly
| overpriced material for many active uses, but marketing is
| strong with this one.
|
| To quote some mountain guides I talked about this - its a great
| second layer in snowy sports, ie ski touring. Wicking of sweat
| ain't great compared to synthetics (and thus drying takes also
| much longer), but when wet it keeps warmth, unlike synthetics
| or cotton. As top layer it sucks since as mentioned it has
| little resistance to abrasion comparatively, and everybody
| wears some sort of backpack out there. I have synthetic shirts
| that lasted 10 years either frequent gym going or intense
| mountain sports, not a single hole or tear. None of merinos
| survived that long.
|
| I talk about cheaper brands like Decathlon but also Ice
| Breaker, the heavier/thicker ones.
|
| Not talking about hoodies here, those seem much thicker
| material and never worn those, synthetics served me for such
| role very well so far.
| pythonaut_16 wrote:
| From what I've seen merino tends to be more delicate than
| synthetics, but much more odor resistant.
|
| Merino is the only fabric I've found that can handle multiple
| sweaty days or even workouts without a hint of smell.
| kakacik wrote:
| Yes that is true, forgot that part. Doesn't help much in
| colder situations with more layers but for a single layer
| case, with nothing carried on the back/waist its fine even
| long term. I just don't do such things much.
| sib wrote:
| >> merino tends to be more delicate than synthetics, but
| much more odor resistant
|
| 100% this. Merino is great if your use case is any warm /
| hot / humid climate where you want to wear your shirt for
| multiple days...
| jonpurdy wrote:
| I will add another data point to this: Unbound Merino
| tshirts*1.
|
| As other replies have mentioned, merino is definitely fragile
| (both of mine had holes within a few months). But the caveat
| being that I literally wear them every 2nd day (I own two day-
| use tshirts (2 more for night/spare) and rotate them daily, so
| they probably got 5 years of use in the year that I've owned
| them.
|
| They are even more amazing for anti-smelling than synthetics
| with silver woven into them (like Lululemon Silverescent). They
| can go for weeks without washing (I've tested with other
| people's noses). Caveat being if you spill something on them or
| absorb a ton of barbecue smoke, they will need a wash (or at
| least spot cleaning).
|
| I think merino tshirts (2 pair), lightweight synthetic
| everything else, powerful phones or ultralight laptops + USB-C
| has enabled folks like me to travel indefinitely (except in
| winter) with a 20-25L bag or less *2.
|
| *1 - https://unboundmerino.com
|
| *2 - That is if I didn't have a family incl. toddler, in my
| case I'll still LARP onebagging for our 1-4 week trips.
| mcdonje wrote:
| Mixed feelings. I like how there is a lot of intention about
| purchases and lifestyle. But then the purchases are from Amazon,
| and the lifestyle is airplanes. But OTOH, he doesn't own a car.
| colecut wrote:
| It's hard to be perfect.
| nicbou wrote:
| This is incredibly close to what I pack for long distance
| motorcycle, bicycle and hiking trips. This kit rocks, and all my
| notes are mostly personal preference.
|
| I have an iPad Mini for reading and sketching, although I like
| paper more and more. I also sometimes sacrifice lightness for
| fashion, because I feel self-conscious travelling solo dressed
| like a bin bag.
|
| I also have a lot of cheaper gear that so far never needed to be
| replaced. Most of it is from Decathlon. I only buy The Good Stuff
| once the test version falls apart. It's rarely necessary.
|
| I could never bring myself to replace my electric shaver.
|
| The biggest weight saver is USB-C. Retractable USB C cables are
| also great. Everything becomes a power bank for everything else.
| neom wrote:
| If you like this kinda thing, highly recommend checking out
| Dominic Tarr's youtube. He used to be a prolific nodejs guy back
| in the day, now he...sails. His videos are great and he's a
| lovely guy: https://www.youtube.com/@dominictarrsailing/videos
| flobosg wrote:
| Brings Hundred Rabbits to mind:
| https://100r.ca/site/sailing.html
| b_e_n_t_o_n wrote:
| He's building js apps with https://sailsjs.com ?
| plastic3169 wrote:
| I am surprised one bag crowd seem to pack so many computing
| devices with them. Some have phone, laptop, ipad and kindle and
| pride themselves on being minimalists.
| dijit wrote:
| I'm one of those.
|
| I'd go iPad only, it's a versatile device after-all, but the
| truth of it is: it can't beat a laptop for "real work" (unless,
| real work is replying to emails and running an extremely cut
| down version of excel).
|
| Yet, a laptop is significantly more awkward to read with or
| watch media. When flying I have (nearly) lost a screen to
| someone reclining in front of me while I was using my laptop;
| this is not an issue with iPads.
|
| As it stands, the iPad is _practically_ an essential, it 's
| just so versatile and useful that it's omission would cut
| comfort more than it's weight. But I need an additional device,
| likely a laptop. One can't live without headphones either, and
| at least a smart-phone for payments, SMS and phone-calls.
|
| So, it looks outsized, but a laptop can't substitute an iPad,
| and an iPad can't substitute a laptop ( _yet_ ; it's a software
| failing mostly)
| bryanhogan wrote:
| I'm living as a nomad currently, laptop and phone feels
| mandatory, but I also pack a tablet. I find it useful for hand-
| written notes, so I carry no pen and paper, and as a second
| screen for my laptop.
| themadturk wrote:
| It's interesting he has an iPad in the picture of his gear, but
| doesn't mention it in the article. I, too, waffle on which is
| best for minimalism, but if I had to choose I'd still go with
| my MacBook Air. An iPad is nice, but it's not a substitute for
| a laptop.
|
| I'd want an ereader as well, but when push comes to shove, I
| can read on my phone just fine. My Kobo Clara BW is small and
| light enough to be almost unnoticeable.
| xp84 wrote:
| You could make a decent case for an iPad with cellular being
| the "correct" device for this for an Apple user, since you
| should be able to just treat it as "your phone" with some kind
| of VoIP workaround, but also as "your computer."
| jryio wrote:
| I thru hiked the PCT. The one thing I learned as an engineer /
| technical person:
|
| bring one of everything. No redundancy. The gains from being
| ultra light, single-item-multi-purpose, are immeasurable
| seplox wrote:
| I think that minimum redundancy is a wiser ethos. There are a
| couple of places where the weight penalty versus cost of
| failure makes the decision a no-brainer.
|
| In my case, that means bringing aquatabs to back up my primary
| water treatment system and a second way to strike my stove. An
| extra 2 grams for aquatabs versus 4 weeks of greasy diarrhea?
| Check. Ten grams for a second mini bic or small fire steel
| versus cold soaking meals that I designed for cooking? Check.
|
| But I do agree with you that bringing less in general frees you
| to move faster, go farther, and enjoy the journey even more.
| jryio wrote:
| Sure yes! Good shout.
|
| At the end of the day my trail family had 4 levels of
| redundancy between us.
| agd wrote:
| I did this for a few years and would recommend 1 (smallish)
| suitcase + 1 backpack.
|
| As mentioned in the article, it's better (financially and
| socially) to stay in locations for a medium length of time. If
| you do this, then the overhead of a single suitcase is very
| minimal, and you get far more flexibility with clothing -
| particularly if you're staying in colder areas. E.g. NYC in
| winter.
| lisbbb wrote:
| I like that this guy's ethos is something along the lines of
| "better dressed homeless person." It won't last, though. Anyone
| of any means falls into the materialism trap. If you ever want to
| build anything, create art, open a business, all of that requires
| "stuff." If you're just some yob blogger dude then I guess you
| can make it work. I doubt very many women find it appealing.
|
| I see people living out of their cars when I go to the library.
| It looks messy. My son gave up on Boy Scouts partially because
| camping and "urban outdoorsman" have become synonymous. The kids
| don't think camping is cool--at all.
| harrall wrote:
| I tried long term backpack travel and it wasn't for me but trying
| (many times) basically perfected my packing for all trips.
|
| Between a backpacking trip to northern Europe to 3 day quick trip
| to Chicago, I can be ready to in like an hour and still,
| according to friends, be the most prepared.
|
| It also bled into my daily life and I picked up some really good
| habits. I am not a minimalist but I would say I have very little
| clutter.
|
| So worth it to try it a few times even if you never actually do
| it.
| dijit wrote:
| Ever think about writing some of those habits down?
|
| Might be able to impart wisdom without the mess of backpacking
| days on end; or maybe the lessons have to be hard-earned?
| lukan wrote:
| Unless he found some secret magic trick, I believe they have
| in general been written down already a millions times by now.
| And yes, they have to be hard earned, meaning when you do
| carry your big backpack around way longer than you planned
| for (because a bus was not there or whatever) - you do learn
| to not appreciate all the useless things you carried for no
| reason and leave them at home next time.
|
| Best advice:
|
| Travel light
|
| But still, mind where you are going. If it is the mountains,
| you still want to bring warm clothes and they just are heavy.
|
| I am right now preparing for the mountains and think of
| whether to take a tent or not (the huts for sleeping are
| mostly closed already)
|
| The heavier the backpack, the less fun is walking with it.
|
| And that works also as a metaphor for everyday life. The less
| shit you take with you, pulling you down, the easier it is to
| make progress.
| harrall wrote:
| I have written it down but it is a checklist and there are
| thousands of those. Checklists are very personal so that's
| why I suggested that you "do it for yourself."
|
| That said, these are the 3 main lessons I got:
|
| - Everything needs a place. I need to _picture that place_
| before I even buy the thing, _while at the store_. When you
| are trying to fit everything into one backpack, you practice
| this a lot.
|
| - Occasional I go look through all my belongings and toss. I
| did this a lot when I felt my backpack got too heavy or big.
| Do this enough times and getting rid of a belonging becomes
| emotionally normalized and _easy_.
|
| - This may all seem like a lot of work but only at first.
| Why? Because it creates a mental feedback loop that
| discourages hoarding. You remember what kind of items you
| throw away so you stop even collecting them. For example, I
| use to keep all USB cables but I would always throw them out
| during these "spring cleanings" so now I throw them when I
| first get them.
|
| So I encourage trying it yourself because things like having
| a feedback loop or being okay with discarding junk doesn't
| come from just reading about it. Similar to being okay with
| being rejected when dating, you have to do it enough times so
| it becomes comfortable.
| throw744848484 wrote:
| > USB cables but I would always throw them out during these
| "spring cleanings" so now I throw them when I first get
| them.
|
| Funny. One bagging travel turned me into USB cable hoarder.
| This stuff always breaks, gets lost on the road, and it is
| quite handy to have stash of spares at home.
|
| I hate shopping for random stuff, ordering cables from
| Amazon is a lottery and fire hazard these days.
|
| So I buy good stuff in bulk and discounts. If I find good
| shoes, I buy ten pairs, before they are discontinued.
|
| My living room wall is now covered with stacks of boxes
| with supplies. Look does not matter, I do not live there
| most of the time anyway.
| neuroelectron wrote:
| or Bumming it with expensive stuff to lose.
| danielmarkbruce wrote:
| In real life one needs at least 5 pairs of shoes.
| b_e_n_t_o_n wrote:
| You'd be surprised how far white sneakers and some $5 flip
| flops can take you. Unless you're in a situation where you need
| a suit, but then you aren't one bagging it anyways...
| themadturk wrote:
| Hmm... <counts> One pair of dress (business causual) shoes, one
| pair of sneakers, one pair of slippers. A pair of hiking boots
| I haven't worn for five years. Even at the extremes I'm getting
| by with fewer than five pairs.
| unethical_ban wrote:
| Over the course of the year, perhaps. Stylish running shoes can
| get you just about anywhere. Flipflops if you're going through
| hostels or beaches. Ankle-high boots can be stylish and
| functional for short hikes.
| DiscourseFan wrote:
| I do like a mix of this and just being more flexible about where
| I can live. Like, I'm leaving where I am in a few days, but
| that's after staying here for most of 6 months, also flying to
| various locations for conferences, to meet up with old friends. I
| use a suitcase these days with fashionable clothes and I will
| stay in airbnb rentals instead of hostels, especially if I'm
| already meeting up with friends or if I need to make sure I have
| a quiet place to work. I also, perhaps, am fortunate that my
| family still owns their own home, so I have a place for long term
| storage in case I need it, since I have accrued a pretty large
| collection of physical books, for instance, some of them more
| rare than others.
|
| I think if I were ever to get married I would probably buy a
| house or something, but ideally my partner would also be as
| mobile and flexible as me.
| monster_truck wrote:
| I've done the nomad thing from months to years. Not always
| intentionally! Had moved cross country anticipating a company
| move weeks later, then the pandemic happened and it became years.
| Trying to do it inexpensively will be painful, compromising on
| ability or quality will lead to frustraiting failures and
| limitations.
|
| My loadout was very similar, though I had more clothes and music
| gear because I was strictly living inside. "Golfing" backpacks
| that are insulated are very underrated, think the capacity was
| closer to 15.5L. They don't really make them to accomodate 17"
| laptops anymore, and you shouldn't have one that big, but the
| extra space in the sleeve is great. Strong endorsement for
| American Giant! Especially the heavy zip up hoodies, running
| pants, and shirts, some of which I've had for almost 20 years at
| this point, and Oddball socks (if you have big feet).
|
| They aren't for everyone, but the rather thin/rough gym-style
| towels are great as you can get 3 into the space of a normal one
| once you've mastered rolling your shit up and they dry quick.
| When your boxer briefs inevitably wear out, cutting the band off
| and using them to constrain other things while the leftover cloth
| makes for great snot/cleaning rags. Save your plastic grocery
| bags, they're useful for so much and compact well.
|
| Cannot understate how much better this makes air travel. Can
| still be shoved under the seat in front of you. No checked bags
| or secondary carryons removes so much potential for bullshit. As
| the bag is still soft, you have to be deliberate with where you
| pack things or you will crush them. You'll want to consider the
| placement of electronics TSA is going to make you pull out, and
| expect secondary screening. The density of shit in the bag tends
| to cause this if they're still using old xray machines instead of
| that new 360 degree shit.
|
| I ended up also lugging around a workstation and monitor. It was
| worth the logistical pain and my new limit became "fits into the
| trunk of a rental sports coupe", avoiding planes was worth while
| everything was still ongoing. I would not attempt doing this with
| modern Apple Silicon. Can't stand what mac os has become and
| there are too many caveats. Any high end ryzen laptop with an
| nvidia gpu is preferable. If you do anything in/with multimedia
| or streaming, you'll be thankful the first time you can lean on
| it as an encoder (and the USB 3.2 port will actually be able to
| handle the throughput of a Magewell USB capture card).
|
| Hard to undersell the 'freeing' aspect. If wherever you are
| sucks, for whatever reason, it doesn't take much time to be
| packed and gone. It's not for everyone. Have met some fantastic
| lifelong friends from couch surfing and renting rooms listed on
| craigslist, which is vastly superior to AirBNB, where I
| encountered scams so frequently that I swore them off entirely.
|
| It changes you, too. Once you settle again you'll realize what
| you really care about.
| pmlnr wrote:
| There's 0% chance the stuff fits in 9L when the winter things are
| included. Where do they go during summer?
| jjice wrote:
| Lots of the time they're counted as being worn, from what I've
| seen. When I pack, I don't preplan how everything fits with a
| jacket as well. It works most of the time, but the times I take
| off a jacket become awkward holding or tying around my bag.
| DustinBrett wrote:
| I did this in 2011 for 4 years and went all over the world. It
| was life changing to say the least. Only needed a 20L backpack.
|
| Now I am settled down with a family and I no longer have the
| travel bug, but I enjoy it still if the opportunity comes up.
| urbandw311er wrote:
| I find myself wondering how this person pays for their nomadic
| lifestyle. Presumably they have some sort of remote job; it would
| be interesting to know how much they have to earn to offset their
| expenses.
| tristor wrote:
| I am not the OP, but traveling in a nomadic way is often
| significantly cheaper than you would expect. When I was doing
| this, I had roughly $4000/mo in expenses, and more than half of
| that is because I kept a house in the US while I was on the
| move, so I had to still pay mortgage, insurance, utilities,
| property taxes, etc. All-in, it's fairly easy to get by on less
| than $2k/mo as a single person in /most/ of the world, that's
| only about $37k/yr before taxes. Myself and most of the other
| digital nomads I met in my travel mostly worked location-
| independent remote tech jobs, often as one-person consultancies
| or as subcontractors to a prime contract agency, most of us
| made more than $100k/yr.
|
| My observation when I'm talked to people about my experiences
| is that they imagine travel is a lot more expensive than it
| actually is. The most expensive thing I ever had to pay for was
| my plane ticket to get out of the US. Once I was abroad, even
| flights were significantly cheaper.
| sib wrote:
| This was great to read with some very good gear tips (the
| Montbell jacket, for example, looks amazing).
|
| OTOH - I mostly travel with a 30L backpack just for my camera
| gear -\\_(tsu)_/-
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