About Traveling Ultra Compact

I would of course love to hear from you, e g: "I shed 10 kg, 22 lb, luggage in two weeks." Or, "Starting with little I had plenty of room for all those nice things I wanted to buy on the road."

Some of my luggage reductions have not been planned. E.g. I once lost my umbrella while traveling at quite high altitudes - with high UV radiation. Instead of buying a new one I asked myself: Can I replace it with something easily available or something I already have? I could. Now I no longer carry an umbrella, as a sun shield. It was a considerably reduction in luggage size as luggage already was compact! See the Report about umbrella.

A bit of Necessity is the Mother of making luggage more compact.

Maybe you know that some cars have a spare wheel which is more compact (in order to take up less space) than the other wheels. It can only be used for slow driving. I use a similar approach for one of my garments.

Traveling is fun - testing limits and developing gear and techniques at the same time makes it more fun.

I have mostly been traveling light, around 4.5 kg, 10 lbs, with a small bag. It's a challenge to minimize your needs. From a light bag I went to all luggage in a multi pocket vest, then to all in the pockets without the vest. Then to luggage in a match box. Next the luggage into an iPod Nano case. Actually more volume but requiring slimmer luggage components. It is probably not the end of it. Some of my travel friends call me "Travel Light".

A comments from a traveler: "My toothpaste probably weighs more than your luggage."

In the shop I saw a dental floss package. I could fit luggage for two in it!

Modified Sept. 4, 2009