"no baggage challenge"

i came across this article today about a traveler from america who is 10 days into a 6-week round-the-world trip carrying absolutely no baggage. none!

of course his journey is completely sponsored, and the merits of the challenge are insignificant. and he is actually packing stuff - just into vests and cargo pants instead of bags. but it's still pretty cool, and as a traveler myself, i hate him just a little bit for being able to travel for free and eventually for a profit when he no doubt publishes his awesome adventures.

incidentally this man is rolf potts, an award-winning travel writer, and in fact, the author of the only book i squeezed into my backpack when i left the states for my own little adventure (vagabonding: an uncommon guide to the art of long-term world travel). i still carry this book with me and occasionally re-read excerpts from it to inspire my onward travels. (thank you peter w. for giving it to me!)

i am nowhere near achieving potts' level of travel savvy-ness though. i left seattle, washington with a 12kg backpack (just over 26 lbs). the weight fluctuated quite a bit in my first few weeks of backpacking, but as i became a better traveler, i learned to keep it steady.

but steady for me now is about 14kg. this is still a lot of weight! i can't stand it sometimes. what the heck am i carrying anyway, and how does the weight fluctuate when i haven't added or removed anything?! the latter will always mystify me.

i digress.

long-term travel really only requires a few physical things: a passport, money (including access to money by credit card and/or debit card), clothes on your back, shoes on your feet. everything else can be purchased as needed along the way. it's what you pack in your brain that allows for a successful long-term journey.

i'm not gonna sit here and pretend i've achieved this almighty level of backpacker smarts. i'm carrying around 14kg for cryin' out loud! there's a lot of shit in my bag that i really don't need (who actually *needs* a loofah? damnit, it makes me feel good, alright!).

if i were to break it down to MY personal bare essentials (yes, they are mine alone and yes, some of them are ridiculous), here's what i'd have:


didn't bother with a hairdryer or a hairbrush and have never needed either of them.

loved my collapsible water bottle while traveling in new zealand and australia. but haven't used it once since i got to asia.

ran out of my favorite neutrogena facewash about 6 months ago, and have since discovered i don't actually need it. facewash is, in fact, completely unnecessary.

didn't use a cel phone for most of my time in asia, and am only using one now because of my longer-term stay and job-hunt (eek!) in vietnam.

i did all of new zealand and parts of india & nepal with very little prior research and without any travel book or guide. while that's fun and exciting too, it really is nice to have a book for reference. i've been using lonely planet, and am told footprints and rough guides are also excellent.

mr. potts probably isn't cramming a guide book into his cargo pants though. and as a seasoned traveler, he probably didn't make room for a loofah either (whatever dude). in any case, if you'd like to read about his "no baggage challenge" click here.

as for me, i'm not quite ready for the challenge. i'll leave that to the potts man. he really is an inspiration. and i'm still a novice traveler who likes loofahs. but writing this post did get me thinking about all the useless crap i have in my backpack. time to clean house! (but the loofah stays)

Labels: , , , , ,