The case for one bag
The first long trip I took, I carried thirty-one kilograms and used about six of them. The lesson was not that I had packed badly; it was that a big bag makes every decision worse. You take the taxi instead of the tram. You skip the apartment on the fourth floor. You spend the first hour of every new city finding somewhere to put the thing down.
- One bag is a constraint, and constraints are the point.
Everything you own is with you, so you never wait for it and never lose it. - Weight is not the metric; volume is.
A bag you can lift is useless if it will not fit under a seat or on your back up a hill.
“Take half of what you think you need, then take half of that again.”
Where packing goes wrong
Three errors account for nearly all of the extra kilos.
- Packing for the unlikely day
The formal dinner, the sudden snow, the improvised hike. One outfit for a maybe costs you a week of carrying. - Duplicating what shops sell
Shampoo, sunscreen, socks and paperbacks exist everywhere people live. Buy them where you are. - Bringing the wrong shoes
Two pairs, both comfortable, one that can get wet. A third pair is almost always vanity.
💡 Pro tip: lay everything out, photograph it, then remove five items and photograph it again. The second photo is your packing list.
Build a small wardrobe that repeats
The trick is not fewer clothes — it is clothes that combine.
- One colour family.
Everything should work with everything. Two neutrals and one accent is plenty, and nothing needs to be planned in the morning. - Wool over cotton.
It dries overnight, resists smelling for days and packs down further than it looks like it should.
🎯 How to do it: four tops, two bottoms, one warm layer, one shell. That is five weeks of clothing if you can wash a shirt in a sink, and washing a shirt in a sink takes four minutes.
Know the trip you are actually taking
The packing list follows from the itinerary, not from the season.
- Ask how often you move.
A trip with two bases and a trip with eleven are different sports. Moving often means carrying less, full stop. - Ask what you will do on a rainy afternoon.
Whatever the answer is, that is the one non-essential item worth its weight — a book, a sketchbook, a pair of running shoes. One, not three.
📊 A number that helped me: on my last trip I wore four of the nine items I brought more than 80 per cent of the days. I now pack the four and one spare.
The routine that keeps it light
1. Wash small, wash often
Four minutes in a sink beats a lost afternoon at a laundromat, and it means two shirts do the work of six.
2. One pouch per category
Cables in one, medicine in one, documents in one. You stop unpacking the whole bag to find a charger, which is the real reason bags become chaos.
3. Give everything a second use
The shell is a pillow. The scarf is a blanket. The tote is a day bag and a laundry bag. Items with one job are the first to be cut.
🎨 On the bag itself:
- 30 to 38 litres carries five weeks comfortably.
- Straps that can be tightened flat beat any amount of clever pockets.
- If it has wheels, you will avoid stairs, cobbles and shortcuts.
What five weeks taught me
The unexpected part is not the convenience — it is the attention. With one small bag you walk more, take the slower route, accept the fourth-floor room with the view. Packing light is a travel-planning decision disguised as a logistics one.
🌟 Final takeaway: pack for the ordinary day, buy for the unusual one, and keep the bag small enough that you never think about it again.
Afterword: the list I actually carry
Four merino tops, two trousers, one fleece, one shell, two pairs of shoes, a pouch of cables, a pouch of medicine, a paperback and a very small towel. Total 7.1 kilograms, 34 litres, and nothing I have missed on the last three trips.
Weigh your bag before you leave. It is the only honest review of your packing list you will get.