Travel Smarter by Optimizing What You Pack.
For Digital Nomads and those who love to travel.
How do you travel?
Do you fill every suitcase you own? Only to end up herding them to luggage daycare? Or maybe you’re the type to slap clothes violently into a bag an hour before you leave?
Do you find yourself in lines for hours with frustrated tourists? Or maybe you show up 25 mins before boarding waving your Global Entry card like it’s a FastPass at Disneyland?
Whether you’re traveling for a day, short vacation, or for months at a time—the things you take with you determine how you travel. It may also be the reason you find yourself in a variety of frustrating scenarios. Some travelers value being overly prepared while others may value efficiency or simplicity. Discovering the method that is right for you can take time and adjustment.
In my blog post about Why I Became a Digital Nomad I mentioned how minimalism played such an important role in how I travel. I value bringing less, only what I use, what brings me joy, and nothing more. That means no wasted space, weight, or anxiety about the things I may have forgotten. It also means I can travel with only a carry-on suitcase to avoid lost luggage, time, and extra fees.
I didn’t always travel this way. I’ve slowly changed my habits after traveling consistently for over 10 years. I’ve lived abroad for 3 years and been mostly location independent for the last 5. In that time, my travel values have changed as I’ve researched and optimized how I pack.
Today I wouldn’t say I have a lot of things I travel with, but I feel I have the right things for the way I like to travel. In this post I’ll cover some basic principles I use when deciding what to take with me.
Only Take Carry-On Luggage.
Ditching checked luggage is probably the most impactful decision you can make. You’ll look like a travel pro while also saving time, money, and potential headaches along the way.
It’s no surprise that airlines put a lot of pressure on how we travel. And there is little (if any) consistency for the space, cost and weight requirements for luggage. Not only between airlines—but even class of ticket. When starting out, it’s often much easier just to check a bag and skip the fine print. But more often than not you’re just restricting yourself.
Instead, by joining the ‘carry-on only’ crew, you will:
Keep Costs Down. Checked luggage can add up to $80 per flight, or $160 round trip (source). That adds up quickly if you fly a lot, and especially on short-distance flights.
Avoid The Luggage Line. There is nothing worse than luggage drop-off. It’s never open early enough, the lines are always long, and you immediately end up at the back of every other line on the way to your gate. Not to mention the stress, anxiety, and frustration of other passengers' in line with you. You are brave if you consistently signup for this particular flavour of torture.
Miss Less Flights. There are many scenarios where you'd miss a flight if you had to check luggage. Whether it be traffic on the way to the airport, or needing to grab and re-check your luggage if you have a connecting international flight in the United States.
Reduce The Risk of Lost Items. We’ve all heard the stories of airlines losing your luggage for a few days, weeks, or months. Some even being tracked to random places with Airtags. Not having your items can ruin your vacation, and insurance is very limited on what it will cover.
Spend Less Time in Airports. Get through airports faster. Avoid luggage lines, pickup lines, get in queues faster for security, and knock off up to an hour off when you arrive at the airport. Skipping checked luggage makes travel swift.
Consider The Items You’re Bringing
There is a lot to consider when staring blankly into an empty suitcase. But there is also an opportunity cost for every item you place. It’s all too easy to pack things you ‘might’ need only to leave them unused for an entire vacation.
When debating with yourself on what to take, consider the following:
Space. Once you’ve graduated to the carry-on life you’ll know just how precious space really is. It mostly means leaving behind a few things you didn’t really need, or switching to more packable and functional items.
Weight. The only considerations are what you can physically carry, and airline weight restrictions. While some airlines might not care about weight as long as you can lift it (Air Canada), others might have different restrictions between ticket classes (KLM). It’s best to stick as close to the requirement if you can, even if it’s rare for bags to be weighed.
Usefulness. If you only use an item once on a 14 day vacation, did you really need it? If you really love an item but it takes up a lot of space, is it worth having it? Consider how often and how useful the items you’re bringing actually are.
Cost. Items can easily get lost or stolen. You probably don’t need the most feature-packed, expensive, miracle travel items on the market. There are a lot of gimmicks out there. Start with what you have, and slowly replace and upgrade them only as you need.
Travel is about the experience. Knowing what items you need to support that experience takes practice. It means going out and traveling and learning. But next time you’re packing–consider the space, weight, usefulness, and cost of what you’re taking.
A great exercise when starting out is to take note of what you didn’t use after a trip.. This can help better inform you how to pack in the future.. After each trip you’ll most likely leave a few items and take a few others as you learn what you need.
Item Recommendations.
It wasn’t that long ago I started optimizing how I travel. It initially started after being dared to only take a carry-on for two weeks in Europe.
Since then, I’ve spent years travelling, researching, making unnecessary excel spreadsheets, packing, repacking, and even weighing all my items with a scale. If you ask any of my friends or co-workers they would say I went far off the deep end. Maybe that’s true, but I have one optimized loadout now!
The following are my top-recommended items for Digital Nomads and those who love to travel. You can also view my full in-depth loadout where I list and link every single Item I took with me for 6 months in Canada and Europe.
the following section contains affiliate marketing links.
Away - The Most Spacious Carry-On
After years of use, I would say I highly recommend the Away Carry On. It’s one of the few bags on the market that complies with the carry-on size limitations of almost every airline in the world. That means maximizing the space you have available compared to almost all other bags on the market. I once had a spreadsheet analyzing exactly this, and why I initially chose Away.
You can easily pair an Away bag with Away Packing Cubes, or USB Power Bank that fits under the handle. The build quality is great, it has a compression panel so you can fit more clothing, and a laundry bag for dirty clothes.
I’d avoid the ‘Bigger’ version as it’s not compliant, and the pouch for your laptop as it adds a weak spot in the shell. You can use the following affiliate links to save on your purchase and support this post:
AER City Sling - The Best ‘Around the City’ Sling
I’ve grown to love AER for their built quality and durability. I’ve had many of their bags over the years, but the one I use most is the AER City Sling. It’s comfortable, secure, very water resistant, and holds everything you need for a day in the city. I’ve also added a Nite Ize clip that allows me to attach my Vapur Waterbottle on short hikes, and even the Matador reusable Zip Ties to strap a coat or light jacket to the outside.
Being a sling it’s both minimal yet versatile. My back never sweats, and it’s not too much weight to vary for 10+ hour straight. I usually have my Anker Power Bank, Canon G7X Camera, Olight Flashlight, sunglasses, cloth, snacks, and hand sanitizer in it.
Anker - Compact 10,000mAh Charger / Phone Stand
I highly recommend this specific Anker 10k Power Bank. It has fast 20W output fast enough to charge my drone, but also wireless charging for my iPhone and Airpods. As I work on the go, I also appreciate the flip out stand and magsafe compatibility to hold my phone while I work or watch videos.
Lencent - Smallest Outlet Universal Charger
For the most part I try to keep all my tech USB-C, but unfortunately shavers still require a plug outlet. I went in search of the smallest one I could find and have been exceptionally happy with the Lencent Travel Charger. I don’t use it often, but it works well when I need it. It’s about 35% the size of the last charger I had prior.
MINIX 100W - Most Versatile USB-C Travel Charger
After some research I found the 66W and 100W MINIX USB universal chargers. They work great for all of my electronics. With up to 100W output this also powers my gaming laptop no problem which saves space. Even better, the clip-on universal adaptors work in every country. I’ve used it in North America, Europe, and South America with no issues.
It’s not a brand I normally buy; however I found some great reviews by electricians looking at the conversion, current, and draw of the unit. It won’t fry your device, it just doesn’t have the best conversion rate of power is all (we’re talking 2-4% less, nothing crazy)
AIRFLY Pro - Use Airpods With a Plane
I used to travel with Sony XM5 headphones with exceptional noise cancelling. More often than not, I only found myself using them while in transit and not at my destination. This often makes me rethink an item if it takes up a lot of space.
Airfly Pro allows me to use my Airpods Pro instead with the in-seat entertainment console. When I tested Apple’s second 2nd Airpods Pro, I actually found them superior in noise-cancellation to the XM5s because I wear glasses. The small air-gap that created made a huge difference.
Vapur - Space Saving Collapsible Water Bottle
What if you could always have a water bottle with you? Vapur is a minimalist collapsible water bottle that’s available in either 0.5L, 0.7L, or 1: capcities.
They fold flat then roll up and fit inside the clip to take up virtually no space compared to a traditional water bottle. When traveling I clip it to the outside of my backpack before filling up on the other side of security. When around the city, I can easily fold it up and throw it in my AER Sling and avoid the $5-7 cost of water bottles these days while on the go.
Matador - Refillable Toothpaste Tubes
Tired of buying those tiny tooth paste tubes? Only to use 60%, but then buy another because you want a full one on your next trip? Not only are they expensive, they create a lot of unnecessary waste.
I recently discovered Matador makes refillable toothpaste tubes for either 1 or 2 week capacity. They are cheap and relatively easy to refill. OK, maybe sometimes a pain to get the clip back on, but I’m overall really satisfied!
Peak Design - Small Wash Pouch
Similar to only taking a carry-on, it’s also beneficial to have a smaller toiletry bag. It’s easy to take too much, and most of the items could be bought at your destination if you really needed them.
For me, I recently moved from the AER Dopp Kit to the Small Wash Pouch by Peak Design. It saved me an additional 20-30% space and makes me rethink what I’m bringing.
Nite Ize - Waterproof Pouch for Liquids
I used to use the 3-1-1 pouch by Nite Ize but recently downsized to their small pouch as I wasn’t using the extra space. This acts as an easy way to measure your liquids for TSA, but also is fully waterproof if anything were to break or spill. I’ve also had use-cases where the pouch was handy at my destination. You can easily put your phone, wallet, or other items if you’re doing water sports or on boats.
Curious to see ALL of the items I travel with?
Check out my full in-depth travel loadout list here.
