The Benefits Of Packing Light – All The Tips You Need
Many people find packing light extremely hard to do. I’m going to explain the benefits of packing light and why you should strive to do this.
Packing light never came naturally to me. I spent years and years over packing and bringing a lot of items I didn’t need or use. You know those extra things, the “just in case I might need it” or “what if I do other things, I want a couple of options of what to wear”. The bag begins to grow and it doesn’t help that I’m a toiletry hound packing way too much stuff.
I have definitely over the years got packing light down to a fine art no matter the length of my trip. Packing light for my 15 months away was key for me and I was able to leave with a carry-on roller bag and a backpack that carried my camera gear. Getting to this point did take a long time to figure it out, though. I noticed when I did have everything packed in a smaller bag there were a lot of benefits that came out of it. I’m going to explain my top three benefits of packing light and why you should as well.
Packing Light Tip 1
The first one is cost. It is going to cost you a lot less money to bring less stuff with you. The more bags you bring, the more you’re going to be paying in your airline fees. If you have overweight luggage or you’re bringing more bags than you’re allowed, you’ll be charged a lot more money. And it’s not only a one time fee, this fee will be put on both legs of your flight, and if you’re not flying direct and the other flights are with different airlines you could get charged on those portions too. These can add up extremely fast and put a big dent in your travel budget.
Packing Light Tip 2
Next is being sweaty and exhausted. When you overpack it is so much more effort to carry all your bags around which leaves you sweaty, exhausted and annoyed. Packing light can eliminate this and you’ll be so much happier. Now I realize you’re not carrying your bags all the time, but depending on how much you are moving around on your trip, those travel days could be the bane of your trip.
Travel days, first of all, are exhausting in themselves, but they’re more exhausting when you’re lugging a ton of luggage. This is especially so if you’re traveling alone or if your travel companions also have a lot of luggage too. Look to see how many travel days you have on your trip and remember that sometimes you’re going by train, and not necessarily taking a taxi everywhere. You can take a taxi to the train station, but you’re still going to have to lug all your luggage onto the train yourself.
Be aware of all those little points that you’re going to have to do, especially if you’re in places where there’s cobblestones, dirt roads and stairs. For example, say you go to Venice and you have all this luggage and a boat can’t take you to the entrance of your accommodations. You are now stuck dragging all those bags up and down stairs and over cobblestones until you get to your hotel. You will be extremely grumpy and sweaty when you get to your accommodations and at that point you will be looking to see what you can get rid of, so you don’t have to go through that again, The third reason to pack light is you are less of a target for thieves. Thieves will definitely take an interest in people who have a lot of luggage, especially when they’re in transit, like sitting in train stations. They’re looking at these people because they have a lot to think of. First, you need to figure out where you’re going, how you’re getting there, what train to catch and having your tickets ready. Now this leaves you distracted and when you’re distracted you don’t necessarily have your eye on all your luggage. If you have multiple pieces of luggage, you can’t keep your eyes on everything. So if you happen to put down a smaller bag and you have two suitcases, they’re going to easily come by, pick up that small bag and walk away. They watch for their moment and it only takes seconds while you are distracted and sweaty and just annoyed at all the luggage you’re carrying and be able to swoop in and pick up the stuff that you put on the ground and leave. Packing Light Tip 3