Seven principles of packing
This is our hundredth text. A few of you have been here since the beginning. For this I am grateful. Text on text is overdue.
For now, though, many of you have travel coming up, so here are seven principles around packing.
Any able-bodied human can carry a pack load, and almost everyone can wheel some carry-on luggage around the airport. All of this comes from the idea that you don’t need to check anything, because you don’t.
Minimize liquids
For as long as we’re at war against them, the goal is to have as few liquids in your pack load. In practice, this means your 311 bag should have toothpaste, mouthwash, shaving cream, skincare stuff, and nothing else.
Shampoo & conditioner can be replaced with bar alternatives.
Flat pack everything
Another goal is to minimize air in the pack load, so that your pack load can stay as compact as possible.
Wrap your cables. Pack each of your soap bars in one of these to minimize leakage. Roll your clothes into packing cubes.
Digitize all you can
Probably the most powerful packing gear on you is your devices.
Make sure your computer & iPad have the largest possible system drive you can get for them. If that’s still too small, get a nice SSD and a backwards-compatible cable.
Then, throw as many books, albums, movies, and TV shows on them as you possibly can. Make sure you can view everything offline. Do what you can to own your data.
As little tech as possible
Despite the aforementioned, you should travel with as little tech as possible. Minimize your devices whenever possible; leave the tablet or laptop at home when you can. Carry as few cables and chargers as possible, and make sure the cables you do carry can be used in as many situations as possible.
Good chargers are compact, high-wattage, and contain lots of ports. I use this one alongside USB-C to Lightning and two Thunderbolt 4 cables. All of my devices charge with USB-C ports.
I once brought my keyboard & mouse to Lisbon for a month, and found I seldom used them. I did use my laptop stand for video calls. I just bought this camera mount for my next major trip, and hope to use it with the new iOS feature that lets you use your iPhone as a webcam.
Pack 8 days of clothes
The eighth day is for you to have something to wear while you do laundry. Pick a specific day that you can do laundry and stick to it.
Make sure everything you bring can be layered with each other. Monochrome works everywhere.
Make sure everything you bring can be laundered in rough conditions. Leave silk at home.
Pack as few shoes as possible. Make sure your shoes work well for workouts, hanging out, and going out. Chill flats are good. If you want fancy: Common Projects, ETQ, Feit. You don’t need fancy, though, which is why these exist.
Get merino for your shirts & socks if you can.
Use travel packets of Soak if you need to do your laundry in the sink.
For longer stays, buy while there
There is no way you can bring an appropriate amount of travel-sized toothpaste for a month-long stay anywhere – and all convenience stores are materially the same. Buy all of your shaving cream, toothpaste, body soap, and hair care products abroad if you can.
I once stayed at an Airbnb in Melbourne that had enough regular-sized, mostly-full bottles of shampoo to fill every shelf on a three-foot-wide wall, floor to ceiling. I wish I had known that existed before I flew there.
Stay grounded
Bring a bluetooth speaker so you always have tunes going at your place. Your laptop is never enough. This is mine it packs well.
Bring a paper notebook and a rollerball pen that can survive airplanes. (Fountain pens don’t.) There are no gods but physical journaling sometimes.
And finally, bring something that makes you feel grounded to home. Literally I just bring a tiny rock. I put it on my nightstand. It’s enough.