Traveling Light

When I booked my travel a few weeks ago, I didn't fully realize the airline based the price on having only one “personal item” and no carry-on. I didn't realize Orbitz included those kinds of carriers and mixed the apples with the oranges.

That's ok, though, because I had somewhat planned for travel like this at some point anyway, just not from a major airport. I already have about four days' worth of clothes at my destination, so I just need to pack for a couple days more and a few essentials and I should be all set. Without carrying anything for lunch and with only a backpack I may actually be traveling lighter to Florida than I do to work in a usual day, albeit with a different subset of things in tow.

In some ways, the challenge makes it fun. How much can I live without for a few days? And by “live without,” on some counts I may mean without packing things I usually pack and don't use on a trip anyway. For instance, if I want to take books along I'm not going to read, it's better to have them just taking up hard-drive space on a Kindle than having the physical books themselves.

Traveling light also shortens the amount of time needed to pack, too. It doesn't, though, necessarily shorten the amount of planning needed for packing.