I love trying to see what little I can get by with! Its so liberating. You can go anywhere, take your stuff with you and not worry about public transportation, security, or anything. Here are some items that make it easy for me to travel with less:
The first essential thing is a backpack you love! I had the black one for a few years, got it from Disney World in 2015, carried it around for a few years until the straps and flap started to separate from the body of the backpack. It did give me an opportunity to assess my needs, though, and upgrade!
I loved the canvas but I didnt want to invest in another canvas backpack until I was sure I had the right size, so I searched for inexpensive backpacks and focused on dimensions and convenience features. I knew a big heavy backpack wouldnt work for me because I love to carry my backpack every where I go, my whole life is in there! So after watching way too many minimalist YouTube videos, I determined that my place is somewhere in the 18-24L range and that I value packs that stay close to me and arent bulky and liable to catch on things.
I also determined that I wanted a water bottle pocket that was accessible without opening my pack. I constantly reach for my water while exploring and accessibility is super necessary for me. Mesh on the outside is fine, hasnt posed an issue at all, as long as the front surface of my pack is smooth I'm fine. I also really like pockets that extend into the pack instead, though, even though this does take away some packing space.
Lastly, I determined that, though I rarely lug my laptop around with me, I need to have the option to do so, and therefore it must have at least the dimensions of my slightly bulky cheap laptop.
I settled on this Hikpro 20L pack to try out. The 20L volume seems generous to me, I think its actually smaller than that, but it claims 20L. This pack has come on 4 trips with me now and Its plenty big enough for any single-season trip. It also fits my laptop. :)
So, having confirmed 20L is sufficient space, now i get to start shopping for my dream bag! I have been eyeing the Tom Bihn Synapse 19 or the Thread International 20L Better Backpack on Kickstarter. They have similar sizes and features but the Synapse more closely resembles a school bag. Its a tough decision for me.
I think the next most important thing is organization. I used to have a school backpack that was divided and had a bunch of pockets and stuff. It turned out to be a huge pain for me because I couldnt organize it the way I wanted. I discovered packing cubes! My first set was Eagle Creek Specter Compression Cubes, and I love that they can be compressed to a more convenient size and shape, or I can choose not to compress them and fill them all the way to capacity. I've used them both ways.
I recently also purchased a Eagle Creek Small Clean-Dirty Cube, which I appreciate because it allows me to separate my clothing so both sides are accessible without disturbing the other contents. This is more convenient on trips that dont involve unpacking... ever. The cubes come out, I change clothes, the cubes go back in the bag. Its wonderful to be able to do this without having to refold and recompress everything.
My other items are separated into Toiletries and Tech bags. My toiletries bag just recently got upgraded to a larger one when my 5 year old blue bag lost its zipper. Im starting to thing the new bag is actually too big for most of my trips. Here is an example of my Tech bag:
In my tech bag or my purse I always carry my little Anker powerbank. This little "lipstick-sized" powerbank charges up my Samsung S8 phone about 70% again, on the occasion that my phone doesnt make it through the whole day.
Heres a couple shots of the evolution of my toiletries bag:
I recently bought these leakproof travel bottles and I love them. I can squeeze that bottle pretty hard and it doesn't budge. They're pretty big, at 3.0 oz, and they are easy to fill and have a rotating lable you can change if you want to show shampoo, sun, lotion, etc. I havent used the loop yet but if you're doing a hostel this would be a great feature.
Hope some of this helps! Good luck with your minimalist adventures!
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