Stop worrying about baggage and take less stuff.

Are airline fees killing you? Not enough room in the car for a road trip? How’s this for an idea? Take less shit.

Unless you are going on a backcountry climbing trek or bike-packing expedition, buy shit when you get there. Heck, you might even be able to rent that stuff when you get there. Some of the extra baggage fees, or the cost of a ticket that includes them might be more than shopping local when you get there. Plus, you might look like a local instead of a tourist.

Now, personal item bags might be small, really small. If you take the smallest dimension size of all the major airlines, it comes out to 16x10x8 inches or about 20 liters. Now we have a challenge.

So I’m going to take the plunge and try to pack a 20 liter, smallest dimension bag, with enough essentials for 5 days. This is making a few assumptions. First, I’m staying at a hotel that has soap and shampoo. Second, I will be able to wash clothes, even in a sink, somewhere.

This means I really need to focus on the things that I bring. I’ve found that physically laying out the stuff that I want to take is the best first step. I might have a general packing list, which looks something like this:

That’s the general packing list for my usual carry-on and personal bag travel setup. The good thing is that there is a lot of extra space in both bags. But fitting most of this stuff into a 20-liter bag is going to be a challenge. This one is going to be fun.