Traveling Light

When I was in college, getting ready to spend my junior year abroad, I consulted with my friend Tobin who had spent the year before at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland. He advised me to get a backpack with an internal frame and a small bag to carry my stuff. Further, this was all I should bring.

I had NO idea what he meant.

I set off for Denmark and, later, Belgium with a satchel that was too big, an extra-large duffle bag, and a large suitcase designed during a time before rolling wheels on suitcases were standard. I thought I’d gotten pretty close and my luggage choice was fine while I was living in Copenhagen and traveling on weekends.

At the end of term I had one month to travel before I started my spring semester in Brussels. I consolidated my bags and shipped my duffle bag to Brussels via the train line and, meeting my friend Hope at Kobenhavn H (Copenhagen’s Central Station), headed off with only my large suitcase and oversized satchel.

Perfect!

Perfect mistake!! Carrying a suitcase without wheels for one month through Austria, Hungary, Italy, and England was a frustration that cannot be described in words. Imagine walking through the narrow, medieval streets of a city that sits on water which mists and becomes a fog that obscures the already dark, early nights of winter. Now imagine carrying, with both hands, the too-big-suitcase-you-should-not-have-brought through these narrow, medieval streets. All these years later the memory is still painful and slightly embarrassing.

Pain, discomfort, and embarrassment are powerful teachers and the desire to travel, often and with little discomfort, has forced me to master the art of packing.

The backpack I carry now is more than 20 years old, has traveled widely on three continents, and has been carried by two members of my family. It is missing latches, has been sewn up multiple times, and has a zipper that I’ve been lucky enough to not have to replace. It is shorter than my torso and about as wide. It can carry more than would be expected from looking at it; kind of like Harry Potter’s tent.

I believe strongly in travel maxims. If it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t go. I pack what I need and then I take out half. If I really need something, I get it on the road. Unless it’s a book; then I remember that I have to carry it, possibly for weeks, and it stays behind.