How to Be a Minimalist Traveler – Packing and Planning

Have you seen people at the airport carrying enormous bags with difficulty? Or have you seen tourists roaming around with just a tiny bag without putting on much weight? If so, can you tell who has made the right choice?

Is bringing everything you can on a trip good? Or is having only necessary things with you during travel the best?

Well, carrying everything you may need seems like a good idea. But it puts you in a situation where you must take care of your stuff while traveling and spend too much effort carrying on buses, trains, hotel rooms, and everywhere.

On the other hand, taking minimum things or adapting a minimalistic travel style erases the burden from your shoulders to carry stuff that you don’t need. You never become overwhelmed due to your stuff. Also, you have left with time and energy to enjoy your trip.

In this guide, you’ll find time-tested minimalist travel tips. When you finish this post, you’ll know tips and tricks to be a minimalist traveler. So, you can enjoy the maximum you can without feeling the necessity of anything you have at home.

What is Minimalist Traveling, and How is it Different?

Minimalism is an international movement that preaches simplifying your life, owning minimum things, and spending life at its peak without feeling the need for extra stuff.

Modern minimalists abide by the rule that you should have less than 100 things in your possession, nothing extra.

The fundamental idea of minimalism is to sacrifice material possessions to gain freedom.

Well, you don’t have to be a minimalist in your everyday life. But going minimalist on your trips is the right choice and saves you from many troubles, headaches, and pains.

To define minimalist traveling: try packing your entire life in one suitcase. If you can do it, you are doing it right.

Minimalist traveling focuses on taking essential things with you on a trip. So, you carry less weight, have fewer things to manage, and get the freedom to enjoy more.

Minimalist traveling is different from the usual way of traveling because you carry only things you need. Also, you don’t pack your bags with everything you want to take on the trip.

Usually, people carry a lot of clothing, many pairs of shoes, too many toiletries, a bunch of electronic gadgets, and much more. All that stuff does only one thing: burden you.

On the other hand, minimalist traveling frees you from stuff, saves energy, erases luggage troubles, fulfills your needs, and makes your trip more fun.

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Keep reading further to find the best minimalist travel tips.

How Can You Become a Minimalist Traveler by Yourself?

Adapt minimalist travel style to:

• Get cheap flight fares
• Be comfortable on the road
• Save time
• Have a low risk of theft
• Blend in with other cultures

Check the best minimalist travel tips below.

Begin with a Lighter and Smaller Bag

It’s one of the essential minimalist travel tips. You must have a bag that covers all your packing needs. But it’s not a matter of getting an expensive suitcase or settling for a cheaper one. Instead, the criterion here is to get a bag that is light in weight, small, has sections for specific items, and is durable.

So, invest in a bag that stays with you as a fully functional bag from all aspects. Remember, never compromise on the durability of the pack. Otherwise, you’ll be searching for a new bag on your trip and may not find the right one. It’s because travel is challenging, and many things can tear your bag, making it useless.

One more thing, choose a bag that has a small detachable pouch. So, you can put your bag in your hotel room while taking the pouch to go outside with essential items, such as your passport, mobile, currency, and more.

The best minimalist travel tips are yet to come. Keep reading.

Pack Only the Essentials

It’s the second most essential minimalist travel tip. Take what you really need in all cases. It includes clothing, toiletries, mobile phones, necessary medicines, and similar items.

In the case of clothing, you don’t need to carry everything that can make you a fashionista. Instead, take essential attire, and in minimum numbers. For example, two pairs of shirts and pants can be enough. Also, one pair of socks will suffice. If you need anything extra, you can buy it at your destination.

For shoes, don’t pack four pairs that you want to wear at different locations to look dashing. Instead, take a rugged pair of shoes. It’s because you have to walk a lot during your trip, and a fragile pair of shoes will break soon.

When it comes to toiletries, you don’t need every beauty care item. Just take one toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shaving kit, lotion, skin care product, and towel.

In the case of electronics, leave your laptop, iPad, and other electronic gadgets. Only take your smartphone and a charger.

Also, leave your hardcopy books. If you are an avid reader, then take only your electronic reader with you.

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Plan Your Outfits and Create a Capsule Wardrobe

Before going on any trip, you have many thoughts and plans, especially about where to go and what to wear. When these thoughts lead you to the action stage, you choose too many outfits you must carry with you on the trip. As a result, you fill more than two suitcases just with your outfits.

Remember, you don’t have to be a fashion icon on your tour. Instead, plan your outfits, and it’s better if you create a capsule wardrobe.

The concept of the capsule wardrobe is so simple. You select a few outfits that you can wear interchangeably. You can put it this way wear single jeans with multiple shirts. In such a way, you don’t have to carry a lot of clothing throughout your trip.

Keep reading further to know all minimalist travel tips.

Limit Your Shoes, Accessories, and Toiletries You Bring

You can think of unlimited things you may need during your trip. In reality, you don’t need a lot of stuff but only the essential things. For example, one pair of shoes is enough. You don’t need a hair dryer, an iron, or a sandwich maker. If you need them, you’ll find them in the hotel where you will be staying.

Also, carrying every type of toiletry is useless because you can buy it whenever you need it.

So, limit the things that you bring with you on your trip. It includes your shoes, accessories, and toiletries.

Gadgets That You Really Need – Limit Your Electronics

Electronic gadgets have become essential parts of our lives. We cannot live without our smartphones, kindle, cameras, iPads, laptops, and more. But during travel, taking too many electronic gadgets creates problems. You have to make sure they don’t get damaged. Also, you have to safeguard them all the time because they are valuable and can get stolen.

It’s best just to carry a smartphone with you and one charger. If you feel you require a power bank, carry it on the trip. But don’t carry any extra electronic gadgets. It’ll create a burden on you. Also, a smartphone will be enough to meet your needs, such as communication, photography, maps, banking, and more.

Don’t Buy Things You Deem Useful – Don’t Accumulate

When you travel, you find many things you have not seen before. Also, tourist destinations have many items that you can buy as souvenirs. And people always buy them to take them back to their home. So, these things can remind them of their memorable travel experience.

Continuous buying of souvenirs creates a problem: how to carry them back. Plus, things increase your luggage weight as well as the tax you must pay while clearing customs.

So, don’t accumulate things during travel. If you really want something and buy it at all costs, try to ship it back home instead of carrying it with you. Also, try to buy small things, such as jewelry, headband, wristband, rings, or something like that.

Use Packing Cubes and Dividers

Having organized stuff during travel helps a lot. You don’t have to search for a specific thing while disrupting your luggage. Imagine if you have a small item buried deep down in your suitcase. Then, you have to put out everything, get the thing, and then put back everything.

The easy solution is to use packing cubes and dividers in your suitcase. It’ll ease many things for you and save time.

Get Rid of the Extra Stuff on a Regular Basis

Keeping extra stuff in your suitcase during the trip means you must carry extra weight without any genuine reason. So, examine the stuff you have in your suitcase, and if you find anything extra, get rid of it. For example, you can throw away extra soap, tissue bags, half-empty bottles, packaging, and more.

During trips, you’ll buy things as you move forward with your plan. That’s why inspecting your luggage for extra stuff is an ongoing process you must repeat after every few days. It’ll help you travel lighter and faster.

Give Away Some of the Extra If Your Bag isn’t Zipping

When you are on a trip, you have to move from one hotel to another to see all the places in your destination country. During this time, you’ll accumulate a lot of stuff, whether it is necessary or not. But remember your limit. You must not have so much stuff that it does not fit in your suitcase.

If the above situation happens to you, try giving away your stuff. The hotel staff will be more than happy to get the stuff off your hand.

Always Leave Space in Your Luggage

If your bag is completely full, you’ll have to get another bag for the extra stuff that you may find necessary for your trip after arriving at your destination. It means that you have to spend extra energy and go through all the trouble to manage your stuff during the trip.

The best way to deal with this is to leave space in your luggage. So, you can fit extra things that you have to carry for any reason.

What’s the Perfect Minimalist Packing List?

Follow these guidelines to determine your own packing list.

• Take only those items where you are 10000% sure that you’ll use them.
• Prefer lightweight items. Try to find travel-sized versions of products.
• Try to take items that have dual use.

Below here is the crux of minimalist travel tips. And it’ll suffice you for one week of your trip outside your city or country.

Essentials

1. Travel bag pack
2. Packing cubes
3. Travel day pack
4. Lightweight laptop
5. Smartphone
6. Universal travel adapter
7. Hanging toiletry bag
8. Water bottle
9. Comfortable shoes
10. 3 to 4 sets of clothing

Here is a complete guide on 17 essential things for international traveling.

Clothing

1. A pair of black pants
2. 3 T-shirts
3. A pair of shorts
4. 3 pairs of underwear
5. 3 pairs of socks

If you are traveling in winter:

• 1 sweater
• 1 jacket
• 1 blanket

Shoes and Accessories

1. 1 pair of shoes for walking outside
2. 1 pair of sleepers for walking inside
3. Nail cutter
4. Toothpicks
5. Tissues

Digital Gadgets

1. Smartphone
2. Power bank
3. Universal travel adapter
4. Lightweight laptop
5. Electronic reader

Toiletries

1. Toothpaste
2. Toothbrush
3. Shampoo
4. Conditioner
5. Deodorant
6. Lotion
7. comb
8. Three toiletry items that you cannot live without

Optional

1. HD camera
2. Swimsuit
3. Floss
4. tweezer
5. safety pins
6. coach wallet
7. notebook
8. pens
9. headphones
10. sunglasses

The Minimalist Mindset Will Allow You to Experience Your Travels to the Fullest

Traveling is fun. But facing troubles on any trip kills the joy of going outside town and having too much stuff while traveling is the root cause of troubles.

If you travel with a minimalist mindset, you’ll get the best experience without any headaches.

The minimalist traveling tips mentioned above help you pass through airports quickly, have the least luggage fare, move quickly anywhere, check in and check out from hotels in the least time, and get the most fun out of your trip. So, adopt a minimalist approach while traveling. It’ll be the best decision you’ll make for yourself.

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