For the past 5 years, I’ve moved every 4 months. It’s taken time, but I’ve changed from a hoarder (the way of my people) to someone who wants very little. It was a gradual process, moving from 32" luggage to 28", to a Kelty Redwing 50. I found myself cleaving away at my possessions with every move. I really didn’t use the vast majority of it and having stuff felt like a burden, mentally and physically. I eventually found my way to communities like r/onebag and r/minimalism and r/ultralight.

At first glance, this way of life seemed to be about just having less stuff. 0 is the ideal we worship. Every gram counts. Logical, practical, easy to see progress, good for the environment, fight consumerism! etc. etc.

But with another look, it’s really about planning. Understanding your situation/trip and knowing what you need. No person’s perfect bag is another’s. No two trips have the same perfect gear list. This is a frequent reminder that community members give. This way of life is about effective and custom optimization.

I put this to the test on a one month trip to Japan with a 20L pack weighing in at < 7kg. I thought it would be straightforward: no winter conditions, urban travel. Bring the best and lightest gear for (at most) a strong chill, and some farm work (WWOOF is a 11/10 experience by the way, highly recommended). But as I started to collect things, I realized that packing less was more than effective planning.

Packing less is a concrete exercise in deciding on my life priorities and identity.

We usually need to account for external constraints when we plan any part of our lives. What are the social expectations? What do my family and friends want? What do I need to be ready for? These constraints are relaxed when we backpack - we can focus more on the internal components of our lives. What kind of activities will I want to do? How do I want to present myself? Which comforts can I forego? Of course these same decisions are being made all the time, but when they are mixed in with external influences, they are easily glossed over.

Backpacking is a situation where the reduction of external social constraints and addition of physical constraints magnifies the weight of these choices. I remember having an identity crises over the decision to cover a logo on my backpack with a patch of the Canadian flag. I opted to color the logo black to match the bag material instead.

Having said that, here are some things I learned by the end of the trip.

• 20L (though I suspect stretchable up to 30L) really is enough for my comfort, despite being scared about it before leaving.
• I dislike re-organizing and hope to never fill up my base pack to more than 3/4 full again.
• Quick dry clothing is a game changer when I’m sleeping in a different place each night.
• It’s hard to Ignore thoughts like “well it’d be nice to…”. Assume that every item could result in an over packed bag.

Some of the space I could have saved. I thought the bandana and drawstring bag were fairly useless at this point in the trip, but became immensely useful later and take up very little weight and space - they’re keepers. Currently searching for a more comfortable, sling variation of the drawstring bag!

Things I should have left / replaced in some way:

• E-reader. I should focus more on producing vs consuming while traveling - I’ll likely write more about this later.
• Laptop. Did not get work done as I had hoped.
• Camera. EM-10 with a 1.7 25mm Panasonic was very bulky and I’m not as much of a “photographer” as I thought.
• Branded exercise shirts. I care about a clean presentation more than I expected.
• Headphones. I didn’t need as much “isolation” as I expected, and earphones with a good seal would have sufficed.

Coming back from this trip, I immediately initiated a deep clean of my room, the first in over 5 years, that resulted in more than half the contained material being ejected. It’s nice to be able to see the floor and walls.

Next iteration: one month in China, 20L, < 6kg (hopefully).