After A Week Long Send Off, My Round the World Trip kicked off with eight days in Maui visiting my sister Sarah who has split her time between Hawaii and Alaska for many years. What an epic way to start this adventure! There was mist falling when my sister greeted me at the Kahului airport on Maui a week ago, so she teased me about bringing the rain from the mainland. We headed straight for Paia where she presented me with a young coconut and a lei, accompanied by the chant for the gifting-of-a-lei.
A number of circumstances collided recently to compel me to move the Lucky Penny to my property in Walla Walla where I have a ground bound small house called Valencia Cottage. So on Tuesday trusted tiny house movers Linh and Stephanie Pham helped me move the Lucky Penny safely from Portland to my place in Walla Walla.
As I packed up recently in preparation to travel cross country in my Honda Fit, I did some downsizing… It was harder than it had been during my last couple of moves because this time I had more stuff. I’d been living in a bigger space…My apartment was a studio, but it was still about 6 times bigger than the Lucky Penny! I talked with several people about the experience and a handful of them said “oh my goodness, I need to do more of that!” So I’ve decided to offer a 6-week Downsizing Tune Up…
This week in our Downsizing Tune Up E-Course we revamped our wardrobes. So my personal challenge this week was to complete my international capsule wardrobe. My itinerary isn’t finalized, so I’m not yet sure exactly what I’ll be up to, but I’ve got a decent enough sense of it now to get packed. Over the years, I’ve learned How to Travel with Just a Carry On and I’ve gotten pretty darn good at packing densely.
I’ll confess: I’m really excited to wear something new tomorrow! I’m writing this post on my flight home to the Pacific Northwest after five weeks of traveling with just my carry-on luggage. So I’ve worn the same outfits repeatedly and although My Travel Capsule Wardrobe has served me well, it’s going to be great to switch it up!
Over the years, doing domestic and international trips ranging from 2 days to 3 weeks, I’ve learned the difference between Packing Lightly vs. Packing Densely. I’ve discovered that I don’t typically need to pack differently for 2 weeks than I do for one. I just need to make a point to do laundry.
As I explained in Packing Lightly vs. Packing Densely, I haven’t checked luggage since 2003 when I studied abroad in Florence, Italy. Once I learned how much more fun it is to travel with less, I started honing my packing lists.
Check out My Travel Capsule Wardrobe to see what I brought on this 5-week trip.
This may be my most Spartan packing list yet, considering all I needed to do on this trip. My five-week trip included a week taking a Cabinets & Built-Ins Class at Yestermorrow, 2-weeks teaching a Tiny House Design-Build class at Yestermorrow, a weekend with friends in Vermont, two days in hot and humid Atlanta, a long weekend at Tiny House Jamboree 2015, and three days attending a conference in Denver, CO. During this time I camped in a tent for three weeks, stayed in two hotels and one Airbnb, and crashed at a friend’s place for five nights (thanks, Sherry!) I worked on a construction site, instructed in a design studio, and presented on a stage. I went out to nice dinners, hung out in front of the fan sipping sweet iced tea, and hiked in beautiful places. I explored by foot, transit, and car. I traveled through warm dry places and hot humid places. I experienced almost daily afternoon thunderstorms and several cool rainy nights.
So I had to pack a variety of different things for a variety of different situations. And I still managed to fit it all in a carry on.
Check out How to Travel with Just a Carry-On and My Travel Capsule Wardrobe to learn how I did it!
I’ve never been good at packing lightly. This might come as a surprise to people who see the minuscule size of my luggage. I haven’t checked a bag on a plane, train, or bus since 2003. That fall I overpacked when I studied abroad in Florence, Italy. I brought a big backpack on my back, a small pack on my front, and I wheeled a big suitcase and a small one. Then I discovered that they sell shampoo in Italy, too. And clothes. Beautiful clothes.
I can’t remember now what I thought I needed badly enough that I should schlep it on a three-month international adventure. What I do remember is how liberating it felt the second-to-last week I was in Italy when I took myself to Venice for the weekend with just my guide bag. Its contents I do remember: guide book, wallet, comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, extra pair of underwear, extra long sleeve shirt, cell phone, camera, and keys. These ten items became my ten essentials for travel. All my subsequent packing has started with this core set of necessities.
Three months of exploring Italy taught me that I needed very little to get around and that the less I brought the freer I would be to explore. The thing was, I didn’t pack lightly. I packed densely. The bag I brought was tiny, but it was full. When I pack a bag, I do pack it. When I load up a car it’s a game of Tetris. I think compression straps and bungee cords may have been invented with me in mind.
Since then I’ve fit my sleeping bag (and its liner), my work boots, my Carhartts, and everything else I needed for a week-long service trip into a carry-on bag. I packed mostly the same stuff for the three-week core curriculum for Yestermorrow’s Certificate in Sustainable Design and Building. (I discovered one doesn’t need more stuff for three weeks than for one.) I’ve done two-week vacations to Denmark, South Africa, and Benelux (Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands) with a carry-on. My favorite was probably my two-week trip to Thailand with an “overnight” bag. (You know, the one you put over the handle of your wheeled suitcase.) Granted, I did bring a few extra things back and that required picking up a new bag at the night market in Chaing Mai. But everything I brought along with me to Thailand in the first place fit into a very dense cubic foot of luggage.
I’ve employed similar dense packing strategies at home. I discovered I can put my plates inside my pie pan so they’re all easily accessible. I’ve added temporary shelves to my permanent shelves to maximize the space. I’ve placed hooks strategically to take advantage of vertical surfaces. I’ve added drawer dividers so I can keep things organized and fill each drawer to the brim. I use my space uber efficiently, so as long as I can cram one more thing into the space I’ve allocated for it, I figure I’m doing okay.
I guess that’s why My Things Challenge has been such a challenge for me. Whereas I’ve been a minimalist when it comes to space, I haven’t necessarily been a minimalist when it comes to stuff. For instance, I’ve felt good about keeping my clothing contained to a single dresser, but I haven’t stopped to question whether I will actually manage to wear all eight tank tops during our measly short version of a northwest summer.
Space and count are both quantitative measures, of course, but they ask me to measure differently. (I do try to focus on quality, too, owning fewer but nicer things.) I think I like dense packing better. I like having my container and the freedom to fill it with whatever I can make fit inside. But I’ve found the 100 Things Challenge an interesting game. It has made me consider my possessions differently and it has helped me eliminate some of the clutter so I have a little more wiggle room inside my drawers and cupboards. It’s given me a little extra space to let something else into my life. I'm leaving room for more of life's souvenirs.
