The Global Slowmad

When we tell people that we traveled the world for almost nine months, the thing that people seem to have the most trouble understanding is how we possibly could do it with only carry-on luggage. That’s right – we packed for nine months of travel in varying climates without a single checked bag. How on earth did we do it?

Well, it helps if you are okay wearing the same thing every day for a month. Just kidding!

But it does help to pack clothes made of lightweight fabrics that dry quickly, pack small and are not prone to excessive wrinkling. For us, that means a lot of merino wool t-shirts, merino wool socks, poly-blend underwear and nylon travel pants. (Another bonus of merino wool is that is naturally odor-resistant, so you really can get away with wearing it more than once between laundry runs.) Denim is a non-starter, as it is way too heavy and dries way too slowly. In fact, cotton in general is less than ideal for long-term travel. Similarly, we realized a couple of weeks in that Stuart’s viscose/elastane underwear dried too slowly and removed those from the rotation as well. We knew there would be times on the road where we would need to wash clothes by hand in the evening and let them air dry overnight.

We spent months figuring out exactly what we were going to include in our travel bags. We debated the size and weight of every item at length and invested in new, lighter gear before the trip where necessary. Bulky sweaters? No way. Books? Nope, we’re Kindle people now. Shoes for every occasion? Only if that occasion falls somewhere in the spectrum between light nature hike and matinee show at the theater.

Shoes are a particular challenge because they are bulky and heavy and there’s just no way around it. We opted to wear tennis shoes on travel days and each packed a pair of low-profile walking shoes and a pair of sandals in our bags. Similarly, we each carried a packable down jacket, a raincoat, a sweater and a small umbrella for bad weather days. They took up more space than we’d prefer, but not as much as you might think. Stuart’s gloves were used only once – Boston in early spring – before getting left behind for good. Layering is the key to managing the weather anyway.

We each carried a toiletry bag, a laptop, a Kindle and an assortment of cables and chargers. Stuart also carried a small set of resistance bands, an Amazon Fire Stick and a portable solid-state drive in a Ziploc bag. We also had a portable wifi router for security and simplicity reasons (only one login to reset at each stop). Darla used a couple of compression cubes to keep things organized inside her bags. We abandoned our flimsy, collapsible water bottle early in the trip and replaced it with a hard-sided version (big enough to hold the LifeStraw portable water filter we fortunately never had to use), and we carried a microfiber towel that mostly just took up space.

Darla carried a small travel purse that could be converted to a fanny pack stuffed with her passport, phone, wallet and other essentials. Stuart had a lightweight daypack that squished down to about the size of a small potato when not in use yet could hold enough gear for a long day at the beach.

On travel days, Stuart would fill the pockets of his trusty Prana Stretch Zion travel pants with his ultra-slim wallet, passport, phone, rapid charger (purchased in Spain), charging cable, a small package of facial tissue, an Amazon Kindle (loaded up with travel guides for the next destination) and JLab wireless earbuds.

That’s pretty much it.

We loved skipping the lines at the desk to drop off checked bags, not having to wait around at baggage claim and avoiding the risk of lost luggage altogether. In fact, the biggest challenge (or advantage, depending on your perspective) to traveling so light is that there is no room for souvenirs. Anytime we made a purchase, we had to throw away something else. It forces you to think hard about whether you really need something or are just buying it on impulse. It also meant that we were not tempted to pop into every shop we passed or acquire things we couldn’t use immediately.

As it turns out, we both had packed waaay more than we really needed for our journey. Darla started ditching clothes toward the end of the trip, and Stuart downsized to a single backpack for the last ten weeks of the journey, shipping home a rollaboard full of stuff that wasn’t getting used enough to justify lugging the rest of the way around the globe. Airport security agents kindly helped us out along the way by relieving us of a “TSA approved” multi-tool, as well as the metal knife, fork and chopsticks from our travel utensil set (we’ll try plastic next time). When you are our age and have the joints that come with it, weight is the enemy. If there’s an item you really need, chances are you can find something equivalent just about anywhere you find yourself in the world.

Here is what Stuart ambitiously packed for nine months of travel:

And here is all that was left by the time he made it home:

For those who are interested (the highly knowledgeable — and opinionated — folks on the r/onebag subreddit are obsessed with this sort of thing), here is the full list of what Stuart was still carrying around in his Topo Designs Mountain Pack 28L (expandable to around 40L) backpack by the end of the trip:

• Quick access pocket in the top flap contained an Apple AirTag, phone charger and cables, HeroClip carabiner, inkpen (x2), international driver’s license, cash, Rolaids antacid tablets and lip balm

• Large outside pocket hidden under the main strap was for a reusable shopping bag, KN95 facemasks and a RockBros motorcycle helmet combination lock

• Laptop pocket behind the shoulder straps held a Macbook Air 13 in a thin laptop sleeve (purchased in London) plus some miscellaneous documents like copies of passports and insurance

• Suited Nomad clear liquids bag held hand sanitizer, sunscreen, Neosporin and toothpaste

• Topo Lite toiletry bag was stuffed with prescription medicines, OTC medicines, Honeywell Howard Leight earplugs, toothbrush with cover, dental floss, deodorant, empty deodorant container used to hide extra credit/debit cards, hairbrush, razor, spare blades, fingernail clippers, tweezers, Q-tips, band-aids, Ginger Rescue anti-nausea tablets (for boats), electrolyte hydration sticks, sanitary wipes, facial tissue and a small Sharpal knife sharpener (AirBNB kitchen knives are almost always dull)

• Ziploc bag was used for an Amazon Fire stick, Samsung 2TB rugged portable SSD, Tune Belt workout phone holder for arm, Fit Simplify workout bands, cigarette lighter style USB charger and a Miorick merino wool workout headband

• Underwear/Socks – Smartwool merino wool boxer briefs; Volcom poly/spandex boxer briefs; Hanes poly/spandex boxer briefs; Calvin Klein poly/elastane boxer briefs; Saxx Sport Mesh poly/elastane boxer briefs (x2); 32 Degrees poly/acrylic/rayon base layer pant; Kirkland heavyweight wool socks; Icebreaker merino wool mid-calf hiking socks; Icebreaker midweight mid-calf merino wool hiking socks; Darn Tough merino wool ankle socks; Smartwool merino wool low-cut socks; Icebreaker merino wool ankle socks (x2); Bridgedale merino wool low-cut socks (x2); and Arcteryx merino wool workout socks

• Pants/Shorts – Patagonia Quandary travel pants; Hang Ten poly/elastane shorts; Gerry poly/spandex shorts; Spyder poly/spandex workout/swim shorts

• Shirts – Janji merino wool t-shirt; Smartwool merino wool t-shirt (x2); Solaris poly/spandex t-shirt; Daniel Cremieux lyocell button-down golf shirt; Hart Schafner Marx merino wool long-sleeve t-shirt; Quieti Performance poly/spandex long-sleeve button-down shirt

• Outerwear – Collection Eighteen herringbone grey baseball cap; Bula merino wool stocking cap; Prana cotton/poly thin hoodie; Outdoor Research Helium rain jacket; Eddie Bauer 650-weight packable down jacket

• Miscellaneous – Sea To Summit Ultrasil daypack; Knirps lightweight umbrella; Decathlon water bottle; LifeStraw portable water filter; Epicka travel adapter; spare eyeglasses and case; metal spoon; Teva Hudson sandals

Fully loaded, Stuart’s backpack weighed a little over 22 pounds. This made it a bit heavier than the official carry-on weight limit for some smaller aircraft, but he would casually sling it over one shoulder when boarding to create the appearance of it being smaller and lighter. It did not get weighed or gate-checked a single time. The bag itself was nicely designed and comfortable to carry, but he could have survived without the bulky hip belt and would have removed the chest strap altogether. Darla was happy with her Cotopaxi Allpa 28L as well but would choose something with fewer internal compartments next time.

We recognize that most people who are going to backpack around the world are smart enough to do it during a college gap year when they are young, healthy and haven’t yet grown accustomed to many creature comforts. We missed that opportunity but are making up for it now. We will be staying close to home for a while to take care of an elderly dog since Alex will be heading off to medical school in a few months, but we are already planning our next slow travel adventure. We don’t yet know where we will end up but can guarantee we won’t be checking any luggage to get there.