-1

Met a guy at a hostel in Lisbon who changed how I pack

I was staying at this 10-bed dorm in Lisbon last spring and my bunkmate was this older guy from New Zealand, maybe 60 years old. He had this tiny 20 liter backpack that looked like it could barely hold a change of clothes. I asked him how he was traveling for two months with that little thing. He just laughed and said I only bring three shirts, one pair of pants, and I wash them in the sink every other night. He showed me his setup, a dry bag for washing clothes and a clothesline that packs down to nothing. I thought he was crazy but after a week I realized I was carrying around stuff I used maybe once. Has anyone else run into one of those ultra-minimalist travelers who made you rethink your own bag?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryan71914d ago

Honestly it goes way beyond just packing. I started noticing how much stuff I was holding onto in my apartment too after that kind of trip. Ngl it makes you realize how much of what we own is just there because we're used to it.

evan_dixon6714d ago

Yeah but like when you got home from that trip, did you actually end up throwing stuff away or did you just move it around in drawers and closets? I ask cause I did the whole "I should declutter" thing after a trip once and ended up just shoving things into storage bins under my bed. Basically just paid for the illusion of being organized. Makes me wonder if actually seeing your stuff differently is even possible without some kind of outside push like moving or a breakup or something.

the_wesley6d ago

Washing three shirts in a sink really @evan_dixon67 just moves the problem around like shifting junk into storage bins.