The Difficulties With One-Bag Travel and When It's NOT A Good Fit
There are a ton of benefits of one-bag travel, but it's not always feasible or reasonable; there are several trade-offs and compromises you may have to make, and in some situations, it's simply not possible.
Below I've outlined the major challenges, or perhaps I should say, inconveniences, of one-bag travel, along with several situations where it probably doesn't make sense.
Read on to see if one-bag travel will work for you.
The primary challenges of one-bag travel are 1. Style, Shoes, and Clothing, 2. Weather and Climate, 3. Laundry 4. Cost, 5. Space, 6. Specialty Gear, 7. Time (Prepping, Testing, etc.) and 8. Planning.
Style is the first thing to suffer when you start minimizing clothes. You can certainly still look stylish with a minimal pack, but you won’t have many options, you may have to wear the same stylish outfit every time you go out, the same stylish outfit for every hike, and the same stylish outfit for every beach trip.
If multiple outfits and style options are high on your priority list, one-bag travel may not be for you.
Shoes are and likely always will be one of the biggest barrier to minimalist travel; aside from being a style piece, shoes offer functions that just can’t be replicated in a single pair, the best trail runners aren’t good for winter, the best walking shoes aren’t good for dressing up, the best boots won’t work with shorts, etc.
Your best bet is to wear functional shoes (and sacrifice style), but if your travel requires three or more pairs of shoes (and the associated clothes - for whatever reason), one bag travel may not work.
Clothing ties into everything one-bag related, and can present a number of challenges, from finding travel-ready clothes that fit your aesthetic, to packing the right clothes for your destination's climate (or climates), to washing and drying clothes when time or space are limited.
Short-term travelers may not face these issues, but if you're traveling long-term across four seasons and hundred-degree latitude swings, packing the right clothes for comfort in all environments can be a challenge - and even if you pack the right clothes, the weather can be unpredictable.
Long-term travelers looking to one-bag have to find a happy medium, mid-to-lightweight shirts, packable jackets and rain coats, light and medium-weight shoes; these clothes are comfortable anywhere from 40 to 100 degrees, but over 100 and you'll wish you had ultralight, sun-blocking layers, under 40 degrees and you'll with you had thicker shoes, socks, hats and gloves.
It's doable, but you might not be perfectly comfortable; you may have to limit your time outdoors, or purchase appropriate clothing on the road.
If your trip is taking you through climate extremes, one-bag travel may not be ideal, or, you’ll need a really big bag.
Laundry can be as burdensome as you want; ultralight minimalist one-bag travelers pack sub-20L bags and do laundry nightly, while higher capacity one-baggers pack a week's worth of clothes and commit to weekly or bi-weekly laundry; often it's a mix of weekly laundry service and hand-washing small items.
The biggest mistake I see people make is simply not planning for laundry, either by packing clothes for every day of the trip (and expecting things to go perfectly) or not having a method for washing clothes when needed.
If you hate the idea of doing laundry while traveling (either hand-washing or laundry service), one-bag travel likely isn't for you.
For everyone else, check out The 7 Methods of Doing Laundry While Traveling.
Costs
One-bag travel can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be.
Specialty gear exists for every climate, activity, season, and situation - and if you fall into the trap of thinking you need specialty gear for any given trip, you can quickly spend thousands of dollars on travel-ready clothing and tools.
I'm a huge fan of high-quality gear, but I feel compelled to remind anyone reading this that you don't need a lot to travel; a $30 40L backpack holds the same amount as a $300 40L backpack, a $10 shirt from Target will cover just as much skin as a $100 shirt from Patagonia.
As always, the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle and depends on what type of travel you'll be doing. Short-term trips (~2-4 weeks or less) are often great opportunities to optimize, while long-term travelers may benefit from the mental freedom of packing inexpensive, I-don't-care-if-I-lose-it items.
Try not to get caught up with finding the perfect travel bag, shoes, sandals, hoodie, etc.; great products exist, but there's no "one" shoe for everything, "one" sandal that does it all, or "one" bag that works perfectly for every trip; there will always be trade-offs.
Space
This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning space.
Space is (obviously) at a premium when you’re packing light, and this can mean a few things:
There's little room for error - if you're packed to the brim and find yourself needing extras on the road (hoodies, socks, underwear, umbrellas, etc.), you don't have a lot of flexibility to add to your pack, and you might have to throw some things away or ship them home before your next airport visit.
Unless you plan ahead and know what you're getting, souvenirs may be relegated to postcards, pictures, and trinkets.
You may have to wear your bulkiest clothes on travel days; this is typical one-bag travel advice and it's good to follow, but you may be uncomfortable wearing pants and a hoodie when it's 100 degrees out, or shorts and a shirt when it's 4 degrees out.
Specialty Gear
If you’re skiing, snowboarding, white water rafting, camping, hiking the Andes, rock climbing, skydiving, golfing, or playing sitar on the roadside - basically if you're doing anything that requires specialty gear - one-bag travel probably won't work.
It’s worth noting that many high-traffic areas will have gear available for rent, but if you want your own stuff, checked luggage is often the only option.
Time (Researching, Testing, etc.)
It takes time to find the right travel clothes, it takes trips and experience to get your packing list optimized, and it takes time to hand wash clothes if you go that route; our best advice, is don’t try to get it perfect the first time, your preferences will change, your needs will change and your mindset will change, so approach one-bagging as an on-going project, improve a little bit with each trip, and eventually you’ll find your ideal one bag style.
Planning
Finally, one-bag travel requires planning.
All travel requires planning, but one-bag travel in particular requires being acutely aware of what goes in your bag, how it aligns with the rest of your pack, the type of weather/climates you can handle, etc.
If you're planning your first one-bag trip, give yourself some time to buy, test, and return new travel gear (if necessary), give yourself time to do a test pack (wearing your travel clothes and packing the rest), and give yourself a week to test your laundry routine (if you're traveling for more than a week);
Many one-baggers, myself included, would encourage anyone new to one-bagging to not make any major purchases before your first trip unless it's something you don't have and know you'll need. Your first trip will tell you a lot about how you travel and what you actually need (versus what you thought you'd need).
Just remember, one-bagging is it's own journey, you won't get it right the first time, and your pack will evolve as you continue to travel, so don't get too hung up on finding the perfect travel gear.
Read Next: How to Minimize Your Pack for One-Bag Travel
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