Find your path to family travel: 4. Pack light. Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.

Movies and TV and such love to glamorize travel as one person having so many bags, you’d think they were moving house. When it comes to real travel, the opposite wins out. When you pack light, you set yourself up for a better trip.

Pack light. Take what you need and a bit of what you want.

For our family of four, we aim to find a balancing point between making sure we have what we need, along with some of what we want. Yet as we transition to full-time travel, we’ll be simplifying our packing even more.

As we work on packing for full-time international travel, here are some of the things we’re working on and keeping in mind:

🌴 Pack light for warm weather climates.

Our travels will be in warm climates. We’ll pack a warm layer and a rain shell, but otherwise we’ll focus our packing on summery clothes. (If we decide we want to go somewhere more wintry, we’ll see what we want to do.)

🎒 One backpack per person.

We’re planning for Anthony to carry a backpack that has his items and a few things for the family. The rest of us will also each carry a backpack that we’re okay with wearing throughout the day, and that’s small enough to fit under an airplane seat as a personal item.

🧳 Will we need a rolling bag?

Since our packing will also include things like a tripod, we may need to bring a small, carry-on sized rolling suitcase. We’re going to see if we can do without it, but we’re also going to be smart, adaptable, and flexible and bring one if we do.

🛍 We can get it there.

Unless it’s something we really need to pack, we can also get what we need at the places we’re traveling. We don’t have to pack everything for every circumstance or contingency. 

 ⚡️ Pack light is a useful guiding principle.

On the path to family travel, pack light. We’ve never encountered anyone who came back from a trip and said they wish they’d brought more stuff with them.

When you pack light, you not only simplify your packing, you make it much easier to travel. Less packing, more traveling!