- Security
The less you hand over to others to handle for you, the fewer issues related to theft, damage, or misrouting you’re going to have. The more bags you carry, the more risk of airline staff or other passengers taking items out of your pockets, bed bugs or other parasites hitching a ride home with you, or even having your belongings destroyed by weather.
On a trip to South America, the airline lost my bags. I called phone numbers, mailed in paperwork, and never received any compensation or acknowledgment of my items being lost. Everyone wants to feel safe about packing away their valuables and loading them into a plane, but the reality is that human error exists, and inevitably, your bags can get lost. The experience can really ruin a pre or post-trip experience. In most cases, you have almost no recourse.
After that experience, I tried travel insurance and coincidentally lost more luggage. I was asked to fill out lots of paperwork and provide itemized receipts of the items in my bags. I did not have the original store receipts for the things I purchased, so I received no reimbursement.
If you’d like to have the opportunity to pick through and buy items that other people have lost in their luggage, check out the “Unclaimed Baggage Center” unclaimedbaggage.com. Located in Scottsboro, Alabama, they specialize in selling unclaimed or lost items from airports.
- Save Money
Make traveling more accessible by cutting your costs. You can avoid checked baggage fees, excess baggage weight fees, carts to haul your stuff around, and paying porters. It’ll be easier for you to take public transportation (like airport personnel does), rather than shuttles, limos, Uber, and (scam-prone) taxis. Or you can just walk and enjoy having more contact with locals.
I recently booked a trip through a budget airline from Los Angeles, California to Reykjavik, Iceland to Stockholm, Sweden, back to Reykjavik, and then back to Los Angeles. The flight should have cost over $2000, but I paid only $350 with taxes and fees included. The only catch: I could not check in any bags, and if I did, I would have had to pay $50 per pack per each segment of the flight. Therefore, if I had checked in my backpack, I would have had to pay $200 extra to transport it on four parts of flights. If I were to check in two bags, I would have been paying more in bags than I did for my entire trip.
If you are traveling somewhere where the weather is cold, then you will need to bring high-quality and lightweight clothing for cold weather. To avoid the baggage fee, I wore my clothes three layers thick. I removed the metal support bars from my backpack, so I could fold it up and fit it into the sample carry-on luggage bin. Once on the plane, you can remove the extra clothes, put them back into your backpack, and place in the overhead.
- Mobility
Less stuff means greater mobility, faster online check-in, you don’t have to arrive early to check in your luggage, and you get to avoid waiting in line for the check-in counter. If you miss a flight, it’s delayed, wish to be switched to an earlier flight, or a seat opens up on standby you’re going to have more options since you’re not constrained by luggage. If you had luggage, you’re going to have fewer of these opportunities, because most of the time there is not enough time to find your bags.
When you arrive at your destination without a bunch of bags, you can just get off the plane, go without having to wait in baggage claim, avoid having to wait in line for customs, and be the first to leave the airport. With one bag carrying only necessities, you will have less luggage to lug around and less chance of your luggage getting lost, damaged or stolen in transit. Occasionally the plane may be oversold and you’ll have the opportunity to sell your airplane seat by volunteering to be "bumped" on full flights, or you can travel for free as an air courier.
Once you leave the airport, you can board trains, trams, and buses with ease. If you don’t like the hotel you’re at, you can walk down the street and find a better one at a lower price. Without the pressure of dragging your bags around.
- Tranquility
Luggage is baggage, the more you pack, the more it will weigh you down physically and mentally. Packing less will save you the energy that you don’t have to expend packing and hauling items around. You’ll be able to relax your mind always knowing where your stuff is, not having to spend extra time packing, not having to worry about someone taking your stuff, or leaving it behind. Because everything will be with you. Going to a new place can be challenging as you figure out an unfamiliar environment. A person who packs less will have fewer unnecessary things to worry about, and more time to focus on having fun traveling.
On a trip back from Peru, I was told I had too many carry-on items, so I started stuffing my check-in luggage with carry-on items to save on fees, and the airline staff commented on how beautiful my souvenirs were. When I arrived back to Los Angeles, all of my souvenirs had been plucked from my bags despite my having TSA approved locks on them! The locks had been opened, and after my relics were stolen, they locked them up again. This means it was an airport worker who took my stuff. I had some souvenirs that I was very excited about bringing home and losing them was very upsetting. But, the experience reminded me that the material things I bring back from trips are not essential and can be easily damaged or stolen anywhere. You’re better off not expending the time and effort on carrying material things around. Instead, enjoy the experience, rest your mind, and bring home the memories instead.
Traveling light allows you to focus your mind on your spiritual development and thinking about what's essential in your life.
- Environment
One of the most enormous benefits of traveling light are the benefits to the planet. When you're buying, consuming, and transporting around less stuff. That’s going to require less fuel, create less trash, and do less damage to the environment. The more environmentally responsible we are, the better off the planet is going to be for everyone to enjoy now and in the future.
While on trips in southern Mexico, Africa, South America, and Asia, you could see the rainforest being slashed and burned in front of your eyes every day. One year, I went to Chiapas in southern Mexico and had to drive 6 hours through lush jungle to reach the pyramids. Two years later I returned, and the drive had been reduced to 3 hours. The rest of the forest had been replaced with palm oil plantations. This was a stark reminder of how fast the world is changing because of humans.
We all have an impact on the planet, just try to minimize it as much as you can. The clothes I bring with me on my trips are usually from thrift stores. The money you spend in thrift stores goes to helping and rehabilitating disabled people. The clothes themselves can be used as gifts for homeless people or for those whom I see committing random acts of kindness.
For more travel information and hacks, check out my latest Amazon book.