In a couple of days, twenty-five two-person teams will meet in Los Angeles to begin the 7th Annual Travel Adventure competition: The Global Scavenger Hunt. This international event is touted as a crash course in being a human being in the world, where travellers are taken on a twenty-three day lap around the world to ten secret destinations. Even if you are not part of this adventure, you can still focus on the human experience when travelling, especially if you travel lightly with minimal baggage.
Last August Rolf Potts started the No Baggage Challenge, a real-time experiment to determine how much personal luggage is really needed in order to have the trip of a lifetime. He wanted evidence to show what we experience in life is more important than what we take with us. With this thought in mind, we present to you four modes of no-luggage travel to consider when you visit your next destination.
- Only the essential (passport, credit card/cash, cell phone, toothbrush, and the clothes you are wearing). It’s the most radical one.
- Just pockets. A whole backpack’s worth of stuff can be squeezed into jacket pockets. Rolf had pocket-rich pants and jackets specially made for the challenge.
- Day bagging. You only carry what you are willing to walk around with all day.
- Minimalist borrowing. Borrow or buy what you might need at the destination and return it or leave it behind when you depart.
The travelling-without-luggage concept may sound a little bit extreme, but it helps us feel liberated from our possessions. So next time you travel, try taking just the essentials.
Photo by xmacex
Alberto is the Community Connector of 
