Why Minimalism Makes Sense Complete Sense for Long Term Travel

by Srinivas Rao
on March 9th, 2011
8 Comments

I’ve never been much of a minimalist, and nowhere near a minimalist travel master. Over the last year I’ve observed the lives of digital nomdads like Colin Wright, Jenny Leonard, Sean Ogle, Cody Mckibben and the rest of the jet-setters on the rise and I finally am starting to see that minimalism makes complete sense for a long term traveler now that I’ve joined the ranks of the digital nomads.

Minimalism Makes Life Easy

For a while it seemed like minimalism was just at trend or a ridiculous contest to see how little each person could own. But, when you look at it closely you realize that it’s actually quite practical. Long term travelers tend to be on the move quite a bit, and lugging around more a bunch of unnecessary junk becomes a hassle. When you don’t have much to lug around, heading off to your next destination becomes much easier. When I spoke with Wandering Earl who has been traveling for nearly 12 years, he said it’s almost liberating that you can pack up a backpack and move to another country.

If you can’t get in another country, it’s not essential to your survival

When I arrived in Costa Rica I was shocked at how much luggage people had when it was clear that they were here for a vacation. Fear or uncertainty and the unknown makes us do some pretty ridiculous things. We stock up on toiletries and overload our bags with everyday items that for some reason we assume we won’t be available wherever we go. Sure there might be a thing or two you can’t find, but it’s unlikely you won’t find the things essential to your survivor. Let’s not forget people have been living wherever you are going for quite some time, unless you are off to Antarctica.

Minimalism Frees You up to Focus on Experience Instead of Possessions

I’ve always believed in choosing a life made up of experiences instead of possessions. One of the unfortunate downsides of travel is the petty theft that happens and tourists make easy targets. When you have tons of stuff to worry about it can take away from the experience because you end up constantly stressed out about all the junk you brought with you. When you don’t bring much, it frees you up to focus on experiences of your journey.

Minimalism Is Cost Effective

With the airlines squeezing every last penny out of passengers with their baggage fees, minimalism becomes quite cost effective. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Frontier didn’t charge for my surfboard. Since it was my only bag and it had all my clothes, I didn’t get charged for additional baggage. The more bags you bring, the more it’s going to cost you. That’s all there is to it. My recommendation is to travel with one to two weeks worth of clothing and do laundry. When you get to your destination and find yourself lugging around multiple bags you’ll be sorry that you brought so much with you.

We need far less than we think. At the end of the day minimalism is not about the number of things you own or travel with. It’s about prioritizing what’s important to you. For me it meant giving up a wardrobe to prioritize a surfboard. So before you head off to parts unknown like a pack rat, give some thought to what you really need. What’s been your experience of traveling with too much stuff? Tell us in the comments below.

Srinivas Rao

Srinivas is an avid surfer and personal development blogger at The Skool of Life. He's also the host and co-founder of BlogcastFM, a podcast for bloggers.

8 Comments

11 months ago
Eric Pratum
Your approach to minimalism seems much more in-line with what I feel is common sense as opposed to what I think we often see about minimalism…ie. you should have less things simply for the fact that someone says you should have less things. That’s liek jumping off the bridge because every one else is doing it.

You sacrifice certain things when you’re a minimalist. You don’t always have something around that you might need, but then again, you benefit by saving money, carrying less around, having less to potentially lose in a an accident like a phone fire, etc.

Granted, I do largely agree with Penelope Trunk’s take on minimalism: http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2011/03/07/beware-of-leo-babautas-minimalist-lifestyle/

Enjoy the trip/life in Costa Rica, man. I know a lot of people envy you right now.

11 months ago
Srinivas Rao
Eric,

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. People look at minimalism and they get caught up in the counting how much they own as opposed to prioritizing things based their ideal lifestyles. Did I sacrifice a few things to get here? Absolutely. But I looked at the most important things and discarded the most insignificant ones. So that’s what it boils down to.

11 months ago
inka
I have been preaching this for a long time and, the more I travel the less I drag around with me. You can buy toothpaste anywhere in the world and if you come to a place where you can’t, toothpaste will be the last thing on your mind.Streamlining is generally a good thing, not only where travel is concerned.

11 months ago
Srinivas Rao
Inka,

I totally agree. Toothpaste is really one of those things that can be bought anywhere along with shampoo, hair gel and all the other junk that people tend to lug around. Streamlining makes travel so much easier.

11 months ago
J.T. Wenting
“If you can’t get in another country, it’s not essential to your survival”

That’s not always true. The American and European person has (d)evolved to the point where he often can’t survive what locals can survive.
Think sanitary conditions. We just lack the immune system to not get violently sick drinking the water in most countries, so we’re dependent there on bottled water and/or water purification systems/tablets the locals won’t need and therefore may not have for sale.

I’m travelling soon and will bring several boxes of painkillers that are (according to my agent) probably not available over there, painkillers that while they won’t save my life probably can make all the difference between spending several days in excruciating pain and unable to move due to my back condition and having a good time during those days when and if my back goes bad during my stay there.
Similar with anti-diarrhea tablets.
I hope I won’t need either, and those boxes can be either taken back home unused or be thrown away before I leave, but they come.

Do I take my toothpaste, shaving cream, etc.? Yes, at least for a shorter trip. If I plan to stay longer than it takes to go through a single tube of toothpaste, I’ll buy the next one in country.
Come prepared, but not overprepared, is my motto. I’m there to see the country, not to stand in grocery stores trying to figure out whether the container with strange writing on it packs shaving cream or dog shampoo

11 months ago
Srinivas Rao
JT,

There’s definitely health concerns to consider which fall outside the basic needs I’m talking about. As far as water goes, bottled water is more less available to everywhere I’ve ever been. But if you have do have to deal with the issue of painkillers I can totally understand why you’d want those. As far as the other toiletries go, I’m always amazed at how much people take with them for a really short trip. A few years back I took a trip with a friend to Europe and he didn’t bring much. In fact he had a normal backpack which I thought was really strange. Looking back I realize, he was the smartest one of all of us because he didn’t have too much to lug around. GRanted, he got his passport lifted but that’s a whole other story .

11 months ago
Irina Sazonova
I agree about the cost effective part especially.

Minimalism is immensely liberating.

10 months ago
Doug U
My packing motto: “If you can’t pick up all your stuff and RUN, you have too much stuff!” Over years of worldwide travel, I have pared down to a Camelbak ( which holds my laptop, a change of clothes and basic survival gear) and a small, wheeled suitcase with backpack straps. Sometimes I take a small snorkel/basic SCUBA kit too, but I can easily strap it to my wheeled backpack or pick it ALL up and RUN! Any more than that, and travelling sucks unless you’re going to stay at one place for a long time.

Flightster