Travelling Light

~ Travel light? Yeah, right.

If you are planning an extended vacation, you will almost certainly take too much with you. In fact, I don’t know anyone who has gone on a vacation of any type, long or short, and complained they didn’t take enough with them. They may have complained they didn’t take the right items along, but they never complained about not taking enough.

In fact, I’m a good example. When I arrived in New York early in March, 2008, it was bitterly cold. Personally, I generally have no problem with the cold, but New York was even colder than I was ready for. The jumper I had with me was just not up to the task of keeping out the freezing wind.

Rather than race out to the nearest department store and buy an expensive jacket, I found a charity store close to where I was staying and bought an excellent second hand jacket for under $20. I wore this over the next few weeks, but gave it away once the weather warmed up enough for me not to need it again. I also found some perfectly good t-shirts in the same charity store for a dollar or two each, and added these to my kit.

On my 2008 travels I started packing clothes with the concept of taking ‘three of everything’. Three pairs of socks, jocks, shirts, trousers, etc. Of course, ‘three of everything’ is only a starting point. Taking three pairs of shoes is overkill, as are three jackets/coats and many other items. So adjust the idea for your own needs and take the minimum you think you will need. After all, isn’t one of the joys of travel discovering and purchasing new clothing in exotic, far away locations?

My suggestion: half fill your suitcase before you leave, that way there will be room in it for the new purchases you make. Otherwise you will have to start discarding clothing as you purchase new items, or start shipping boxes back home – which is potentially very expensive, depending on how you decide to ship your packages.

As it was, I ended up sending three packages home while travelling: two from America, and one from Greece. To be quite honest, the postage for each probably doubled the cost of the original items contained in each box. Was it worth it? I’m still not sure. Some items (gifts and souvenirs, etc), simply had to be sent back to lighten my load, but other items could, and probably should have been left behind.

Don’t discount the option of hiring the items you need once you arrive at your destination. Dragging a set of golf clubs from Sydney to Florida, just doesn’t make sense. Renting a set of golf clubs once you arrive at your hotel in Florida does however, makes perfect sense.

In deed, you can hire almost anything today, making the possibility of travelling light, much more of a reality than it ever was.

The Plugged in Traveller

~ Once upon a very long time ago, the compleat traveller could explore the world with just a suitcase or two, and maybe a notebook and pen to record their adventures. You could of course, still travel the world with nothing more than a backpack and a notebook and pen to record your memories, but increasingly, that just won’t do.

Now the compleat traveller doesn’t feel complete unless they have a mobile phone with global roaming enabled (preferably with GPS built in), a WiFi enabled laptop, a digital video camera and digital SLR (with at least a couple of extra lenses), and much more.

When I travelled in 2008, I had all of the above (except that my phone didn’t have a GPS function), and all of the associated paraphernalia that goes with it: separate battery chargers for both cameras and the phone (including spare batteries for the cameras); a power pack for the laptop; a collection of power socket converters that enabled me to plug my various chargers and laptop into the electricity grids of England, the United States, and Greece – where each country required its own specific converters, of course!

Then there were the associated cables needed to connect all this technology together. Cables for transferring images from the digital camera to the computer; separate cables for transferring film from the digital video cassettes to the laptop; a recovery disc just in case my computer ‘crashed’ while I was on the road somewhere; a couple of memory sticks; and God knows what else!

I had so much gear with me that I had to hump it around in a separate shoulder bag. At least it was small enough to serve as my carry on bag when flying.

Thankfully, the day is fast approaching when some of these items will all come together into one small, light weight, compact unit. That unit will even have a catchy name to help it sell –something like: iPhone! Oh, yeah, they already have those.

Unfortunately, I don’t, but I’m working on it.

Mind you, by the time I am ready or able to purchase one, the technology will have moved on to some other even more compact, fully featured device that does even more than an iPhone can do, and it will do it faster, cheaper, and better.

What Type of Traveller Are You?

~ This may seem like an odd question to ask, but knowing what kind of tourist or traveller you are will help you and your travelling companions enjoy your trip or vacation more than you might imagine. Essentially, there are four main types of travellers: Recreational, Experiential, Experimental, and Existential.

Recreational Travellers usually like nothing more than to unwind, and free themselves from the stresses and strains of modern life. They are not necessarily interested in local flavour or customs, or even the culture of the country they are visiting – if they travel abroad at all. Recreational travellers may just want to sit around and relax reading books, and generally resting. They are not against travelling to foreign locations per se, but neither are they interested in immersing themselves in new cultures. Often they just want to recharge their batteries before another year at the grindstone.

Experiential Travellers search for meaning within other cultures. They tend to be inquisitive and inquiring; always interested and curious about the places they visit. These travellers like to get beneath the exterior of strange new worlds and try to get the most experience out of a destination as possible. They are willing to risk a little bit in order to gain experience and insight. They like to connect with different cultures and find as much meaning within them as they can.

Experimental Travellers are not only willing to try new things but quite often actively seek them out. They may also be looking for meaning outside their present existence and way of life, and are willing to try new destinations that others may never have considered. In marketing terms, Experimental travellers are the ‘early adopters’ of the travel world. They are people who like to be among the first to visit remote regions of previously unpopular travel destinations.

Finally, Existential Travellers are those who find great meaning in a new culture, and who now want to engage in it as much as possible. When they return home from their travels, they may spend weeks and months pining for a favourite city, country, or remote location. No sooner are they back home, than they begin saving for another trip to the same spot or somewhere close to it.

So, what type of traveller are you?

Clearly, if you are a recreational traveller, you are going to have a lot of problems travelling with a partner or group of people who love to experiment as much as possible when they travel. Knowing what type of traveller you and your travel companions are, should make they whole travel experience much more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Of course, you could always go on vacation by yourself – as I did. This has many advantages – and disadvantages – that I will explore in another entry.