Travelling Light and Packing Tight

If you watched George Clooney in action in Up in the air, you saw a master at the art of packing the rolling carryon bag. Apartment Therapy has looked at this issue a number of times, noting that every pound of weight shed from a plane saves 14,000 gallons of fuel per year. They have some great tips in one post:

Start with the right bag. If the bag is bigger you will fill it up.

Wear your clothes a number of times. "it's entirely possible to bring lightweight, quick-drying clothes that can easily be washed in the sink at night and worn again the next day." They also recommend good quality jeans; they can go for days and days without washing.

They also recommend rolling instead of folding, and point to an amazing slideshow in the New York Times where flight attendant Heather Poole demonstrates how to pack a ten day trip into a standard carry-on bag. I learned a lot from this.

I wish I had the luxury of a standard carry-on bag. I have to visit Discovery headquarters in New York two or three times a year, and have the occasional trade show to cover for TreeHugger. There is a startup airline that flies very fuel-efficient propeller-powered planes out of a small airport within bicycling distance of my home, so I pedal down on my folding Strida bike and check the bike.

But that means I have to carry everything I need for the trip in a knapsack on my back, and it can't be too heavy or it will be hard to ride. (The carrier on the bike is occupied with the bike's padded bag) To top it all off, I have to bring my macbook for work, along with a video and still camera. After half a dozen trips, I have it down to a science and have managed up to five days out of one little 30 litre Mountain Equipment Co-op computer pack.

1. Wear jeans as much as possible. They are heavy and hard to wash, but they go forever.

2. Get thin, quick-dry clothing. (except for the jeans) I have a few Lululemon golf shirts that have really nothing to them, and some Lululemon T-shirts; they all roll up to the smallest of bundles. I also have a pair of long pants designed for cycling that are thin, light and quick-drying. Four shirts + two long pants +plus socks and underwear and I am set for a week.

3. Roll instead of fold. It makes an astounding difference.

4. Go for the Steve Jobs look. Fortunately nobody at Planet Green or TreeHugger cares what you wear, but really, the standard male business wardrobe these days of khaki pants, button down shirt and sports jacket is just stupid. The shirts and the khakis need ironing, and don't get me started about sports jackets, it is a contradiction in terms.

Sports clothing is functional, breathing, designed to feel light and keep you warm or cool as required. The sports jacket is heavy and devoid of any useful function; the collars don't fold up any more, the buttons are decorative, it doesn't keep you warm in winter and you boil in summer. It is a relic of another era, that belongs with suits, land line phones and Xerox 914 copiers on the set of Mad Men but nowhere else.

Once when I knew I had to speak at a meeting in New York, I brought a jacket and tie. (that's Elizabeth Royte, author of Garbageland and Bottlemania, trying to stay awake while I speak). I thought that I could get away with a sports jacket instead of a real jacket that I could wear and ride in; after my presentation I had to get to Newark airport. I usually pedal to Penn Station and take the train, but it was drizzling and windy and I was just miserable on my bike. I grabbed a cab and ended up spending a hundred bucks instead of twelve and it took just as long.

According to Wired magazine, when Apple was meeting the AT&T board to discuss the iPhone, the AT&T people suggested that the Apple people wear suits. They responded "We don't do suits. We don't even OWN suits." That's my new mantra.

5. Lose the shoes. I don't think grownups should wear loud white running shoes in public, so I always used to carry a pair for running in the morning and a dark pair of shoes for the rest of the day. Then I found some Salomon hiking/ trail running shoes that are dark in colour, but are not like those dorky leather versions of running shoes that are hot and sweaty. Now I travel with just one pair of shoes on my feet.

6. Keep cutting back. After every trip I look at what I took and what I used. And every trip I take now, I carry a little bit less. Travelling with a bike really concentrates the mind on this; I am not yet at the stage where I drill holes in my toothbrush handle to make it lighter, but that time is coming.

But I am now at the point that I can travel for a week with my computer and cameras and still fit it under the seat in front of me; I don't even fight for the overhead bin space. Take that, George Clooney.