It is now Day 9 of my No Baggage Challenge and I am still on my first pair of socks! I have been washing my socks and underwear in a sink each night. Each morning, my socks have been dry enough to wear so I decided to see how long I can get by on only one pair. One trick for making this work is to wring the socks out as best I can after washing, and then wrap them in a towel and wring the towel tightly to absorb even more water. Works like a charm — my socks have been perfectly dry every morning after doing this. Also following this process with my boxers and have only used two pairs so far.
Things I brought that I haven’t used:
- Second and third pair of socks.
- Third pair of boxers.
- Third t-shirt.
- Mountain Hardwear fleece vest (I expect daily use of this in New York City).
- Cold weather gear (gloves, fleece cap, and neck gaiter – also expected to use in New York City).
- Kindle (surprising to me).
- Moleskin notebook.
- PackTowl Travel Towel.
It will be instructive to see how this list changes by the time I get home.
The only thing I’ve missed having at times is a laptop. Nothing else.
Ironically, I packed the least amount of clothes I’ve ever taken on a trip of this length and have never received more compliments on how good I look. Probably a combination of wearing my SeV Sport Coat nearly every day and having recently lost 25 pounds. Plus the clothing I brought mixes and matches well and I’ve discovered quarter-zip shirts seem to travel much better than button-ups (less prone to wrinkling and able to layer on top of each other). Having a more limited wardrobe also makes it a snap to figure out what I’m going to wear each day.
I thought I was doing well to have made it to all seven continents without checking a bag, but this no baggage experience is teaching me that I have actually been a perpetual over-packer.
