One 20lb Backpack, Ten Weeks of Travel

I'm only bringing 20 lbs of stuff. 1) It's all the airlines I'm flying allow for a carry on and 2) I'll be moving around enough that I don't want to haul anything more. Here's my official packing list, recommendations, tips, and tricks.

The Packing List:

Clothing:
2 Pants
1 Shorts
2 Dresses
1 Skirt
9 Shirts
1 Coat
4 Sweaters
4 Socks
9 Underwear
2 Bras
1 Sports bra
1 Yoga pants
1 Thermal athletic top
1 Running shorts
2 Scarfs
1 swim suit

Gloves
Beanie
Birkenstocks
Tennis shoes
Ankle boots
Shower flip flops

Toiletries:
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Floss
Makeup

Chapstick
Contact case
Contact solution
Extra contacts

Glasses

Deodorant
Face lotion
Body lotion
Hairspray
Mousse

All in one soap
Conditioner
Comb
Hair curlers

Electronics:
Tablet
Tablet charger
Keyboard

Headphones
iPhone
iPhone charger
Travel outlet converter/adapter

Miscellaneous:
Passport 

Wallet

Sunglasses
Jewelry
Quick drying towel
Ear plugs
Eye mask
Journal
Sleep sack
Travel pillow
Travel clothes line
Padlock 

Travel backpack

Purse

So at this point, the questions was how to get all of ^ that into one backpack that weighs no more than 20 lbs. This is a list of absolutely everything I am bringing, including what I'll be wearing. This means my big coat, a pair of shoes, a pair of pants, etc can be set aside. Also, my electronics, journal, wallet, and passport all fit a small purse which I can carry separate from my backpack.  

First things first, clothing. Just because I can only bring 20 lbs it doesn't mean I have to wear the exact same thing every single day. Lots of backpackers recommend only bringing neutral tee shirts. I wasn't very much into that idea either. In the end, clothing is light and condenses well. I choose my clothing very carefully. While I brought a wide variety, I made sure that every clothing item matched just about every other clothing item. While my shirts are by no means plain, they do match both pairs of pants, my shorts, and my skirt. Any sweater can be worn with any outfit. No pair of shoes is specific to a certain outfit. I really spent a lot of time here, trying everything on and making sure each item was as versatile as I thought it was. The only reason we end up with huge suitcases is that we tend to pack items that can only be worn once or in one way. I don't have a ton of stuff, but I do have a ton of outfits!

I've been playing with lots of packing methods over my travels the last year. I am a recent convert to rolling clothing. I could honestly go on forever. Instead of doing that, though, I'll just tell you the number one reason why I like it. It's not because it saves space, it's because it keeps things organized. Rather than my clothes being layered on top of each other, they're all side by side on one layer. Even when I pack light, I tend to make a giant mess, pulling everything out looking for that one thing. With rolling, there's none of that! It's so easy to pull out what you need and place back whatever you just took off. 

Rolling is how I turned this:

Into this:

My days of sitting on suitcases in order to zip them are long gone using this method. Suitcases and backpacks don't have much give around the edges. This allows you to really get your little clothing rolls to compress. Then, because it's all on one little layer, zipping things up isn't a problem at all!

Next I simply condensed all my toiletries and miscellaneous items into bags organized by their content. 

And all of that fit easily into the front pocket of my backpack.

Shoes are the absolute worst. They really don't fit anywhere. I'll wear my ankle boots to the airport as they're the bulkiest. My tennis shoes are ziplocked and in the main compartment with my clothes (thanks again rolling method!), and my two pairs of sandals were slid down the back in the laptop compartment. I have the soles flat against my back and you can't feel them at all, which is great.

And that is how I fit my whole life into a backpack! I have a lot of products and gadgets that I think will make this trip run very smoothly. However, I'm going to leave a review of these products for a later post (once they've actually be tried). However, I do what to say that this backpack is the greatest backpack on earth. I've used it for a few trips and it's incredible. The main compartment opens on three sides like a suitcase. This makes it incredibly easy to pack and to access your things, unlike a normal backpack where you are just stuffing and unstuffing from the top. It also feels incredibly roomy, even though it's still small enough to comply with even the most particular airline carry on requirements. It's super comfy to wear too! At first I was a little worried about being the lame kid with the eBags backpack made just for tourists. But guys, it's made just for touring and it shows. Every detail is perfect. I love this backpack. 

Cheap Flights With No Tricks

My trip involves five flights at various times over the course of the trip:

1) Oakland -> Copenhagen

2) Copenhagen -> Athens

3) Crete -> Rome

4) Lisbon -> Paris

5) Paris -> Oakland

Take a guess at how much those tickets cost in total. Go ahead! Guess!

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The answer? $922.70. 

1) Oakland -> Copenhagen ($270)

2) Copenhagen -> Athens ($140)

3) Crete -> Rome ($85)

4) Lisbon -> Paris ($30)

5) Paris -> Oakland ($397.70)

There are a ton of flight hackers out there. Following their methods results in free business class flights and all sorts of other perks. It's pretty cool. It's definitely worth checking out their resources for getting miles fast. 

The set back to those methods is that it takes some time and planning. My life is lived a little bit more last minute at the moment. Up until now I have also been a college student spending virtually no money, so the whole credit card thing wasn't super appealing. However, this doesn't mean I have to miss out on flight deals! In the end it just comes down to research, research, research.

Kayak.com is my very best friend. It provides a quick way to look at every possible flight combination, and I mean every combination. I'm currently in the Sacramento, Ca region, so I check flights out of Sacramento, Oakland, and San Francisco. I sometimes even check flights out of LA. I see how each airport compares to each of the destinations I have in mind. This is how I come up with a general idea or baseline as to what to expect budget-wise. My original plan was to fly into Lisbon, Portugal and then fly home from Athens, Greece. That came in around $1,300-$1,600.

From there, I threw my original plan out the window. I've found that you can save a lot of money if you let the flights dictate your plan rather than letting your plan dictate your flights. I started looking into discount airlines. Norwegian now flies out of the United States. I looked at their destinations out of Oakland and saw that Copenhagen was an option. Copenhagen was not on my radar at all previous to this, but it's certainly somewhere I'd like to go (hurray for my ancestors!). Similarly, I found a great flight out of Paris (in fact, I would have saved $100 if I'd bought that ticket right when I found it instead of a few weeks later). From there, I just waited for sales on flights within Europe. I checked often (on kayak.com) and snatched up good deals when I found them. I also always check the airline's website to make sure I can't get a better deal by buying from them directly rather than through Kayak or one of it's partners. I also check multiple dates for every combination of flights I'm looking at. Checking all these different options is very time consuming. However, through this process I spent $400-$700 less on five flights than I would have on two flights. 

The one set back to "discount" airlines is that you pay for everything. You pay to choose your seat, you pay for any luggage, you pay for meals, etc etc. I didn't spend any extra money. This means my seat will be randomly assigned, I will not get any meals, and I can only carry on a 22 lb backpack. In the end, I was fine with these tradeoffs in order to save the money! 

This kind of process works better than I think most people realize. It was through this process that I found the $15 flight to New York I referred to last post. It was also through this process that I found cheap flights to Mexico City, Dominican Republic, and Hawaii (we're talking like $300 bucks round trip!) last summer. Because I'm open to going just about anywhere, it's easy to let the cheap flights dictate my travel. 

In the end, I don't have any magic solutions to offer! Research and flexibility can land you some great deals.

You Can Do It Too!

Before I post about cheap flights and packing trips, I wanted to discuss something a little more abstract. It has been repeatedly mentioned over the last few months how lucky I am to have time off and to have a job lined up and wouldn't it be great to be me. I will agree, I am very fortunate, and I do very much enjoy being me. That being said, a five month break, a consulting job I can do while abroad, and a job to come back to did not magically fall into my lap. The money for this trip did not appear out of thin air and this whole excursion did not plan itself. That being said, it's not like any of my jobs are crazy high paying or that leaving the country for a few months is a super responsible choice on any level. So here is my spiel on making travel happen:

Myth: I don't have the money to travel. Truth: Travel is often about sacrifice.

Last fall I spent two weeks traveling. I went to New York City, Boston, New Orleans, and San Francisco. I spent $55 on transportation. I was presenting at the American Public Health Association Annual Conference in New Orleans, so my program bought my flights. Flights from Salt Lake City to New Orleans are pretty pricey. I knew I wanted to take a trip to NYC to see friends at some point that semester, so I decided to see what the price difference was getting to New Orleans by way of NYC. It was $15 more. While there, I spent 40 bucks to go see Boston. After New Orleans, I was flown to San Francisco for an interview.

Missing two weeks of school was not very ideal. I sacrificed a little in the grade department. I also had to sacrifice any relaxing while on this trip as I was working on school work during any free moments. I also had to travel in the middle of night to get the prices I got and to maximize the limited number of days that I had. I was very sleep deprived. The B's and the lack of sleep were totally worth it though.

Flexibility and compromise is the key to making travel happen under any set of circumstances. January is maybe not the best time to explore the outdoors in the Pacific Northwest, but it was the time we were given. Last summer I wanted to go to the Dominican Republic or Mexico City, but I wanted a friend to travel with. I had one friend with some availability, but he wasn't interested in either destination. In the end, I found us cheap tickets to Oahu, a destination we could both agree on. Travel also doesn't have to be complicated. Living in Utah, my favorite thing to do is take advantage of the gorgeous national parks. They're just as awe inspiring as any far away destination

You can roadtrip, you can see the world, you can do awesome day trips. You just may have to sacrifice something in the convenience/comfort/destination department in order to accomplish this if your resources or options are limited.

Myth: I don't have time to travel. Truth: Travel is about creatively seizing opportunities.

This last semester of school was a nightmare. I was taking five graduate level courses and teaching a sixth. I was frantically applying to jobs. I was completing my field report, taking my written qualification exams, and preparing for and completing my oral defense for my master's. I was also doing an unpaid internship because, why not. Normally, this workload would be spread out over two semesters. I wanted to graduate a semester early. Originally there was a reason as to why I was graduating a semester early. However, circumstances changed. Rather than redoing my schedule and spreading things back out, I realized this would be an excellent opportunity to travel. So I pushed through.

Originally I was thinking of roadtripping through South America or backpacking through Southeast Asia. I did not actually have the money to fund these excursions, though. While in the midst of looking into loan options and get rich schemes, I was offered the fellowship I will be starting in May. The company I researched for last summer heard about this and, knowing I'd be graduating in December, mentioned their need for grant writers during the beginning of the year. I followed up and was hired on as a consultant. I can do this job remotely from anywhere. This meant I could fund my trip as it happened. However, given the fact that I'd need reliable wifi, I decided it'd be best to save the South America and Southeast Asia trips as the way I hope to do those trips doesn't include much computer time. That's how I ended up with this Europe trip.

I am very fortunate to have this opportunity, but this opportunity did not just happen. I had to make it happen. I'd been researching different options for months. I have a detailed budget and itinerary for South America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. I now know how the world of non-student loans work, and I now know how stupid it is to do two semesters of grad school at once. I tracked flights for months, I researched, and I jumped on any opportunity that aligned with my goal to travel. I let the opportunities dictate the particulars of my trip. Europe was not my number one choice, but it made the most sense.

In summary, travel is like most things in life. If you prioritize it, it'll happen. This principle has proven itself true in my life time and again. If you want to travel, make it happen! In my experience, it's a person's unwillingness to compromise, sacrifice, plan, and/or take a risk that stands in their way more than time or money. Travel hacks are fun, but in the end, it's just about going and doing!