It can generally go without saying that people do not enjoy bringing massive suitcases of luggage around with them when they travel. However, making sure that you are prepared for everything is important, and to many people, this is just one of the many downsides of travelling. It doesn’t have to be though.

One of the more recent trends in travelling is travelling with as little luggage as you can safely get away with, and in the more extreme cases, travelling with just barely enough to get by. The idea of minimalist travel comes from a combination of challenging oneself to bring only the most important items on a vacation as well as being a method for people to get away from baggage fees and the aches and frustrations of trying to deal with suitcases in an airport.

Minimalist travel involves a few different concepts and it isn’t nearly as shallow as simply bringing only a pair of clothes and your wallet. This kind of travel is a challenge in itself that many people are willing to take on.

The crux of this kind of travel is to only bring what is truly necessary for the experience, allowing you to have more resources for yourself to spend on the journey, whether that includes taking in the sights or simply not having to worry about your important luggage getting lost in the airport.

Then, as with all things in life, there are the people who enjoy taking things to the extremes. Extreme minimalist travel takes things a step further into madness, pushing yourself to only bring the things that you absolutely must bring and seeing just how little you can successfully get away with bringing with you. However, to get a better grasp on extremely minimalist travel, you will need to better understand typical minimalist travel first and how you go about doing it.

What Is Minimalist Travel?

Minimalist travel is often used interchangeably with the term “minimalist packing,” as they are incredibly similar in concept. The goal of minimalist travel is to get rid of anything and everything that is unnecessary to your journey. For instance, you don’t really need to bring an additional set of clothes in case something happens to the ones you have set for the days, as you can simply just purchase new clothes at your destination if the need arises.

If you do not know for a fact that you will be swimming on your journey, there is no point in bringing a swimsuit and accessories until you arrive. These are just a few of the thoughts that would go through your mind as you begin to set yourself up to pack minimalist.

While you might be concerned about it at first, and for people who are already anxious by nature, this can be incredibly nerve-wracking, it becomes all the more important for you to carefully evaluate all of your items while you are looking at them. In the long run, minimalist travel will benefit you heavily. When you think about it, bringing luggage with you is one of the biggest problems that people face when they go on vacations and journeys, and by choosing to go minimalist (or extremely minimalist), then you can completely reduce this factor of travel to something more bearable.

How Can Travelling Minimalistic Benefit You?

When you begin to think about it, traveling minimalistic can benefit you in a number of different ways. For one, you won’t have to physically drag a suitcase and carry-ons into an airport with you. Instead, you would only have one bag that could potentially be classified as a carry-on bag to keep track of. This also means that you won’t have to deal with luggage fees and the stress of waiting for your luggage to appear at the airport when you finally arrive at your destination, as you will be able to see your bag as you carry it with you.

If you’re planning an extremely minimalist travel, you’ll want to pack ladies’ swimwear that suits your needs without taking up too much space in your luggage.You also won’t have to worry about the physical strain that can come from packing too much. Nobody enjoys heavy suitcases.

Rather than carrying that around a brand-new city, you can consider the fact that you might be travelling with a large purse of items or potentially even just a backpack of items. This frees both your body and your mind and leaves you with more than enough energy to go sightseeing, exploring the place that you have wanted to visit for a long, long time.

Finally, the overall mindset of minimalism will help you get rid of unnecessary things in life, which can save you even more money down the road. These are just a few of the reasons why you might want to consider traveling minimalist.

How Do You Choose the Important Items?

The hardest part about minimalist travel, and especially with extreme minimalist travel, is figuring out exactly what you need to bring. You should begin with the obvious preliminary questions, such as asking yourself if you really need your favorite shampoo or if you can use the hotel’s miniature bottles of shampoo when you get there. You should think about what resources you will have at your destination too.

For instance, if you are going to a resort for a week and the resort has a washing machine that you can use, you can get away with packing only one or two day’s worth of clothing and simply washing it a few times while you are there. This is the kind of mindset you will want to have while you are sorting through your belongings.

You will also want to learn how to pack efficiently so that you can make the most out of the space you have. If you have a purse or a backpack that you are using as your main “suitcase” you should plan around how much space you have and think about how you can rearrange things to get the most out of it. This will also help you if you are struggling with the idea of minimalistic packing at first, as many people do.

As you slowly get used to the idea of packing minimalistic, you will soon learn several tips and tricks that you can use along the way, allowing you to get closer and closer to achieving the extremely minimalist packing that you eventually want to reach.

Going From Regular to Extreme Minimalism

Now, you will want to think about how things change from regular minimalistic packing to the extremes. Typically, people who go to the extremes will limit themselves to only one bag to use for their entire trip. This means that you don’t pack extra day bags or anything for potentially week-long trips. While this might seem stunning at first, there are plenty of ways that this can be achieved. For one, you can consider using one of the larger backpacks that you can find so that you can partially cheat about only using one bag.

You will also want to think about how much you can reuse things, rely on other resources, and similar. This includes using the toiletry bag most hotels provide as a day-bag of your own, for instance. You should also think about how long you can go before you really want to change clothes, as many extreme minimalistic packing tips will have you wearing the same clothes for three days and potentially more than that if you are spending more time alone (such as on a hike).

More often than not, this also means sleeping in the outdoor clothes as well. These are just some of the things to consider when you make the shift into extreme minimalist packing and travel.