Packing Light: The Normal Person's Guide to Carry-On-Only Travel

Traveling can be an amazing, transformative experience. It can also be a pain.

Have you ever resented your luggage? You can admit it. Everything that seemed totally necessary when you were packing is suddenly the bane of your existence when you’re dragging it around a strange city trying to find your hotel.

Most frequent travelers aspire to pack light, but many can’t pare down their load to a single carry on bag.

Unsure of what you need, you pack everything you might use. Your luggage becomes a physical and mental burden. You have to carry all your stuff. You have to worry about all your stuff. You have to pay to check your stuff.

Travel can be difficult and challenging enough on its own. Don’t add to it with excess luggage. Travel light. Stay flexible. Enjoy your trip. You will remember what you did and how you felt, not what you packed.

Even if you check a bag on every trip and have never traveled carry-on-only, you can become a light packer.

The Benefits of Carry On Travel

Why would you want to travel carry-on-only? Why travel light?

• Skip the airport check in line


• No wasting time waiting for your bag at baggage claim


• Always make your connecting flight, even on short layovers


• Save money on airline baggage fees, often $50 or more per roundtrip flight


• Don’t worry about the airlines losing or damaging your luggage


• Less stuff to keep track of


• Bringing fewer clothes means less worrying about what to wear


• Bring your luggage on local transportation, like buses, taxis, motorcycles, and tuk tuks


• Never drag a heavy suitcase over cobblestone streets and up flight and flights of stairs

Traveling light will make for a better, more enjoyable trip. If you’re ready for a life with less baggage, keep reading.

What You Will Learn

Packing Light is written in escalating order, starting with the basics then moving onto more advanced tactics and trip-specific advice.

After the first two chapters, the book can be used for reference when you need it. You will note that some material is included in multiple chapters since the book is not usually read cover-to-cover.

• Introduction


• Chapter 1: Carry On Basics for Beginners


• Chapter 2: The Definitive Carry on Packing List


• Chapter 3: Packing for Extreme Weather


• Chapter 4: Packing Specific Items


• Chapter 5: Minimalist Packing


• Chapter 6: Packing Light for Men


• Chapter 7: Packing Light for Women


• Chapter 8: Packing Light for Long-Term Travel


• Chapter 9: Packing Hacks


• Afterword

Packing Light contains 130+ pages of carry on packing advice in an organized, easy-to-read format.

Why I Wrote This Book

I’m Fred Perrotta, the co-founder and CEO of Tortuga Backpacks.

In 2009, I backpacked Eastern Europe with my childhood friend, Jeremy Michael Cohen. After two weeks, we hated our bags. Neither backpack was well suited to travel. When we returned to the States after that trip, we vowed to make a better backpack for urban travel. Together, we co-founded Tortuga Backpacks.

After starting a backpack company, everyone asked me what to bring on every trip. Instead of rewriting the same answers over and over again, Jeremy and I started a blog, Packsmith, to answer common packing and gear questions. The most popular content from the blog became the core of this book.

Read Packing Light so that you can bring everything you need without checking a bag.