Hubby and I travel a lot. Sometimes he travels alone. Just he and his bicycles. He has a system for his truck where everything is within his reach. Water to drink, snacks (mostly Cheetos), trash sack, tissues, and so on. His system works really well for him until I go along. He has to rearrange things and that upsets his system. He’s a good sport about it.
Other than clothes and toiletries, there are things we don’t travel without, not counting our trips to Europe. Hubby won’t leave home without a bike or two or three. He never knows where he might find a path or trail to ride on. I always have a bag of my books (I never know when someone might want to buy one). He used to complain about how much I took on trips, but he doesn’t do that anymore. His bikes, tools, clothes, shoes, helmets (yes, plural), spare parts, and other accoutrements take up a lot more space than my books.
We differ on how many clothes to take on trips. I try to take something for everyday we’re gone, up to a week. He takes just a few things and relies on finding laundry mats every few days. He has only a few days’ worth of bike clothes so why take more regular clothes if he’s going to have to wash anyway? I can’t find a way to argue with that.
He’s taught me a few things. Twice, we traveled to Europe for almost a month with only carry-on luggage. I didn’t think we could do it. Hubby’s a great packer so we managed to get it all in and survive on only a few changes of clothes. This method restricted the souvenirs we could bring home, but it saved us a lot of money.
So what is the lesson in this? Less is more, unless it’s bikes or books, than take all you need. Drive defensively, and pick your flights well.