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A work week one bag travel

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Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

Neale Donald Walsch

I’m lucky that I have a job where I can work remotely as it allows me to live in a small community where there are no tech jobs anywhere close. It does require me to travel a few weeks per year to the office but I don’t mind that much as I appreciate minor dozes of socializing occasionally.

I recently spent five nights on a trip with only a single backpack and it was a surprisingly great experience.

How I used to travel

I’ve previously used these two bags for my trips.

I’ve had these work trips for years and I didn’t put too much thought into how to travel. Like most people I simply filled a suitcase that I checked in together with a backpack that I brought on the airplane.

I didn’t quite know how much to pack so I always packed a little more than I needed. For example, if I’m away 5 nights then I brought 7 pairs of underwear (if disaster strikes twice). When I returned I always had a bunch of unused clothes, but that felt better than having to little.

Because I had so much space I could bring a lot of things; my own pillow, a handful of books, gigantic boardgames, and I still had space left to bring back lots of gifts.

What bags?

I’ve had two backpacks that I used to travel with:

  1. Datsusaru Battlepack Core

    It’s a really sturdy backpack that’s great to bring to BJJ training, but it’s very heavy and it’s not ideal as a traveling bag.

  2. M-Tac Backpack Urban Line

    I bought this bag recently but I wasn’t too impressed. It was too small for a traveling bag and the zipper broke after just a few trips.

I’ve had a few suitcases that have broken down but I can’t remember the brand of. Most recently I’ve been using the Samsonite Essens 69cm that have held out great so far.

One bag travel

I’ve been spending five nights away 4–5 times a year on business travels. It’s not a crazy amount but also not negligible, so I figured it’s worth trying to optimize them a bit.

Enter one bag travel.

While I was reasonably comfortable during my travels there’s a few things that intrigued me about one bag travel:

  1. I wouldn’t have to roll around a big suitcase.
  2. The trip would be more streamlined without having to check-in and wait for the luggage during flights.
  3. I wouldn’t have to worry about lost luggage (although to be fair, so far I haven’t had that happen to me).
  4. No more trying to find space for my suitcase on the train, or worrying that I won’t see if someone decides to grab it and walk off the train.

In short, the actual trip would be more convenient and less worrisome…
If I could make it fit.

The packing list

All the stuff I packed into a bag for a week of travel.

  • Water bottle

    I later decided not to bring it.

  • 5 pair of socks and underwear

  • 3 t-shirts, 1 long-sleeve t-shirt

  • 1 slightly thicker long-sleeve shirt

  • Training gear for Submission Wrestling

    Shorts, rashguard, spats, knee pads, and mouth guard.

  • 1 pair of pants

  • Mobile phone charger

  • A Framework 13 laptop + charger

  • Laptop–headphone cable

    I also brought the Sony WH-1000X M3 noise canceling headphones that I wore during the trip.

  • Remarkable 2

  • A bag for dirty clothes

  • Toothbrush & toothpaste

  • Power bank

  • Vitamins & medicine

  • Nail clippers, tape, Whoop body holder

  • Earbuds & sleep mask

  • A book—the first two books in the Murderbot Diaries series.

Things to wear

Clothes I wore during the travel.

I saw the advice that the clothes you travel with is also very important. They have a point.

  • Pants with large pockets with zippers.

    I could use the pants the whole week if I wanted to.

  • A Houdini hoodie.

    Really warm and cozy, should last the whole week.

  • A thin jacket.

    Paired with the hoodie it provides a decent enough protection against the weather. I’m not going on a hiking trip; I’ll be moving between the office, the hotel, and restaurants.

    It’s also thin enough so I can fit it into the fully packed backpack.

  • A cap and gloves.

    I’m traveling in Sweden, it’s still fairly cold here.

What I wish I brought

  1. It was a bit too cold on some days. A warmer jacket, long-johns, or a nudge would’ve been good.
  2. The next Murderbot book. The first was fantastic! I had to visit a local book store where I bought Lock In. Loved that too.

Gearing up

Before I could try out one bag travel I had to get a new backpack. I ended up with the Fyro Levo 30L backpack mostly because the creator had a bunch of cool videos about bags… As shipping was expensive I also got their packing cubes, the retractable key leash, and a 1L sling (that I didn’t use).

This isn’t a review of their stuff; there’s probably better options out there but I’m too inexperienced to say. Maybe I should’ve gotten the 36L backpack, and the sling was an unnecessary purchase, but other than that I’ve been very happy with the Fyro products.

Packing in

Will it fit?

All clothes are packed into the packing cubes. One cube with the Submission Wrestling training clothes, one with underwear, and the largest with the rest of the clothes.
The packing cubes fits into the main compartment perfectly.
Medicine, earplugs, mouth guard, and other stuff went into these pockets in the main compartment.
Laptop, Remarkable goes in the back. The electronics compartment is a little tight with the charger, power bank, and some other stuff, but it closes.
The quick access compartment in the front with toothpaste and mobile charger.

One of the biggest critiques against the bag is that the pockets here are very loose as things might fall out. When the bag is fully packed this has not been my experience—almost the reverse. Fully packed, it’s a bit too tight. But empty they’re too loose.

Keys and travel documents in the “passport” pocket right next to the back.
The fully packed bag.

I did fit everything I wanted to bring. Although I skipped the water bottle it would’ve fit into the water bottle holder on the side. Maybe I’ll bring it next time.

The fully packed bag weighed in at 7.3 kg.

On the road

I managed to push down my jacket, gloves, cap, and book into the front pocket.

I do love the large front compartment.

The Levo has a small loop to hang up the bag in the bathroom. Nice.
With some force I could fit the bag under the seat in front of me in the train.
The bag under the seat in the domestic SAS flight.

I was a bit worried that the bag wouldn’t fit under the front seat but it worked out well. I didn’t take a picture of it but it fit in the overhead compartment during the flight too.

Although the extra space of the 36L backpack would’ve been greatly appreciated I fear that it might have made the bag too large to fit under the seat. In the end I think I prefer the convenience of having the bag under the seat over the extra 6L of space.

From hotel to office

Bag without packing cubes.

The bag was also used to transport the laptop and other electronics between the hotel and office. I was worried that a huge bag would be a chore to bring but that’s been a non-issue. The only minor problem is that the bag doesn’t stand by itself without the packing cubes.

Pros and cons

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.

Henry Miller

Overall I’ve really enjoyed my one bag traveling experience. I managed to fit into a single bag and the trip was a lot easier and more streamlined.

There are however some downsides that bothers me quite a bit:

  • I couldn’t bring Luthier, my new favorite boardgame on the trip.

    My work trips have been one of the best ways to reduce my boardgame list-of-shame (bought and unplayed boardgames). Or to play my favorite games again.

  • There’s not enough space to bring back gifts, such as clothes or LEGO.

    Then again, maybe I don’t need to always bring back gifts? Or maybe small gifts are good enough?

  • I can’t go nuts in the local book stores.

    Last time I brought back five new fantasy and sci-fi books. This time I bought a small book that I could fit at the back above the laptop.

I haven’t yet decided if I shall continue with the one bag travel, or if I shall start checking in a suitcase again. Either way it’s been eye opening how much you can do with a regular backpack.

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