Its funny how much significance we plan on such random, useless objects.
When you think about picking up your life and moving across the world for six months, things in your life tend to fall into two different categories. Can I live without it or do I need this for my everyday happiness? Back in New York, it seemed that I needed quite alot for my everyday happiness. As I now travel through Europe, my larger than life backpack weighing like an anvil on my back is a constant reminder of just how much.
Ironically, I find myself wearing the same three items practically every day and pretty much just skimming off the items at the top of my bag. So the questions begs to be asked, if I am surviving quite nicely right now, wearing a fraction of my wardrobe from back home, do I really need it at all?
Travel sometimes feels like an escape from reality, living in an alternate universe where you can reinvent yourself. At home in New York, I place a huge emphasis on what I wear, who designed it and whether it is really still stylish after a year. Yet while I am on the road, I find myself sticking to the less is more mantra.
Why make myself miserable carrying around a huge load, when I can run around this beautiful, foreign city feeling light, and burden free? Why pay triple the amount of money for a cab, because I can't bear to swing my bag over my shoulders, when the bus is a 10-minute walk away and just a euro?
Everyone has to travel to their own rhythm, but as the years go by, and I get more and more accustomed to backpacking and solo travel, I am finding that the one and only thing that matters is enjoying each and every moment.
Yes, I still love fashion. Yes, I will still stare into the windows of the designer shops that line the shopping districts of each new city I visit. But, from now on, I am making a commitment to myself, and to my style of travel.
I will aim to bring half of what I initially pack.
Simplifying my life by removing all the excess baggage that I hardly use on the road seems like a liberating move, and I can only predict that my travels will continue to bring happiness and light into my life.