Tag Archives: luggage

Jan Chipchase on The Psychology of Packing

I’m certainly not the only one thinking about the psychology of packing a bag these days and, to that end, Medium has an interesting look at the mental effects of what we bring with us on a trip–and how we bring it.

Jan Chipchase, the article’s author, is a frequent traveler and the founder of design studio Studio D Radiodurans. He is also the maker of a USD $1,000 duffel bag called the D3 Traveller (really… my Tom Bihn Aeronaut sighed out of class envy when it saw me looking at it). While there are moments in piece where the tone is a bit too prescriptive for my tastes (plenty of “hardened travelers” use wheeled bags), his personal packing philosophy is very much akin to my own and he ends with a few things which work for him:

  1. Steer clear of wheels. They are the loan-sharks of weight and space. For a little up-front joy, you’ll be paying back for the rest of your journey.
  2. Limit luggage to one piece that fits into a business class footwell or under an economy class seat (about 42 litres). The impact is two-fold: if it’s weighed at check-in (and with that size it rarely is), the overhead weight limits don’t apply; and if the overheads are full it doesn’t leave your side.
  3. Leave 10% of your luggage space for what the journey has to offer.

That last one is actually something we’ll be exploring in the next installment of ‘Unpacked’, Traveler Tech’s own look at the how packing a bag can have deeper effects on your travels.

This is a link post – You can visit the site mentioned by clicking the main link above (or just click here).

Thoughts about our travels and the items which we carry with us

‘UNPACKED’ is Traveler Tech’s new, open-ended series of thoughts about our travels and the items which we carry with us. Hopefully, these features will blend the practical with the philosophical–while also fitting completely under the seat in front of you. Welcome aboard!

My first instinct was that I didn’t want to assemble another collection of packing tips: I have already read an interminable number of “You can stuff items into the empty spaces of your shoes!” articles and, I expect, so have you.

Instead, I thought we’d all be better served by diving a little deeper. I want to explore concepts which might help you discover your own better ways of filling up a bag. Frankly, I hate when people proclaim that there’s a “right way” to travel. Let’s try to be more honest and humble than that. We should acknowledge that no two people travel in exactly the same way and, in fact, no two trips are the same.

Or, to paraphrase the Ancient Greeks – “No person ever packs the same bag twice”.

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Let’s start things off with a look at “baggage”, both literal and emotional.
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