Traveling Light Post FI Life

Traveling Light

I also have some affiliate links for products. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission. Thanks.

Traveling Light - Right?

Post FI Life Traveling Light

I love my toiletry bag! Scott makes fun of my toiletry bag all the time and how it takes up half the suitcase when we used to travel.

I would agree. 

I am not a big makeup person, but for some reason I really have loads of toiletries. I love them & need them!

One of my Vision Board sayings is, Traveling Light, and I know over the last year I have really focused on packing with just a backpack that will fit in the seat in front of me on a plane. I used to just check a bag, but with luggage prices on airlines nowadays and my FI lifestyle, I am down to just a backpack, hopefully forever. 

 

Next Adventures

camino de santiago traveling lightSo, our next travel adventure is to spend a week at Chautauqua in Colombia and then head directly to Portugal and spend an indefinite amount of time in Europe. We are also planning to walk a portion of the Portuguese route of the Camino de Santiago in October and I really need to be traveling light for that. 

I purchased a new 32L backpack for the Camino. The plan is to keep the backpack (without water) under 15 lbs. (6.8kg) WITH all of my toiletries! 

Yeah, that is going to be the challenge. 

I am at 12.6 lbs. (5.7kg) currently and know that a few more toiletries will somehow work their way into my bag. I had come up with a great solution though. Scott could just carry my toiletries since he has a 40L backpack and has SO much more room.

Great idea, right?! You know what his answer was.

Traveling Light

Having less stuff in general is liberating and traveling light is the ultimate proof of that. I am really embracing getting everything I need for the next few months into a 32L backpack. For the last few months that we have been “homeless”, check out my post about our gypsy life and nomadic travels. I had labeled trash bags stuffed at my in-laws house for each of our trips and the different clothes and toiletry items I wanted to take for each trip. 

I would pack & unpack & pack again for each trip and wow, that was taking a toll. Really, do I need that much stuff and why not just wear the same clothes all summer and be done with it? 

I Love Shoes Too!

Oh, have I mentioned how much I like shoes? 

I never thought of myself as a shoe person. During my corporate life, I always had a ton of high heel shoes, sandals for casual Fridays, and flats. When I quit my job, now a year & a half ago, I got rid of almost all “work” shoes and just kept one pair of Cole Haan beige heels for emergencies. I replaced those shoes with sandals and sneakers for my more casual, non corporate lifestyle. It was great, an excuse to buy more shoes!

Okay, back to the traveling light topic.

I thought I was doing okay with my traveling light theme until I looked at my packing list and I have 67 items that I am taking on this trip!

Here is a link to my Google doc packing list: Jen’s Packing List

(This list might have grown since I wrote this post and remembered other essential items.)

What!?!? How are 67 items traveling light?  I am not sure how all those items will fit into my bag!! But it does! Amazingly it all fits without having to give Scott my toiletries and shoes.  I may end up giving up some of those items and adding others, but the core things are in the list and I can always buy what I need while we are on the road. Yes, I keep telling myself that. 

This is all another mini-experiment to see if traveling light is actually a better way for us to travel and gives us more flexibility, which has been a big theme during our gypsy lifestyle lately.  We will give it a shot and see how it goes.

Moral of the Story

Once a shoe addict, always a shoe addict. 

Jen

Jen

I started this blog to journal about my Post FI Life and help me process my transition from working in Corporate America for almost 30 years. I am on a journey to find happiness, joy and fulfillment. And to have a little fun along the way.

Share:

4 Responses

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More Blog Posts

5 Reasons to Sign Up for Etsy E-Printables Course with Gold City Ventures

5 Reasons to Sign Up for Etsy E-Printables Course with Gold City Ventures

October 26, 2022 No Comments

I worked in Corporate America for almost 30 years and finally retired last year at the age of 50. I was burned out and wanted to do something more creative with my time. In my final few years of corporate work, I was exposed to the FIRE community (Financial Independence Retire Early) and heard about creating printables and selling them on Etsy from Julie and Cody of Gold City Ventures. This sounded like the perfect side hustle to channel my creative energy! Here are my 5 Reasons to Sign Up for Etsy E-Printables Course with Gold City Ventures.

Read More »
FI Chautauqua

Be Inspired

September 21, 2022 6 Comments

Be Inspired, Finding Inspiration at FI Chautauqua

Who inspires you?
A friend? A family member? A public figure? A writer? An artist?

Someone who is walking the walk and living their purpose or at least striving for living a more meaningful life?

Read More »
Traveling Light Post FI Life

Traveling Light

September 2, 2022 4 Comments

I love my toiletry bag! Scott makes fun of my toiletry bag all the time and how it takes up half the suitcase when we used to travel.

I would agree.

I am not a big makeup person, but for some reason I really have loads of toiletries. I love them & need them! I love traveling light.

Read More »
Year of the Beard

Year of the Beard

August 29, 2022 5 Comments

Did you know there is a beard “club” for dudes that have longer, mountain man style beards? Yep, it’s true.

Dudes with longer beards will give a little nod and slight wink to other dudes with longer beards. It is like motorcycle riders that will give little waves to other motorcycle riders, UPS drivers acknowledging other UPS drivers, or truck drivers nodding to another truck driver. The Year of the Beard begins.

Read More »
Post FI FLife Explore

Explore

August 26, 2022 3 Comments

Explore! I feel like I am on board the starship Enterprise. For you Star Trek geeks like me, Star Trek represents exploration, learning about new cultures, trying new things that I have not done before and experimenting along the way. Star Trek could be a metaphor for a FI lifestyle.

Read More »