I can, and have, lived out of a carry-on and a backpack for two weeks in Europe. I have done this multiple times and presume the ‘two-weeks’ could extend to ‘indefinitely’ without much adjustment. I welcome the restraint. The entire exercise of reducing your life to the volume of a standard kitchen garbage can is cathartic. And insane.
...and then I take a road trip and pack like I’m relocating.
That extra space does something to my brain. When there is a physical (or monetary) limit I become a ruthlessly efficient packer but when that constraint disappears I suddenly need five pairs of footwear [because I had to leave them behind when I was flying!], two books I probably won’t read, and enough snacks to last a week for a six-hour drive.
This is a UAC post. Astrologers travel, they just pack more ephemerides. During the panel I attended at Lily Dale last week, when asked about where they live, Rick Levine quipped “on an airplane”. Chicago is an easy drive from Buffalo, quite literally: 539 of the 544 miles between my driveway and the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile are on I-90 W. My brain knows this. My brain has already started the “well, I could bring...” spiral.
Except I’m not driving. I’m taking the train. Sweet, gloriously weird Amtrak. And that changes everything... and also nothing.
The Train Loophole
Compared to an airline, Amtrak gives the impression that they don’t particularly care how much you bring. For those curious, the official baggage allowance for ticketed passengers is one personal item up to 25lbs. and two carry-ons of up to 50lbs. each. The vibe at the station is less “TSA checkpoint” and more “glad you showed up”... I’ve often joked that it is the only public transportation to consider if someone is a drug mule [which, to be clear CIA, I am not]. No weigh-ins, no gate agents eyeing your bag with suspicion, no ritual of removing your shoes and belt while someone confiscates your full-size toothpaste. You walk on with whatever you can carry and nobody blinks... which was unfortunate on the sold-out train I recently took back home from NYC where the person next to me boarded with, and proceeded to eat, what appeared to be 3lbs. of pungent Greek salad.
The train is a loophole in my packing brain. It’s not flying (constraint) and it’s not driving (infinite space). It’s somewhere in between, and “somewhere in between” is where my executive function goes to die. Without a hard physical limit, the optimization instinct doesn’t kick in. Without unlimited space, I can’t just throw everything in and sort it out later. I actually have to decide. I am exceptional at many things but ‘deciding’ is not always one of them.
So I’ve resolved myself to actually planning ahead and test packing one week out instead of my usual conceptualization-turned-frantically-removing-the-second-sweater-to-create-space several hours before departure.
What, Pray Tell, Is Going in the Bag?
I’ve read countless line-by-line packing list suggestions, and scanned r/onebag ad nauseam. The first few I read, years ago, provided some insight but they have become increasingly tedious to read and, frankly, it doesn’t sound like any fun to write. So, instead, I thought I would talk about the items that have stories, because packing decisions (good or bad) often do... and yes, I am including a few affiliate links. They will not be gratuitous and will be limited to a few choice items I really do believe in. This is not a one (and a half) bag trip and it is not a 32”+ “modern day steamer trunk” trip, either. On the latter, I would opine that no trip is. I’m rolling into The Windy City with a 24” suitcase (which will contain my day pack) and my trusty leather duffel bag. Here is some of what will be inside:
The One Travel Shoe to Rule Them All
Footwear has single-handedly destroyed the best-laid packing plans... dually so when you wear a size 13. All-white Nike Air Force 1s are the single best travel shoe anyone can own. I will die on this hill.
Iconic. Gender neutral. Easy-to-clean leather. The silhouette and cultural status make them more than acceptable virtually everywhere outside of boardrooms and black-tie events (you may also want to consider alternatives if you’re summiting Kilimanjaro). If you don’t like all white, you’re in luck! How about all black? Or, perhaps, any of the 762,355,098 other color combinations they are available in.
I have, without hesitation, presented this argument every single time I have come across a post on r/onebag, r/travel, or anywhere else asking “if you can only pack one pair of shoes...” and other similar queries.
You could follow my affiliate link and buy brand-new Air Force 1s like a sucker OR you could purchase one of the seemingly infinite lightly used pairs on Poshmark for $35-45 and spend 20 minutes cleaning them up with some baking soda, vinegar, and a toothbrush. Spend another $15-20 on a decent set of new insoles [because the act of simply typing out the idea of wearing shoes with insoles that have been molded to someone else’s foot makes me feel icky]. Boom, you’re still looking ________ (insert young person slang here) for half the price.
Nike Air Force 1 ’07 (affiliate link)On the Pursuit of Backpacks
My EDC bag is an Osprey Daylite Plus. I snagged this specific pack through the My Morning Jacket Fans Facebook group, of all places. Some guy was selling deadstock of these leftovers which had been some sort of fan-club VIP-package-ticket-gift type thing on a previous tour. I paid $65 for it including shipping. My favorite backpack brand with the logo of one of my favorite bands embroidered on it? No brainer.
I also have at least four other Ospreys. I don’t need all of them but it is useful to have different volumes and layouts for different trips. When I need more space (or I’m commuting by bicycle) I use the Osprey Metron 24.
In a throwaway consumerism hellhole, Osprey is one of the few remaining bastions of reliability and product support. The only backpacks I purchase anymore. I chased that fucking dragon for far too long. AER Travel Pack? Yep. ULA Dragonfly? Yep. Mystery Ranch? Of course, I’ve owned several. Herschel, Cotopaxi, Topo Designs... you get the idea. I’ve tried them all*.
*No, I have not, in fact, owned any bags from GoRuck, Tom Bihn, Tortuga, Evergoods, Bellroy, Mission Workshop, Red Oxx, or whichever other brand you are certain is superior to my choice. I am legitimately happy you have found a bag you swear by, believe me. I wish I had found my go-to backpack brand many bags and dollars before I did.
For someone who was obsessed with the “one bag” mantra for so long, it’s funny how many bags I accumulated in that pursuit. At some point, owning less had required me to buy a remarkable amount of luggage.
A quick aside on the Daylite Plus: Amazon wouldn’t allow me to generate an affiliate link for it because it’s flagged as a “frequently returned item” due to “tight fit.” Which just goes to show that bag and backpack philosophy is highly individualized. I am not telling you to buy a particular bag, merely that I have found this is what works for my EDC.
Osprey Metron 24 (affiliate link) · Osprey Daylite Plus (direct link, no affiliate)And I Have to Pack Books!?
The NCGR-PAA Level I exam is September 9th, the last day of UAC. I have been studying for months and will continue studying during the conference, which means the books are non-negotiable. Physical books. Heavy, thick, paper books that do not compress or fold and do not care about your packing strategy.
I’ll need them for review sessions, evening study, and the exam itself. That makes them the first things into the bag because everything else has to pack around them, not the other way around. In the one-bag world, the heaviest items set the terms for everything else.
These books are setting the terms.
Shiny New Toy
Becoming a content creator has added an entirely new category to my packing checklist. It used to be: clothes, toiletries, electronics, documents. Four boxes. Simple. Now there’s a fifth box and it’s growing.
The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 is the centerpiece. It’s a tiny stabilized camera that shoots 4K and fits, as its name would imply, in a jacket pocket. The gimbal or stabilization or whatever the fuck it is was the true deciding factor for me on this one. I don’t have decades of experience shooting video in the field but, for what I need a camera to do, it’s close to perfect. From where I sit, I don’t think I would consider anything else if I were someone looking to break into the world of content creation.
But “the camera” is never just the camera. It’s the camera, the charging case, the extension rod, the wireless mic (with its own charging case), the microSD cards, and the various adapters that connect everything to everything else. And a small tripod. And a portable charger for when all of the above runs out of battery simultaneously.
I am looking forward to playing with the 14-piece lens filter kit I recently purchased when it arrives.
This is manageable for UAC because I’m not one-bagging. I have room for the gear. But it has me thinking about the next trip where I AM trying to pack everything into a single bag. The DJI kit didn’t exist in my packing calculus before. It does now. Permanently. That bag that used to hold everything I needed for two weeks? It’s going to need to hold everything I needed before PLUS the entire creator kit, and something is going to have to give. I haven’t figured out what yet.
I’m filing that problem under “future Andrew’s problem.” Current Andrew has a train to catch.
DJI Osmo Pocket 3 (affiliate link)“Hey Kid, I’m a Computer... Stop All the Downloading”
IYKYK on that heading. Anyways. I found an incredible deal on a 16” M1 Pro MacBook a few years ago. 32GB of memory, 512GB SSD... meh, whatever. It’s a laptop. It works, it has more than enough power for what I need, and I shouldn’t have to compare and contrast laptop choices again for quite a while...
and given what you now know about my relationship with comparing and contrasting, you understand why that matters.
The more important electronics development, at least from a packing perspective, was upgrading to an iPhone 15 Pro Max. USB-C was a major reason I bought it: my phone had been the final holdout preventing me from traveling with an entirely USB-C ecosystem. Now, nearly everything I bring can be powered by some permutation of the same cable.
It’s lovely.
Hydration (and Caffeination) Station
Since I have the extra space this go ’round I am putting in a concerted effort to be more conscientious about avoiding single-use bottles, cups, and the like... what I mean to say is that, while I always bring a water bottle on my travels, I don’t usually include a coffee mug as well.
The coffee mug is by MIIR and has served me impeccably for years. It was a gift from my late wife and I hope it continues to serve me for many more years.
On the other hand: the white Contigo water bottle is merely the most recent water bottle I purchased from Savers. I am HARD on water bottles. I drop them, leave them places, throw them at fascists, and somehow destroy them in countless other ways. Buying a used water bottle is fucking gross... good thing Savers has a new batch of never-been-used water bottles priced around $5 nearly every time I find myself in need.
Are You Taking Notes?
Moleskines are cool and all. Plus, you know, I heard Van Gogh used notebooks like them. The problem with fancy notebooks, however, has been that I never actually use them. They’re too nice for scribbled thoughts and notes. I’ve been using Elan Publishing field notebooks for years now and they are exactly what I need: cheap, plentiful, grid pattern, compostable. Under $2 per notebook. Use them. Abuse them. Admire the mangled tattered corpses of their brethren on your bookshelf. They also come with an “indestructible” cover for a few dollars more, but without the grid layout option. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that is a deal breaker for me but why pay more for a layout I do not prefer while also away from the ‘disposability’ I yearn for? I NEED THEM TO BE TRASH.
The notebook is in my left hand. My right hand holds the other essential I will shout from the mountaintops: my Fisher Space Pen. I first purchased this pen in 2014 before a work trip to Tuscany for a week of winery visits where I was going to have to take pages of notes. I think I’ve changed the ink cartridge once since then... well, twice: I swapped the black ink cartridge for blue ink immediately after I bought it. As I was pulling up the Amazon listing for this post I was presented with a text box at the top of the page with the following information: “Last purchased Jul. 28, 2014.” I’d say that is a pen worth twenty dollars.
Elan Publishing field notebooks · Elan “indestructible” · Fisher Space Pen (affiliate links)Dining Out Is Expensive
I’m going to be in Chicago for ten days. Ten days in a major city will demolish a budget if you eat every meal out. Between the conference registration, the train, the hotel, and the exam fee, I’ve already spent a meaningful amount of money on this trip. Eating three restaurant meals a day for ten days on top of that is not happening.
So here’s the plan: when I arrive on September 1st I’m making a trip to Aldi and Costco. Protein shakes, Greek yogurt, fruit, granola bars, sandwich stuff, nuts, snacks. Enough to cover breakfast and lunch for the duration. Dinner can be social... that’s where the conference networking happens, where the conversations continue outside the seminar rooms. I want to be strategic about where I spend, not restrictive. Breakfast and lunch can be functional. Dinner is where the experience lives.
The hotel has a mini fridge, which is the only reason this works. Without that mini fridge, the whole plan collapses and I’m eating $14 hotel lobby bagels for ten days.
This isn’t a travel hack. This is survival math. Oh, on that note: I’m also bringing laundry sheets and a small clothesline so I can wash my t-shirts and undergarments in my hotel room. I requested laundry service prices from Marriott and, by my recollection [I deleted the email in disgust moments after opening it], to wash the components of one complete outfit (shirt, pair of pants, t-shirt, pair of underwear, pair of socks) would have cost over $40.
An Exercise in Test Packing
I know myself. If I wait until the night before, I will pack emotionally, spreadsheet be damned! I will stand in front of my closet at 11 PM convincing myself I need a second coat “just in case”, load 7 months’ worth of music onto my digital audio player, and tell myself “this is the time I’m going to read something on my Kindle”.
Test-packing is the countermeasure. It’s the version of packing where the stakes are zero because the trip isn’t tomorrow. You can lay it all out, see what it looks like, and make cuts from there without the pressure of a departure time looming... and that is why none of my kilts will be making this journey with me.
The goal isn’t perfection, it is to avoid careless oversights. This trip is too important to me.
Part of this exercise has been choosing my outfits. I fucking love clothes, man. My style is intrinsically part of my personal identity and I am effectively breaking into this groovy new scene where it does not appear there are any expectations for me to don a tie [although... I do love une jolie cravate Hermès... no. No ties. Leave them with the kilts].
As my ‘About Me’ section professes, you can usually hear me before you see me but, in this case, I’ll endeavor to pack at least a few items that attempt to match that energy.
The Spreadsheet(s) Cometh
If you’ve been following this series, you know my UAC preparation has involved an unreasonable number of spreadsheets. The seminar decision spreadsheet is locked. The study schedule spreadsheet is already pockmarked with notes. And now, of course, there’s a packing spreadsheet. The ADHD brain doesn’t trust itself to remember what it decided yesterday (or yesterminute), so it writes everything down and then makes a spreadsheet about what it wrote down... at least I have found this is what puts my mind at ease.
I leave in less than a week and I am getting jazzed. The bags aren’t packed yet but they’ve had a dress rehearsal. The books are heavy. The tech loadout and camera equipment is ready. The Air Force 1s are clean.
...all that’s left is to settle on which band t-shirts I’m going to bring.