Vent: 3 months in Bali and I just realized I was overpacking by like 40 lbs

I showed up in Canggu with a 55 liter backpack stuffed full and I thought I was so smart. Then I met this traveler at a hostel in Ubud who had a tiny 30 liter bag and she was outlasting me by weeks. She tipped me off that most places here sell toiletries and clothes for cheap so there's no need to bring everything. Anyone else haul way too much gear around Southeast Asia before figuring this out?

2 comments

2 Comments

jenniferwells1mo ago

and honestly the first thing I ditched was half my shoes because i was just wearing flip flops everywhere anyway. ended up giving a pair of sneakers to this local kid who looked at them like i handed him gold.

benb211mo ago

...and that's the thing about traveling light, you start noticing how much stuff we think we need that we really don't. I had a similar moment in Thailand but it was with electronics. Brought a laptop, tablet, backup battery pack, all these chargers and cables for different devices. Ended up just using my phone for everything after the first week. The tablet sat in my bag the whole trip and I felt so dumb carrying it around. Gave it to a guy in my hostel who was doing digital nomad stuff and actually needed it. Now I travel with just my phone and a portable charger, that's it. Feels way better not being weighed down by all that gear even if I looked prepared at the start.