Travel Light and Carry a Camera

Traveling with two children has made me realize that traveling LIGHT is much much better than traveling with everything imaginable. You never know when children just can't take another step and you'll need to carry them. Having your hands empty and ready to carry whatever comes your way is very handy. I like to keep one hand empty at all times so that it can be carrying my camera or water bottle.

Three years ago, my family of four (the kids were 8 and 4 at the time) traveled around Europe for a month. We carried one large (carry on size) backpack, one small backpack, and one super tiny kid sized backpack. We also had a fold out nylon backpack (folded into a teeny tiny thing about the size of a roll of film) that we used for grocery shopping. We were able to travel very comfortably and we actually did not use everything that we took. That taught me that we could travel even lighter with even greater comfort. The lighter we traveled, the less burdened we were (physically and mentally). Our arms (and backs) became unencumbered. We were able to spend our time and strengths on our surroundings and each other rather than having to worry about keeping track of our stuff. We kept the essentials on us at all times, and kept the rest ready and packed to travel at a moment's notice. The kids became entertained with the smallest and oddest items. We enjoyed going into European toy stores and finding small toys to purchase. Don't forget that you can always mail things home to yourself if you find a treasure that cannot be parted with.

Websites that I've found really helpful in learning how to pack light:
Rick Steves -- This site has a lot of great resources regarding traveling around Europe with minimal luggage.
One Bag -- "The Art and Science of Travelling Light"
Smart Packing for Today's Traveler -- Good information and fun to read through the site, but we pack significantly lighter than she recommends.

The added bonus is the environmental one: The lighter you pack, the less fuel you use. In a land vehicle, every extra 100 pounds you take out of your vehicle can reduce your fuel consumption by up to 2 percent.

Don't forget to take lots of photographs! Those are the best souvenirs of all!