How to Travel Light

June 15, 2024

I recently went to Tokyo for the KonMari Consultant Retreat. While I was prepping, during, and after the trip, whenever I post a picture of my luggage or shared what I bought, people would DM to ask me if I really only travelled with carry on luggage only and then proceed to tell me how they just can’t do it so I want to share some tips that has worked for me.

Travelling light has been something I’ve been doing WAY before my KonMari days. I never really thought it’d be better to travel light until a trip to Europe in my mid twenties where I had to drag my very heavy luggage up many flights of stairs, through several countries using various methods of public transportations and walked on many uneven streets. It sucked so much that I vowed to travel light going forward.

I now travel carryon only no matter how long the trip is. The longest I’ve ever been away with just a carry on was 3 weeks. It gets more complicated when you’re travelling through different climates but still doable. One of the challenges for this trip was that it was a business trip and I was going to be teaching a workshop in Japan so I also needed to bring my laptop and ipad - that added a lot of weight. Another challenge was the fact that I simply must bring my Dyson Airwrap. I can’t style my hair without it and I was going to be taking a photo with Marie Kondo while in Japan. As you can see below, the Dyson took up a quarter of my carryon luggage.

My carry on luggage and personal item for Tokyo trip.

Tip #1: Don’t bring anything that the hotel has

Leaning into this really helped me reduce what I packed for this trip. I knew I was going to be staying at Hotel New Otani Tokyo so I looked up their website to see all of the in-room amenities and realized many of the items I would’ve packed was already provided. In addition to the typical shampoo, conditioner, soap that most hotels provide, they also provided pajamas, robes, slippers, umbrellas, cotton swabs, facial cotton, skin care, shower cap, hair brush/comb, tea sets and tea, clothes steamers, makeup mirror and much more.

Tip #2: Use packing cubes

I only needed 1 packing cube this trip but that one packing cube accommodated all of my clothing, socks, underwear needs for the entire 5-day trip. Before using the cube, all of the clothing took up half the carryon suitcase and after using the cube, I was able to fit in a large toiletry bag beside it. My packing cube is made from the thinnest material so it doesnt take up any room on its own and is about 10 years old from MEC and likely discontinued but it doesn’t really matter which one you use, just use one! My advice is to find one that suits the size of your luggage and is lightweight on its own so it doesn’t add more weight and bulk.

Tip #3: Pack the minimum amount of clothes

This one is going to be hard for many people so try your best. I like to look at the weather of the destination before I leave and then using that information combining with what I know I will be doing on the trip, I will curate a capsule wardrobe for the trip. It was Spring time in Tokyo so I decided to bring only 1 outerwear - my lightweight leather jacket. I was worried I might get cold on the plane so I brought an extra lightweight scarf that came in handy because the plane was FREEZING. For shoes, I brought only 1 pair as well - my Poppy Barley ankle boots that are not only super comfortable but also looked great with dresses. I am glad I went with comfort as I ended up walking 30k steps on one of the days! If you can manage to travel with only 1 outerwear and 1 pair of shoes, you’re 90% successful in travelling light. As for clothes, I only brought dresses just because that’s what I like to wear. I had a dress in mind for each day and brought an extra one as an option just in case. I actually didn’t end up wearing 2 of the dresses I brought!

Tip #4: Maximize your baggage allowance

Make sure you check the baggage allowance for your flight and the size limit because each airline might be different. I flew with West Jet for my trip and even though I can check a luggage for free, I still wanted to travel with only my carryon if I could and I already know that my carryon luggage is under their size limit even when it is expanded. For West Jet, each person is also able to bring a personal item - which can be a laptop bag, a handbag, etc. I ended up bringing a backpack from Samsonite that maximizes the personal item size without being considered as a second carryon. Not only is the backpack great because it’s handsfree, I was able to put my laptop, ipad in it safely while still had enough room for my handbag and more. My favourite feature of the backpack is that it has a luggage sleeve so it can sit on top of my luggage securely if I didn’t want to wear it.

Tip #5: Bring a packable duffel

This tip makes me feel like such a hypocrite because I travelled light going to Tokyo but didn’t travel carryon only on the way back as I had a lot more stuff coming back. This is where my trusty packable duffel came to rescue so I was grateful to have it. While I was in Japan, I did quite a bit of shopping (for my standards) and also came back with stuff from the retreat such as a signed copy of Marie Kondo’s latest hardcover book and artwork that I made during a calligraphy workshop. I ended up using the duffel bag as my carryon for the flight back for things I didn’t want to check as well as my jacket and ended up checking my carryon luggage. Thanks to the duffle bag, I didn’t have to scramble to find a larger luggage last minute in Tokyo. We also always pack this duffel whenever we travel and find that sometimes it’s useful to have it even just in the airports because we can stuff all of our winter jackets in it so we didn’t have to carry them.

What did you think of my tips? I hope you found them helpful. Let me know which one is your favourite, if there is one you already do or which one you will try for your next trip.