British restaurateur and celebrity chef Rick Stein loves to travel light. If he had a choice, he would probably only carry his hand luggage.
But, while many influential people and experts promote the travel light phenomenon, one has to ask whether travelling light is possible?
Personally, I think there are pros and cons to travelling light. T
he pros: it is compact, you do not have to worry about waiting for your bag at the baggage carousel, and you do not have to lug around kilos of clothes and other items around.
In that sense, I can totally see why Stein loves to travel light.
Then, there are the cons. For me packing is an art. I plan out the possible outfit choices according to the weather.
Often, during shorter trips, it’s hard to plan much as you have minimal clothing choices.
You won't have space for everything and may leave behind items at home.
If you do travel light and incidents arise, it can be quite cumbersome to have the clothes washed and dry cleaned. Let’s not forget, a costly affair.
Packing light also means there will no space to shop, collect souvenirs or for those hotel amenities everyone loves to snatch from their hotel room.
Frankly, the question of whether we can travel light or not depends on the type of traveller you are and the reason for your trip.