We like to travel light. I carry one 22-inch luggage and a light backpack, and Pat carries a 24-inch bag and a light backpack no matter how many different places we visit and for how long. We try to keep the weight of these bags under 20 pounds when we start. They will get heavier as we buy little items along the way.
This enables us to check one bag and carry one onboard if there is an extra charge for checked bags. Money aside, chugging along big bags weighs you down & we’d like to be nimble if at all possible.
It starts with shopping: consider weight & volume when you buy clothing and gear & choose the lightest/foldable/condensable items. These words are our friends: no ironing needed/wrinkle free, quick drying, easy care.
We prefer to stay where there is easy access to washer/dryer. That way we do not need to carry too many shirts/pants/underwear/socks.
On Airbnb, we tick “wifi, essentials, washer” on the amenities list. Dryers are harder to come by outside of the U.S. Thus if you tick that, the list of available places may become very short or empty.
To check the annual weather situation for packing purpose: here is a good site
How We Stay Connected
I carry an iPad Mini tablet and an unlocked Android phone. Pat carries an iPhone(unlocked, meaning not tied to a cell provider) and an Android tablet. We do not mind not checking email onboard a cruise ship, but we go to a cafe that provides free wifi service when we land at a port.
We buy a local SIM card if we plan to stay over a week at one place & use it with one of our phones. SIM cards can be rather fickle at times, and it may not work with all phones. But having one iPhone and one Android phone, we find one usually works with a local SIM. We buy a SIM with minimum 2GB data option and turn on the portable hotspot/tethering function. This way we get a wifi connection almost anywhere we go. In Europe, inter-EU roaming is free. This means you can buy a SIM in one country and use it in any other countries in EU. An interesting thing is that the pricing is different from country to country. For instance, we discovered the exact same capacity SIM cards are cheaper in Spain than in Portugal. So shop around if you plan to visit more than one country. We can usually buy a 2GB data SIM for around $10 in most countries. The pricing depends also on the length of validity. So check how long the SIM is good for. Many countries require to show a passport to buy a SIM. Some countries, such as Japan, make it hard and expensive for a foreign visitor to get a local SIM. (Click here for more detailed information about local SIM cards.)
When we go to a place like China where Gmail and other Google products & Facebook are blocked, we buy a month of VPN service. I use ExpressVPN, and they charge $12.99/month. With this turned on, I can use my Kakao Talk message service as well. What is VPN, you might ask. Here’s Wikipedia link.
Money
We get our local currency from an ATM at the airport or banks after arrival. We tend to get the best exchange rate that way. One thing to keep in mind is that the banks charge a fee each time. Thus taking a small amount multiple times does not work well. The worst place to get foreign currency is a currency changer kiosk in an airport in the U.S. – or even the banks in the U.S. do not usually give good rates. One bank account we use for traveling purpose is Schwab. Their banking service does not charge ATM fees worldwide. Thus, we put some money in the checking account before an international trip & get local cash from an ATM when we arrive there. If a local bank charges an ATM fee, they even reimburse that amount.
Small Wide World 