Words of wisdom from a nice Stupid American Tourist post about what to keep, what to scratch off that packing list.
I carried a lot of useless excess crap with me to Japan. It’s the sort of stuff you’ll see in a catalog, and think, “Wow, that looks really useful!” when in reality you may use it once the whole trip, and still end up lugging it all over the place.
“But it’s so small, and folds away nicely. It’ll hardly take up any space at all!” Sure, that one thing is small, thin, and light, but when you add 10 or 15 of its little friends together, they start to take up a lot of space and add a lot of weight.
Think logically, and take only what you absolutely know you’ll use repeatedly with you.