Rolling luggage: Chicken, egg, or turkey?

Q: Why do able-bodied people need rolling luggage? A: Because their bags are too heavy to carry. Q: Why are their bags to heavy to carry? A: Because their bags have wheels and they rarely have to pick them up!

Rolling luggage is a boon for some: the elderly, the infirm, those with bad backs, people with small children. But it is also  a curse —  clogging airport corridors, clacking incessantly on tile floors, clomping noisily down stair cases.  A person with luggage in tow takes almost twice as much space as a person with a shoulder bag or backpack. How much less crowded would airports be with half as many rolling bags? Wheeled luggage is almost certainly a chief cause of overpacking. The rolling trunks seem weightless until you have to pick them up…or they fall on your head from the compartment above. And, a heavy roller can wreak havoc in an old, cramped hotel when someone would sooner destroy the stairs and woodwork than carry what they packed.

Eschewing wheels is the best encouragement for packing less. And packing less is the ony way to travel light. 

Read here about an expert traveler who goes no-wheels.