June 17, 2009 The Ultralight Alternative, part 3
Ultralight travel requires a certain amount of specialized gear and clothing (#5).
LUGGAGE - There is no reason that ultralight travel has to be expensive to outfit. An expensive bag is not necessary. More money gets you durability, the best set of special features, and the satisfaction of knowing you bought something this year that wasn’t made in a sweatshop. The bag or pack simply must be reasonably light (three pounds or less in my world), small enough to serve as a carryon, and comfortable to carry. My Tom Bihn Western Flyer is excellent for the type of load I carry, but there are dozens of choices. Personal taste and travel style are the determining factors.
CLOTHING - Here is where the most important choices are made. On-the-road laundry dictates that most of what you bring can be dried overnight. It’s wise to purchase a few travel-specific items like quick-drying undies. I used mostly ExOffico underclothing which dries quickly and has anti-microbial treated fabric. You can usually wear it more than one day (if you really need to) even in nasty climates. I am also a big proponent of Smartwool socks in season-appropriate weights. I took two pairs on the Euro trip and washed one of them - once. They fight blisters and odor. I would not travel without them.
For men, the toughest call is pants. I loved the very light REI Adventures pants for the Euro trip. They look like normal pants since the extra pockets are hidden in the outer leg seam. One of the pockets is absolutely ideal for a passport and the front pockets are plenty deep for a travel wallet to foil pickpockets. My other pants were actually golf pants (no, I don’t) made of Cocona poly fabric. They have an excellent waistband (which keeps them up and the shirt tucked) but lack the cool passport pocket. They do however have a little pocket that seems to have been made for a Paris Metro ticket - probably meant for tees.
Shirts/blouses are best when made of all-poly or poly/cotton blends. All-cotton is terribly slow to dry and linen will always be wrinkled. I used ExOffcio Trip’r shirts but I’ve also had good luck with some 60/40 standard dress-casual shirts. Only experimentation will tell if a shirt is going to dry overnight or how unwrinkled it will dry after being sink laundered; it’s very difficult to predict. The ExOfficio shirts perform very well in these respects.
A nice addition to my bag for this trip was some no-name short-sleeved, poly, slightly-hipper-than-a-polo shirt that I picked up on a sale rack. I don’t mind occasionally spending big money on a piece of specialized travel clothing since most of my daily clothes come off the the deep-discount racks, outlets, or secondhand stores. Spend strategically, spend wisely.
Frank@OBOW
I did not have the problem with lint that many people report with the REI pants - and mine were the charcoal. More pants suggestions here…and I’m always looking for recommendations, so share ‘em if you got ‘em.
Frank@OBOW
The ExOffico Trip’r shirt has a little bit of the poofy sleeve thing going on (not as bad as the Seinfeld episode). This is mostly because I fell between the medium and large sizes and opted to go up. I probably should have gone with the medium.
Frank@OBOW
One of the ways you can go cheap, very cheap for a bag.
Reader Comments (2)
Socks were the bane of our sink washing in Europe last summer. So I've gotta know. Did the SmartWool dry overnight?
Lise, I believe so but I don't remember for sure. I think I put them on the balcony. Socks are small enough that you could always finish them off with hairdryer. Almost all of our rooms had hairdryers.