Living on 25L
Until COVID-19 decided to put the world on pause, I lived my life out of a 25L bag. I needed to prove to myself that I didn’t need first world toys to be happy. I sold the car, my desktop computer, sofas, TV, espresso machine :’(, and countless other possessions. I then packed the bare essentials (laptop, clothes, toiletries) into what many would consider a traditional backpack and set off.
The Pros
My life was in a 25L backpack. Need I say more? The ability to carry around my life like a small sack of potatoes was pretty cool. While I did miss some of my first world toys, I learned they were not necessary to be happy. For many of us in the US, we fall into a routine, and new possessions can provide an escape from routine. When traveling, every day is something new, there is no routine. But as with everything in life, you must find a happy medium, and having no routine can be exhausting.
A short and sweet benefit was also the ability to fit my life under the plane seat in front of me. That’s right. No more bag fees. Even Spirit couldn’t nickel and dime me. A small moral victory for myself.
The Cons
Well… my life was in a 25L backpack. Need I say more? There were obvious challenges with fitting everything I needed in a 25L space. Packing became a task that required aerospace-grade precision. Even so, my bag barely made it back to the States in one piece. In-fact, without COVID, I likely would’ve returned with an entirely different bag. In the end, with the frequency in which we moved, this was a huge downfall.
In addition to the bare essentials, it would’ve been nice to bring a few extra items. For example additional clothes, a drone, or xbox controller. Okay fine, I did actually manage to fit an xbox controller in my bag. That’s probably what made it nearly burst. Whatever. Worth it.
The Final Word
When COVID passes, and we set off again, I will be rocking a Nomatic 40L backpack. Fitting my life in an everyday backpack was something I naively needed to prove to myself I could do. Now that that’s over, I think back to the amount of precious time I wasted trying to fit everything into a 25L space. No more.
