How To Pack Like A Digital Nomad

Luggage space is a precious commodity for digital nomads. We need to move quickly and with as little as possible.

Over the past two years, I’ve learned to carefully pare down the belongings I travel with to ensure a lighter load and quick movement from country to country.

I asked some of my digital nomad friends to share their packing tips below. Dig into these great insights on packing light and hopefully it’ll take some of the stress out of your next trip.

Tomas Laurinavicius (@tomaslau)

If you can't fit everything into your backpack, you have taken too much. Human minds are extremely well at creating bad scenarios and visualising all kinds of stories that may happen just to keep you cluttered and have a plan B, C, D and way more if you let it.

I've been traveling with three digital nomads recently and they have thanked me numerous times for the advice to not overpack. It's better to have a certain budget and buy a missing clothing/thing/gadget instead of taking it and filling a space and taking it all the way with you.

Make sure you have most of your life digitalized like books, audiobooks, music, documents, and your work. If you're having too many physical belongings work toward digitizing them, so eventually you’ll have lightweight luggage that gives you mobility and flexibility of movement.

Jacob Laukaitis (@jacoblaukaitis)

Since I travel 9-10 months out of the year, all of my physical belongings fit into a small back-pack one could almost go to school with. Packing is something I do (almost) every day. These are my 3 Golden Rules:

1. Always ask yourself: "What is the worst that could happen if I didn't have this item?" and if it's not too bad, don't take it.
2. Bring only hand luggage. Much cheaper, quicker and more convenient.
3. Take only the things you can use in most situations. It's better to take too little than too much because you can always buy stuff on the road.

Youjin Do (@youjindo)

I try to travel only with a carry-on bag as much as possible. There's lots of advantages to that. I don't need to wait for my bag when I arrive. It feels like ages to stand in front of a luggage belt waiting for your bag to arrive after 16 hours on a flight. If you only have a carry-on bag, you leave the plane, and immediately you jump on a bus or train. Taking a plane should be just like a taking a bus or train, so if you have only carry-on luggage, it kinda becomes that.

Marina Janeiko (@simpleasthat_)

Always have a larger bag/suitcase and a smaller backpack. In most places you can leave your big bag in a hostel storage for up to a week and venture out to more remote places with a smaller backpack. This gives you the freedom to explore harder to access spots without having to worry about transporting your big bag with you.

Another rule: roll vs. fold. If you roll your clothes into tubes, you can fill in all the unused space in the bag with those tubes and your clothes are less likely to become wrinkled if they're rolled.

Pieter Levels (@levelsio)

I pack EVERYTHING in small compartmented Ziploc bags. That way customs can easily check what's in my backpack or suitcase. And it's easy for me too as everything is compartmentalized, so I can take out entire parts of my travel kit I don't need depending on the destination.

Jordan Bishop (@YoreOyster)

If there's one thing I've learned from interviewing world-class travelers for How I Travel, it's this: bring the things that make you you.

It's easy to get sucked into the craze of bringing less and ruthlessly eliminating unnecessary items, but if you're traveling long-term, you can start to feel a bit soulless when you don't have anything with you that you define as uniquely yours. Some of the featured travelers I've spoken with for How I Travel never leave home without miniature board games, coffee makers, full-size tents, and even bicycles! Personally, I've eliminated a modest chunk of my wardrobe so that I can fit my Penny skateboard in my backpack. Think about the things that make you who you are, and bring them along with you. Everything else (clothes, toiletries, perishable items) is replaceable.

Rodolphe Dutel (@rdutel)

When I'm packing, I focus on what matters most to me: being able to enjoy work, travel and exercise comfortably. For clothing, I always bring a light waterproof jacket, a pair of shorts and sneakers to exercise and explore anywhere I go. Then, at least enough clothing to go for a work week (often five T-Shirts / pair of underwear) that I'll drop at any local laundry once a week. For Tech, I'll have my MacBook, 2x headphones, 2x USB cables and a Kindle. For short travels, my small backpack is more than enough! For longer travels I often check-in a small luggage - especially if I travel to colder countries. I find that we almost always pack more than we need, I would rather pack the bare minimum and purchase what I need, such as toiletry, locally.

Lydia Lee (@screwthecubicle)

The roll and mixed rule. I pack by rolling my clothes into a carry-on backpack (to pack more into a small space) and specifically choose clothing that can be mixed and matched to form multiple outfits. This way I can still feel like I'm not stuck on just a handful of clothes, and not having to deal with checked bags makes me a happy camper.

Bonus tip: buy an organizational pouch/pack that holds all your usb cables, chargers, headphones, etc. to avoid the nightmare of tangled cords as you work on the road.

Are you a Digital Nomad doing something interesting? Connect with me on Twitter here: @kaviguppta.