Sporadic Thoughts: Confessions of a Former Carry-On Snob

I used to brag about traveling light. It was like a badge.

I’d tell anyone who would listen about my ten days in Portugal with nothing but a backpack. Somehow, packing light became evidence, at least in my mind, that I was a superior human being.

The Smug Phase

There are websites devoted to the charm of traveling light, and I’m sure everyone who posts on these sites is about as smug as I was.

Today?

I don’t care anymore. These days, I pack a small suitcase.

Sure, it’s a hassle to check a bag at the airport, but is it that much of a hassle? Have we perhaps blown the whole thing out of proportion?

Example: When I landed in Denver the other day, my suitcase was already at the carousel when I walked up. It added perhaps two minutes to my travel day to make a detour to baggage claim instead of heading straight out to the shuttle line.

In exchange for those two minutes, I had additional clothing options for my four-day trip that I wouldn’t have had with a carry-on bag. And if I don’t wear everything in there, well, so what? At least I’m never worried about forgetting something.

I now chuckle at people who lug those unwieldy carry-on bags down the airplane aisle, then go through the brain damage of trying to make it fit in the overhead compartment. Meanwhile, I’m comfy in my seat with just a small backpack under the seat in front of me.

Yes, I used to think the bulky carry-on was the way to go. Now, I’m more about having a few extra things during my vacation than I am about proving how frugal I am with my allotment of packing space.

This is not an attempt to convince carry-on fanatics to change their way of life. Ten years ago you wouldn’t have been able to sway me from it.

I just think many of us have evolved to the point where the convenience at the destination is worth way more than the convenience during a flight. In one instance, your bag is over your head, and in the other, your bag is in a luggage compartment below you.

The Objection Everyone Brings Up

Please don’t squawk about lost bags. Yes, it happens. But it’s less than one percent of all travelers, and even the majority of those instances involve a bag that’s delayed rather than lost.

Those are pretty good odds, and another tradeoff I’m willing to shoulder in order to have one extra pair of shoes available.

And maybe that’s the real shift. Not the suitcase, not the backpack.

Just the quiet realization that I don’t need to optimize every single decision anymore.

I used to treat everything, including travel, like a challenge—how little I could carry, how efficiently I could move, and how cleverly I could “win” the trip.

These days I’m less interested in winning, and more interested in enjoying where I end up.

It turns out that growth comes in many forms.

And sometimes it has wheels.

Dom Testa writes fiction and nonfiction, and has officially retired from the Carry-On Olympics.

Find his work at DomTestaBooks.com.