This is absolutely true, especially when traveling solo.
Of course, if you need to lug more (for special occasions or business), that's another matter, but it still makes my jaw drop when I see people travelling on vacations with massive roller luggage that often sucks on cobblestone streets or lugging up stairs.
Even better these days there are laundry sheets that are light / compact.
This doesn't make any sense. Going going to a random shop to buy a rain jacket is inevitably going to be worse than doing careful research and ordering from the cheapest retailer. Moreover after you bought your first rain jacket, then what? Buy another next time it rains? If not, why not just buy it ahead of your trip and pack it?
That means constantly planning for every eventuality, which means always carrying an over-sized/over-stuffed piece of luggage. If you travel enough, you want to minimize that. Weight adds up, especially jeans and pants.
No, I don't always go and buy a rain jacket. Most of the time the forecasts are decent enough for most trips that I'll buy a cheap umbrella, wait it out, or something if things go sideways. But it did cause me to browse through some stores I'd never have bothered go into. For me, unexpected things can sometimes result in delights like that.
I saw a jacket that felt very nicely made, had nice materials, had a lot of high-quality seams (my wife's friend was a seamstress and taught us what to look for in quality clothing), and was a perfect fit and colour.
I'm far more willing to buy sweaters or other things that keep you warm, though.
Also, these things make great souvenirs. Every time I wear my merino wind buff, I think of that little Irish town on the Atlantic coast where I bought it, and how wet and windy it was.
Doesn't even need to be a suitcase, a big duffel bag can hold just as much clothing and be more convenient for carrying around, although you still need to check it at the airport.
Ie I've recently spent 2 weeks in remote islands in Sulawesi, Indonesia and didn't bring enough mosquito spray. Well, on whole island chain I was in, nobody in tiny local shops ever had one. When asked, they told me they suck up malaria if caught and move on, sort of how we deal with flu. Luckily dengue wasn't there. So suck it up I did, luckily it seems I avoided it (knock on the wood).
With spray comes sunscreen. Some basic diving equipment. Non-tiny first aid kid. Some photography stuff. But yeah for that one I could still put it all into 1 medium backpack, just liquids travelled separately. For that Nepal, backpack was bigger. For Aconcagua, there was an extra big duffel bag. If doing full camping and cooking, one backpack but much bigger.
But I do have a Wallet Ninja that's useful that's only ever been questioned once, and never taken away. And I used to carry a small knife that folds into a key, and nobody ever noticed until one particularly bored TSA agent decided I couldn't take it with me. I should really order another one, or dozen, and treat them as "disposable" for traveling with.
https://www.swisstechtools.com/product/detail.html?id=111
You could bring the Swiss Army Jetsetter, but the problem with that is that you are almost certain to get stopped by US security every time, and deal with a 1-15 minute delay depending on how well the particular agent you get knows their rules around scissors and how many times they mistakenly call your item a Swiss Army "knife". To save yourself some trouble, just put it on an s-biner on the outside of your backpack, and ideally extend the tools so it is obvious there's no knife.
https://www.victorinox.com/en/Products/Swiss-Army-Knife%E2%8...
Note that crazy stuff like self defense absolutely, positively does not enter the equation. I mention that only because some people get weird about it in both directions, both "eek, you carry a weapon around?!", and "ooh, ever get to stab anyone?!" No. My primary self defense mechanism is good running shoes and decent stamina.
- James Mattis
Always fun to lose your contact lens solution at a transit airport that doesn’t embrace “one stop security” and find yourself tracking some down on a Sunday. Fuck you Heathrow.
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...
I’ve done this with various things I forgot, like a phone charger for the local outlet type.