How to pack light for a weekend

Let's say it how it is: a weekend trip is so short, you'd probably be fine with the clothes on your body, your phone and a powerbank. But I realize that might be too frugal for most people (even for me, I promise.) The point is that you are most likely to overpack on shorter trips. You just won't need as much stuff as there isn't enough time for unexpected things to happen. Everything you are going to bring, other than what you carry on your person, could be viewed as a spare. A backup you probably won't need. So let's talk about what you will bring.

Your bag of choice

First of all, you will need a regular-sized bag. Depending on your style of travel, this can be a backpack, a tote, a sling, it doesn’t matter. As long as you bring just one bag of a size you would feel comfortable with carrying with you all day. There is not a situation in the world where you need more than one bag for a weekend adventure.

This means that anything too large to fit underneath an airplane seat is too big already. Yes, I use that logic even when I'm not flying too. I'd say the upper limit is 26 liters but I get by easily with my 21 liter bag. Suitcases, rolling carry-ons, basically anything that has wheels is out of the question. And don't get me started on those suitcases with straps that signal you could carry it as a backpack. Once you pack up those things, they are almost always too heavy to be considered a backpack. Especially a regular-sized one.

I personally use a black, 21 liter, GoRuck GR1.

Your 'personal item' (or second bag, if you will)

Next to your main bag, which will fit all your clothes and toiletries, you are allowed to bring a 'personal item'. I'm referring to it this way because that's what airlines do. Again, we're not necessarily taking a flight for our weekend trip but it helps direct the thinking in a space-optimizing way.

I personally prefer a sling bag that's slightly larger, though smaller fanny packs work too. This bag will hold everything you will use on a daily basis during the trip. So the size of your personal item depends on how much you actually need during a day. For me that's a camera, my journal and pen, extra batteries, sometimes a powerbank and charging cord, and my keys, cash and cards. For you it can just be keys, cash, cards and phone. Both approaches are fine, but only bring more when you are going to use more.

This personal item is entirely optional, but I highly recommend it. The main benefit is that you can bring just a tiny bit more than what fits in your backpack and you have an easier time carrying things around during your trip. It also allows you to reorganize things a little when you decide to buy souvenirs and bring more stuff home then you brought out.

My sling of choice is a Grams(28) 154 City Pack.

The clothing you wear

On travel days, dress yourself in a way that allows you to bring as many layers as possible, without needing your bag to bring these layers. That means I sometimes wear a T-shirt and jacket, because the hoodie fits in my bag and the jacket doesn't. I also wear my hat to save additional space in my bag.

Jeans work, if they are sufficiently comfortable enough for you to wear them all day without ever limiting your ability to move. I generally stick to medium weighted pantalons with plenty of stretch. The benefit of these pants is that you can dress them down with a T-shirt and flip flops but you can wear a nice sneaker and a shirt to look more presentable. I generally wear the long legged pants on the travel day because it saves space in the bag and you might be in air-conditioning a lot (cars, trains, planes all have them).

Wear one pair of shoes that 'work' with every outfit and allow you to be on the move for a full day. A pair of nice sneakers is usually the way to go (so not that rundown pair you used to skate in too). A good sneaker pairs with any pants and doesn't look out of place when wearing either a t-shirt or a more formal shirt. The footbed is very dependent on your preference but I prefer nice padding with good support so my feet never wear out before my legs do.

My pantalons and jeans come from Nothings Something. My shoes vary but I usually wear Adidas or Pumas that have a wide toebed. The Adidas Falcons are technically a women's shoe but I am a size 41 (EU) so these fit me too. I like the Ozweego's too.

The clothing you bring

A weekend trip usually means you'll deal with similar weather. It might fluctuate, but never enough to warrant two entirely different wardrobes. Never bring more underwear and socks than you have days in your trip. The pair you wear on your first travel day also counts. Flip flops are good for wearing around the hotel or Airbnb but are also the first thing to be omitted if you can. Only bring swimming shorts and towels if you are absolutely going to use them. This also applies to the towel you use in the bathroom. Very rarely are they not provided by the accommodation so there's no point in carrying them.

Pack one pair of shorts to sleep or walk around the accommodation in. If it suddenly becomes too hot for the long pants, make sure these work as outdoor shorts too. Training shorts usually work well enough and are generally light and therefore easier to carry. If you want to bring a pair of short that's a little nicer, simply sleep in your underwear.

Your hoodie is the ultimate savior when colder weather surprises you. It allows you to make the following layer combinations:

• T-shirt & hoodie: sunny days in fall or early spring
• T-shirt, hoodie & overshirt: when the weather is cold but dry and the sun peaks through 50% of the time.
• T-shirt, hoodie & jacket: the default layering option for many kinds of medium-warmth weather.
• T-shirt, hoodie, overshirt & jacket: when the cold weather surprises and you wish you could've brought a warmer jacket but couldn't due to space constraints.

I also recommend you specifically bring a hoodie and not a crewneck, because the hood allows for extra warmth, privacy and comfort when you need it and, in some cases, can even alleviate the need for a hat as well.

Toiletries

Everything in this list is a "your mileage may vary" type thing but this especially applies to this category. The difference between men's and women's toiletries can not be understated. As a man, I can afford to be hyper minimal and will outline my recommendations as such. In general though, the default axioms apply here too: don't bring more than you are definitely going to use, make sure to use items with dual purposes, bring as little as possible (buy or, even better, make travel sized versions of your normal products.)

I can get by with a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant and anything soap-related for the rest that needs cleaning. I do pack a separate shampoo if I can though. For women this might be different but I would also argue you know beforehand if you'll need just a mascara for roaming around the city or perhaps the entire shabang for gala. The latter is probably not happening on each trip.

I brush my teeth the analog way because those toothbrushes are smaller and don't require chargers. I groom at home and grow out whatever beard I accumulate over the weekend. It's never too wild to be non-presentable.

Tech: essentials and accessoires

Look, I love my tech but what I love about it is that I can bring very little these days and still do a lot. I also try to use my weekend trips to focus on exploring, experiencing and creating. Not on triaging, processing and manipulating. Backing up is an exception though. Always be backing up.

I always bring a phone and a camera. Those a non-negotiable. I need to charge both devices too, obviously. Luckily, both use USB-C so I only need one cable and they simply take turns charging. There can only be one lens on my camera at the time so I bring only one lens. I might regret that choice, I might miss a shot. I accept those things and I make do with what I have. You would be surprised how freeing that limitation can be.

I usually bring a laptop or a tablet (never both) to do my back ups. I wear a smartwatch to track my activities throughout the day (which is especially fun on weekend outings because you are much more active than you might think and having data to corroborate that is useful). I bring my AirPods (or any headphone you might have) only when I travel alone or foresee long periods of time to myself (flights and bus rides are good examples.) I've brought the Airpods when I went away with friends and they don't add much bulk because they are tiny but I also never used them.

The laptop or tablet charge via USB C too, so they use the same cable. The smartwatch and headphones have proprietary chargers. This means I need to bring at least three cables but I only carry one charging brick that can accommodate them all, at the same time. These bricks are relatively cheap and a great quality of life improvement over having to carry separate chargers for each cable. Don't even mention that you'd then need three separate wall sockets at the same time too.

I buy the newest and largest (but then also the base storage version out of those) iPhone every three to four years. My Macbook gets replaced every five to six years, on average, and the mid-level Macbook Pro is usually good enough for me. I wear an Apple Watch Series 7 but am interested to see what the Series 11 is going to look like because the battery life on my current one is not great anymore. My only charger is the UGREEN Nexode 100W USB C GaN 4 Ports Wall Charger . My camera is either the Fujifilm X100V or the Fujifilm X-Pro3 with the XF18mm f2.0, XF35mm f2.0, XF50mm f2.0 or the Voigtländer Nokton 35mm F1.4 that I screw onto the X-Pro3 using an M-mount to XF-mount adapter.

Personal items

I try to be hyper practical about these so I try to bring as few of these as possible. As mentioned, the sling always joins the fun. My (cotton!) laundry bag is always stuffed in a side pocket of my backpack. I only use it for underwear and socks. I need my glasses to see, if you don't you're lucky and are saving space. Sunglasses are technically optional but I recommend you bring them at all times.

I live in the EU so within the Schengen Area I travel with my ID card and not my passport. I have a vaccination passport, because it's useful to show foreign doctors you did indeed get that polio shot, but I only bring it when I travel to countries sufficiently dissimilar enough to mine that there's a risk of catching something my sheltered European body can't handle or language barriers making it difficult to communicate.

Visa are usually digital these days (and not required a lot of times too, depending on the passport you hold) but I bring a physical copy just in case whenever I can.

Conclusion

As a general rule of thumb: if it fits in the backpack you were going to bring anyway, it's fair game. As long as you accept the extra weight that comes with it. Optimize for comfort, not class. You're away for one, maybe two, nights. You'll survive looking the same two days in a row. You're not doing laundry. There's no time and no need.

There's no "just in case" category here. Anything you'd bring for events that might happen is probably something you can buy on the spot if that event presents itself. If it does, ever. The look you're going for is 'well prepared commuter' and not 'regular backpacker'. If you approach the look of a backpacker in any way, you've overdone it. Remember your categories. Stick to them.

Packing list (+ PDF download)

While heavily tailored to my specific needs during a weekend, this list aims to be general enough in its naming conventions to be generally applicable to yours as well.