Just as there are destinations you “must visit before you die,” there are also must-do travel experiences. High on the list: traveling luggage-free.“Will you be checking bags or just carrying on?”
The next time you respond to that question with a proud “neither” you’ll be embarking on one of the most enjoyable journeys of your life. Leave the house with nothing more than the clothes on your back. Arrive at the airport stopping only to grab a stack of new glossies, newspapers, and a bottle of water. Yes, it’ll feel like you’re doing something unnatural. Because everything is easier. Your fingers aren’t raw from carrying a bag. Your shoulders don’t ache. The security line seems almost tolerable! Sure, you still have to take off your shoes, but provided you didn’t wear lace-up boots (few people should) that should be easy enough to survive. And more than just enjoying the sense of luggage-free travel, you’ll be savoring that most crucial of all pleasure-travel emotions: impulsiveness.
We’ve all looked up at the itinerary board, rested our eyes on our destination and flight number, and then scanned up and down the flight list: Hong Kong, Cape Town, Dubai. What if I had chosen another destination? Is it too late to change my flight? What if I could just change my ticket to…Paris? Savor those urges, and promise yourself that sometime soon, you’ll just drive to the airport as is, and board a plane.
Safe travels.
John F. McDonald
Editorial Director & Publisher
CITY Magazine
I have done this several times and it is GREAT!! I love just walking into the airport, doing your thing and then departing in a new destination hassle free!
ReplyDeleteSounds sexy to me!
ReplyDeleteI think that I'd be beside myself with joy!
Inside my great purse you'd find: my Domino magazine and a good book, a passport, and my ticket.
I have to do this soon!
Bisous and have a good weekend!
Felicia
Profoundly insightful!. I'm definitely a light traveler, but I haven't attempted that light :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I'd even know how to act with no luggage! I'm sure I'd roam through the airport thinking I was missing something. It sounds like a great travel goal though. As for your new Paulistano status, points well taken. I guess I didn't get to see the Sao Paulo that you did. (I did observe lots of ridicule about the Paulistano accent though). I'm excited about your new adventures. I was planning on going back to Bahia but now you've convinced me to give Sao Paulo another try. Stay down there a long time so you show me the "real" SP!
ReplyDeletei've done this a few times, but never to anywhere long-haul, with the exception of a trip which was basically from one house where i lived to another house where i lived. no need to carry clothes/stuff if all you really need to take with you are 10 floppy disks?
ReplyDelete[im so glad i have zero "hood" cred.]
london to paris [before the eurostar], new york to santo domingo and harare to johannesburg for the weekend was something i spent a good chunk of my teenage years doing.
god that sounds so posh. bah.
not doing it anymore though; if my laptop doesn't travel with me, then i'm not making any money in the new destination. well, i could create a virtual desktop with a remote server; i just need to get the house and whole extra set of my favorite outfits set up in fortaleza. :)
At first I thought u had wrote this - I'm like, "this dude does waaay too much for me." Who can do this? Who can just get up and go? I mean, it's good to be able to do this - but I think it's highly unlikely for me.
ReplyDeletesomething for me to aspire to - international nudity!
ReplyDeleteI...I never considered traveling WITHOUT luggage. My God, what a revelation!! Hmmmm, just one question, sir: for us ladies, does that mean no purse either??? While my purse could double as luggage, surely you can't mean to travel without that????
ReplyDelete