Boldly Go Solo

Could you travel the world with no luggage?

We're talking none. No checked bag. No overhead bag. No backpack. No fanny pack. Not even a plastic grocery bag. None.

Just a lot of pockets to stuff with necessary items and some soap for washing out clothes. This is the six-week travel challenge for Rolf Potts, which began Saturday and will take him through 12 countries in 42 days. You can follow the no-baggage challenge trip on his round-the-world blog.

(Compare this light load to President Obama's. The prez has been traveling on Martha's Vineyard with 20 vehicles, an ambulance and vans full of reporters, not to mention a whole lot of bags, clothes, toiletries and the nuclear football.)

Potts is being sponsored in part by ScotteVest, which is getting an awful lot of mileage out of its largesse.This story is all over the news. Here, here and here. And right here on my blog! I'm part of the publicity machine!

My favorite headline: "Man circles the Globe without Luggage." Omigod! It sounds akin to finding the trading route to the West Indies. Or reaching the moon.

But I do like this story. Potts gets philosophical about the why of this. The sweet-faced, long-time traveler wants to show that "what we experience in life is more important than what we bring with us."

Yeah, whatever. WAY more important to me is not having to lug a thing. No hauling that bag up the train steps. No heaving that suitcase up into the trunk of the car. No arm-breaking shove of a bag into the overhead. It would be
GREAT! I'd take that challenge in a heartbeat.

In fact, I had that challenge handed to me for a little while, no choice of my own. It was after my luggage disappeared for four days upon arriving in the Netherlands for an inline skating trip.

Okay, I still had one bag that I'd carried onto the plane. But it had few clothes. And once my skates were out of it, it was practically empty.

I got no publicity for my troubles. And no sponsorship from ScotteVest or BootsNall, a great online travel site. (I should have called!)

But now that there are these new clothing items with tons of pockets, and so many choices of quick-dry washable clothing, I'd seriously look into traveling light. Very light. Especially on domestic trips where luggage costs extra.

Traveling this way is a reward unto itself. Solo, footloose, fancy free and not the least bit weighed down. I still have memories of having to push my college friend through the door of a train in Europe because the bags on her back were too wide to enter easily. Hilarious. But not easy travelin'!

You can read here what Potts will carry, but not in bags, during his round-the-world trip. The list includes passport, credit cards, toothbrush and, I love this, tiny deodorant and toiletries as a "good social gesture." Your fellow passengers and nearby diners thank you.

Godspeed, Mr. P. You are my luggage-less hero.

(Potts is the author of Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of
Long-Term World Travel. He has reported for National Geographic Traveler, the New York Times
Magazine, and the Travel Channel.)

Photo: Courtesy of the No Baggage Challenge