Dreams of no luggage

I didn’t travel much as a kid. We had a couple of family trips, but these were road trips to Tahoe or Disneyland. Throughout school, there really weren’t a bunch of class trips anywhere. One year some kids went to DC to meet some politicians, but I had no interest or money to participate. Hard for me to imagine now, but I actually didn’t get on a real plane until college. Weird to think, especially when I look at my nephews and realize they’ve been on more cross-country plane rides in the last couple of years than I had been in a couple of decades.

Still, that first trip was simple enough. I was flying down to Los Angeles for a recruiting event. I honestly wasn’t worried about the plane or the flight or anything about sitting in a flying tin can. I was worried about one thing though: packing. I was going to be gone for two days so I naturally needed…a week’s worth of clothes. That’s right, I needed a couple of pants, plus a couple of dress pants. I needed shirts, undershirts for two days and two extra. I needed a couple of sweaters, a couple of button-down shirts, to leave me with options on dressing. Socks, underwear, extra pair of shoes, again for the style options. All told, I strolled into the airport with a duffle that could fit two small gymnasts, and that bag was packed tight.

So mock me all you want, I was prepared. Since that trip I’ve traveled a bit more. I’ve made it to Asia and Europe, I’ve made it to the East Coast, to the South, and even the Land Down Under. It took a while, but I can now fight the urge and I pack less and less. Even for longer trips, I’m trying my best to fit all my things into a carry-on. Which may be another point of complaint, not by me, but by those traveling with me as I’m wearing stanky-ass threads by mid-week.

I digress, I still haven’t gotten to my perfect trip. I’ve gotten close a couple of times, but those were literally day-trips where I didn’t need to pack anything. Yet, for anything else, I’m not even in the realm of plausibility. Why is that? The goal of no luggage doesn’t seem that difficult.

Ah, you may think I’m exaggerating in the terminology. Well, I’m not. I literally want to step on a plane without a possession in hand. OK, maybe a phone…or a tablet, but literally no type of baggage. And then I want to exit after the plane lands and continue walking through the moving walkway and right out the Arrival gates. No carry-on in tow. No waiting at baggage claim. Nothing.

Again, you may think I want to be free of material possession, to be living the truly minimalist life. Maybe a little bit, but that’s not the goal. The goal, long-winded 500 word explanation later, the goal is to be so successful that I actually own residences in the places I will travel to, and that flying from here to there is simple because I will simply go to my local residence to pick up clothes and other necessities. And that’s completely antithetical to the simple, unburdened life and pursuit of inner joy. Weird huh?

Well, yes and no. There’s the old saying that money doesn’t buy happiness. Then there’s the counter argument that rich people came up with right after that phrase was uttered, that money buys the means to happiness. And then you have all those studies that support either side. In the end, it all depends on who you are and what you value. How much do you want “stuff”? And how much does that “stuff” define who you are as an individual?

Back to the traveling. How sweet would it be, to walk into an airport without a thing in hand for a trans-oceanic flight, only to leave the airplane afterwards knowing you had a full-on local presence waiting for you. Truth be told, I actually don’t care one bit about owning a house or apartment or beachfront hut wherever I’m going. I don’t care about having a driver pick me up. I don’t. But I guess I have thought about it a little bit, hehehe. No, what I care about is having the freedom to not worry, and for me, that’s what unimaginable wealth would provide. Here’s the scary part of the scenario: I could embody that worry-free attitude today, I could walk on a plane without a possession in hand, I could land and find myself without the burdens of baggage. All it would take is some confidence and belief that I could figure it out on the other end of the flight. It doesn’t actually require wealth, just the strength to do it. I’m not there yet. Maybe it’ll take some more years, but the carry-on might grow smaller and smaller and I’ll pull the trigger. Or maybe I’ll win the lottery. Either way, luggage-free travel, what a way to fly.

Coming up: Top shelf isn’t out of sight