My 40-liter backpack travel guide

I do a considerable amount of long term travel carrying about half of this, but it all depends on what you&#x27;re trying to optimize for. My personal design goal is that my bag fits under airline seats, so I never have to worry about gate checking a bag and risking lost luggage. The main tradeoff is that I do a lot of laundry in sinks - you really learn the effectiveness of detergent when you see the color of the water coming off some clothes you thought were pretty clean. These days I&#x27;m a bit lazier and try to end up somewhere with a washing machine every week or two to break up the hand washing chore. I&#x27;ve done the towel wringing trick but it&#x27;s not all that necessary with my clothes unless I&#x27;m in a damp environment and am short on time.<p>The two things that I mostly agree with - eSIM is a massive improvement (I also use Airalo), and I&#x27;ve also tried to standardize on USB-C (except for my headphones, where I haven&#x27;t found a good replacement). &#x2F;r&#x2F;onebag does have some good product recommendations but is somewhat skewed to young backpackers.<p>I would encourage everyone to ignore anyone telling them they&#x27;re &quot;doing it wrong&quot; when traveling. You know yourself, make your own decisions. Personally, making an effort to meet digital nomads all around the world sounds like hell on earth to me. Also, it&#x27;s wasted effort. Trust me, they&#x27;ll find you and tell you all about themselves.

This is interesting because I tend to think of packing as a dirtbag thing rather than a nomad thing... when I&#x27;m hotel hopping for extended periods I just bring normal luggage. Maybe I should start bringing my backpack instead.<p>My first impression is that this is a LOT of clothes and the electric stuff is a bit weird.<p>A few differences between dirtbag and nomad (the latter AFAICT is mostly hotel&#x2F;airbnb hopping?):<p>First, you think a lot about food and water. Especially water, and especially sans car. It&#x27;s VERY heavy and very necessary.<p>Second, my emergency pack is almost completely different. No vitamin shoppe merch. An ACE bandage, 8 aspirin per day from civ, 1 dose of imodium per day from civ, gauze, anti-bacterial cream, tape, suture kit, and one dose of a more powerful pain killer for serious emergencies if you can get it. No rapid tests (travel usually required a PCR anyways), but a couple KN95s. Cash in both USD (clean, unfolded, new bills) and the local currency. Maps.<p>Third, weight really matters.<p>Fourth, cleanliness really matters. You&#x27;re essentially homeless. Diners and cafes kick out homeless people if you try to stay 9-5. In addition to organizing my life around being clean, I also had a whole separate emergency &quot;Not A Dirtbag For A Day&quot; kit.<p>I guess the other big difference is that all of my day-to-day stuff fit in roughly 15L so that I could carry 5L water and my gear could consume the other 20L.

I&#x27;ve spend months at a time, e.g. Sicilian island hopping, with less than this. For me the critical issue, which drives all clothing choices, is being able to independently do laundry. That is easier in frequent small batches; I can&#x27;t imagine traveling with eight T-shirts!<p>After washing clothes, layer them in a large wringable synthetic pack towel, roll, and twist. Then they can be hung without dripping, and will dry in a fraction of the time. Wring out the towel and repeat. Or, if one has just arrived at a hotel with towels for four, get busy before they clear three of them in the morning.<p>One needs an ample supply of travel-scaled clothesline and clothespin equivalents. I last traveled with tiny Nite Ize Gear Ties, and a few larger ties with loops for securing the clothesline ends. Be thoughtful about attachment points; foreign construction quality can often be surprising.<p>I can&#x27;t praise highly enough merino wool T-shirts, even in the hottest weather. I found mine on closeout; they can be expensive.<p>The Aranet4 CO2 meter is an interesting pandemic choice. I own one for monitoring my classroom assignments; they&#x27;re very well made.

I’m impressed at how many people coalesce to the same suggestions to save space: simple clothes, layers, etc.<p>However, I’m surprised at how casually he mentionned how much he has travelled, by flight almost exclusively. I’m assuming from the lack of other plug than Type A, he stayed in America where trains are not a great option — but still. I’d expect that to come with some comment about carbon footprint.<p>Am I out of sync with the times?

For a reason I haven&#x27;t been able to distill I really appreciate it when people known for one facet of their personality (here: being a big shot in crypto) have the courage to be open about other, much less impressive facets (here: writing about mundane practicalities) of their lives as well.

If I’ve a base when I am travelling and have a predictable route then — I’ll carry my cabin carry size Samsonite trolley bag (an ultra light&#x2F;thin Decathon day back in it) and I’m not keeping anything on back and shoulders, my “very useful so far” Osprey FP 40 be damned. Period. No matter how “life changing” the backpack is it’s no fun on the shoulders and back. I learnt that this works for me.<p>&gt; if…… you&#x27;re doing it wrong<p>You might want to stop reading or listening at that point in most cases. Besides there’s no one way to backpacking, it takes a long time and hit and trials to know what works for you and also important what options you have in your region.<p>e.g this bag OP mentioned - Hynes Eagle Travel Backpack 40L - gave me shoulder and back pain by just looking at it, but I’m pretty sure it works for OP.

I bookmarked this as a reference. I dream of a nomad life, but with a twist: my wife and I would permanently turn our house over to a property manager to keep it rented, each have a backpack kit like Vitaly uses for changing locations, BUT: plan to stay 3 or 4 months in each location and have a few large travel trunks for each of us that we would ship to the next destinations. We are both in our 70s, so staying a long time in each place would be less tiresome and provide more time to make local friends. I prefer renting a furnished house and not staying in hotels. Our house is in a top tourist location so we would get enough rent income to pay for short term rentals wherever we stay. I am trying to talk my wife into this - wish me luck.

People are missing out on a couple key points:<p>1. Vitalik is a billionaire and chooses this way to live<p>2. Vitalik isnt “traveling” but a true nomad without a home.<p>3. Vitalik is working HARD while being a nomad. This aint no “backpacking in Europe for a year”

Why an electric toothbrush and electric shaver? Both of those have well established and functional antecedents that are both smaller and lighter.

&gt;I have lived as a nomad for the last nine years, taking 360 flights travelling over 1.5 million kilometers<p>Good CHRIST what a carbon footprint.

I&#x27;m confused by the laptop setup picture. Does he type on the laptop while it&#x27;s on the stand? Not ergonomic for me, my hands would get tired too fast and that angle would trigger carpal tunnel.<p>Is there an external keyboard everywhere he travels that&#x27;s not mentioned? Or is he standing? Doesn&#x27;t look like it based on picture.

I don’t like those “wall wart” chargers nor the “all in one” international adaptors.<p>The biggest problem is that the wall warts frequently don’t make a strong enough connection to the wall so gravity pulls them out (weight&#x2F;strain added by the cable etc). Plugging that into a huge adaptor like the massive one recommended by the author simply compounds the problem.<p>The second problem is that power points are often inconveniently located behind things and&#x2F;or high on the wall, and not always where you want to be.<p>So instead I use small standard IEC 60320-C1 (AKA “figure 8”) power cable. I carry a US&#x2F;JP kind and European kind, plus a couple of tiny adaptors. The good thing is if I don’t have the right adaptor it’s easy to find one of these cables anywhere.

I use grams instead of cm^3 but otherwise I agree. I just don&#x27;t want to carry heavy things!<p>I will recommend 1 specific thing that is rarely mentioned which is soap slices, sometimes known as camping soap. They&#x27;re super portable, light and small. They are perfect for situations while traveling where you just need a little hand wash. It happens more often than you&#x27;d think.

Bummer to see that he recommends the Nexstand, which is a blatant copycat product of the Roost <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.therooststand.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.therooststand.com</a>

Looks like the eth price collapse has vitalik living on the cheap &#x2F;s

I got into one bagging a few months ago after looking at Pieter Levels blog post about it <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;levels.io&#x2F;carry-on-world-travel&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;levels.io&#x2F;carry-on-world-travel&#x2F;</a> and have been operating from one since the 15th of April.<p>Bought a minaal 3.0 Cary On after going through the r&#x2F;onebag community. Also bought some more equipment like an anker power core. Have to do a wash cycle weekly. A down jacket hangs off the bag. A laptop, kindle and my phone are the only electronics I have.<p>Works very well but in Europe you have to pay for carry on on a lot of airlines and otherwise you can only have something that fits under the seat in front of you.<p>The minimalism makes life easier. Only one pair of shoes &amp; a pair of flip flops. Depend on the hostel &#x2F; airbnb to provide a towel. Like Vitalik I have a weeks worth of clothes in the bag and one me.

Guy producing a lot of climate destructive code feels proud to fly 1.5 million miles. Something is seriously broken with our civilization and the humans it produces do behave like a very stupid software bug.<p>How can an understanding of fundamental values be so wrong?<p>We need to start educating our children not to be proud of destroying the planet.

Traveling light is an enjoyable feeling, at least for me it was. I traveled around the world for quite a few years on an Osprey Escapist 20L, which I just used last week for travel as it&#x27;s still my main bag.<p>Those packing cubes are indeed great, as is folding clothes. Packing light comes with the acceptance of doing laundry, otherwise for me at least it was quite easy to do and I much preferred the mobility it gave me.<p>I had started traveling originally with a Osprey Kestrel 38L but slowly whittled down my necessities to 20L&#x27;s.<p>My travel gear from mostly a decade ago when I went to 50 countries: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.flickr.com&#x2F;photos&#x2F;dustinbrett&#x2F;albums&#x2F;72157626006534017" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.flickr.com&#x2F;photos&#x2F;dustinbrett&#x2F;albums&#x2F;72157626006...</a>

I&#x27;ve backpack-traveled extensively. I think I&#x27;m pretty good at minimizing my gear. My limiting factor is clothes. I&#x27;m a big guy, and my clothes and footwear take up easily 3x as much space as the author&#x27;s. Same for sleeping bags and blankets and even towels. Even if I were less fat, I&#x27;d still have above-average gear weight and volume. It usually means that I have to pack fewer changes of clothes. Can be a real pain in the ass, and often the difference between a carry-on and a checked bag.

Ever since I spent a month in Europe with just my North Face Borealis (28 liters) I’ve never checked a bag again. It’s a lot easier to get around without big bulky pieces of luggage.

Merino wool for everything is another nice tip. It doesn’t build up nearly as much grime as cotton and is very easy to rinse and drip dry. Being dirty is one of my worst fears when I’m on the hoof and merino really solves that problem.<p>I’ve not found merino shorts though. It seems like wool, as a technical fabric at least, is less durable for shorts &#x2F; pants? Or just less popular? Any recommendations gladly received.

I&#x27;m considering adding a second piece of luggage to carry kitchen hardware, electronics, and an air quality sensor. Minimalism is seriously a waste of time.<p>I also only stay in places with washer&#x2F;dryer and do laundry every day because of running. I&#x27;m not going to hang disgusting sweaty clothes. I still have a lot of shirts, shorts, and extra socks because I like to change during the day as well.

Nobody needs to travel with 8 pairs of underwear. Take two or three high-quality ones (e.g. Ex Officio) and wash them at night.<p>Also, I have yet to visit a civilized location in the world where you cannot buy a decent disposable razor that&#x27;s better than the electric shaver he carries around the world. I understand they recycle pretty well too, if you&#x27;re worried about waste.

Laptop stand: u-top.<p>Backpack: Greenroom136 Rainmaker. Especially in VX42 it&#x27;s just unbeatable. Light, durable, rectilinear, excellent organization, customization above and beyond -- they will even do things not on the website.<p>Charger: Excitrus 65W. If 65W is not enough, Aukey PA-B5 100W. Forget multiport chargers, they suck. Charge the laptop, charge everything else off the laptop.

A trick from us dirtbag ultralight backpackers - weigh everything with a kitchen scale and track in lighterpack.com

I&#x27;ve been doing all my travel for the last few years in a Cotopaxi backpack (&quot;Allpa&quot;); it&#x27;s 35L, opens flat for easy packing&#x2F;organization, has sufficient pockets for tidiness, and excellent external handles for managing it when it&#x27;s NOT on your back.<p>It&#x27;s also carryon-legal for even international flights, which is handy.<p>I got mine on deep discount for about half the going price now, but if something happened to mine I wouldn&#x27;t hesitate to buy a replacement at full price.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cotopaxi.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;allpa-35l-travel-pack?variant=39514009665597" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cotopaxi.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;allpa-35l-travel-pack?vari...</a>

After years and years of traveling - if it can’t fit into a really small “school size” backpack I’m leaving it behind.<p>Laundries are everywhere. Toiletries are everywhere.<p>And in a pinch you can do a wash almost anywhere.<p>There is an amazing feeling walking past the people at the baggage carousel waiting for the bags to even come off the plane — while you’re heading outside to grab a taxi.<p>The feeling is palpable when you’re checking in and the attendant asks “where is your luggage” and smiles knowingly when you point your thumb at your shoulders.<p>For travel, minimalism is underrated and most of the stuff we take we usually never use.

Packing cubes + rolling instead of folding is a great space saver.

I lived out of a rollaboard suitcase for several years and I dropped both the electric toothbrush and shaver in favor of a simple toothbrush and regular Gillette-style razor. Much smaller and lighter, never needs charging or breaks, trivially replaceable anywhere on the planet when they wear out. Contrary to popular belief, you don&#x27;t even need shaving cream, just shave &#x27;raw&#x27; after a hot shower when your skin is already moistened up.

I bought the costco black backpack with swiss logo, like 15 years ago. It was under $40, and probably some of the best money I spent. Took it on numerous trips, hiking, got it wet and filled it to the brim with stuff. It still functions perfectly. No rips or tears. The zippers have a haze on them now, but considering the years of use it&#x27;s kind of great. It has a laptop compartment. They still sell it. So might be a great option for someone.

Just got off a plane. My current setup is a 45 liter backpack with adjustable straps so I can compress it when not using the full capacity + a 25 liter NF backpack, which carries my electronics and also serves as a day pack for long hikes or walks through the city.<p>My 45 liter is max carry on. There&#x27;s nothing like being able to just exit the plane and not worry about standing by a conveyor belt for 20 minutes waiting for luggage.

Rather than a backpack these days I&#x27;m trying to optimize for the most useful stuff, and clothing that can fit in an item of luggage that will weigh 48.8 lbs on a hanging scale, so I can check it in with most airlines without absurd fees. For business trips, the longest possible length of time I can go without needing to do laundry mid trip is a time saver.

For travel shaving I love the Philips OneBlade products. Light weight, works well enough and for a 3 week stay I don&#x27;t even need to bring a charger. They can be used to shave any hair, should you need that. The only downside I can think of is that the replacement blades are expensive, but regularly heavily discounted.

I found decathlon, quality winter wear for the price.<p>Why is he taking Ashwagandha, does it have any verified health benefits?

My best travel purchase in years has been my silicone butt pad. It makes longer flights so much better.

Always fun to see that someone that ridiculously rich still lives just like the next dirtbag (me).

that&#x27;s way too much clothes, travelled Asia for a year with 28L backpack and still had plenty of space, though without laptop, but even with laptop it would make no difference and I was not really missing anything, at that time it was just camera + charger, phone + charger, clothes, thick guide book, USB hub&#x2F;card reader and some basic hygiene stuff<p>the guy has too many clothes and unnecessary things (electric shaver&#x2F;toothbrush, though I&#x27;d still have space for these even in my smaller backpack)<p>the thing is to wear the big&#x2F;thick clothes during transfers if you are limited with size of backpack plus anyway it seems he doesn&#x27;t really travel in cold climate

This is the most differ guide I have ever seen from the mine one, because of the crucial difference in lifestyles.<p>The most underappreciated advice from my PoV is to use warm tights, but I do not see any pros of using men tights with open feet over using women ones.

I find it interesting that other programmers engage in bizarre levels of almost ritualistic minimalism.<p>I say others because Im 100% guilty. I’ve figured out how to fit my life in a small closet.

Those who are nomad or tend to travel a lot, do you stroll or visit places during work day (weekdays for most). Or do your working days look the same as your home base.

Check out the Mystery Ranch Terraframe 50L. It&#x27;s a fantastic pack that lets you access to any part of the bag without worrying the order in which you load items into it.

I&#x27;m most interested to know how he handles accommodation as a nomad. I would guess that he has enough money that AirBnB a lot of the year is not a huge problem

It&#x27;s funny to read this knowing the author is a billionaire (or maybe a little under with the recent crypto crash). I guess he is HODLin&#x27;.

Is it some airpod on the microphone picture (&quot;My miscellaneous stuff&quot;) ? Wouldn&#x27;t be my first choice to maximize usbc usage.

I&#x27;m 4 months into a 46L bag trip and can see a lot of things I can cut down on. Head home in 2 months to reset and head off again!

Isn&#x27;t Vitalik a billionaire or at least rich by now? Does he really need to worry about saving money and space?

&quot;This contains a combination of various life-extension medicines&quot;

To people accusing him of having a huge carbon footprint, it&#x27;s not like they built the airplane specifically for him. If the plane can hold 200+ passengers, how much does one additional passenger contribute vs. the seat being empty?

&#x2F;r&#x2F;onebag will get a stroke from this

I don&#x27;t need the microphone. How do I optimize the space that is available now?

Font is so big I can barely read it

Vitalik flies commercial?

I wonder if the author has ever calculated how much metric tons of CO2 were produced as an externality of his nomadic lifestyle.

&quot;I have lived as a nomad for the last nine years, taking 360 flights travelling over 1.5 million kilometers (assuming flight paths are straight, ignoring layovers) during that time.&quot;<p>I guess he really doesn&#x27;t give a shit about the environment