[HN Gopher] My 40-liter backpack travel guide
___________________________________________________________________
My 40-liter backpack travel guide
Author : ronyfadel
Score : 211 points
Date : 2022-06-20 15:48 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (vitalik.ca)
(TXT) w3m dump (vitalik.ca)
| DustinBrett wrote:
| 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's
| still my main bag.
|
| 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.
|
| I had started traveling originally with a Osprey Kestrel 38L but
| slowly whittled down my necessities to 20L's.
|
| My travel gear from mostly a decade ago when I went to 50
| countries:
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/dustinbrett/albums/72157626006...
| keyme wrote:
| Always fun to see that someone that ridiculously rich still lives
| just like the next dirtbag (me).
| throwaway1777 wrote:
| Looks like the eth price collapse has vitalik living on the cheap
| /s
| titanomachy wrote:
| Yeah that's some real minimalism. I wonder if he's the only
| billionaire in the world who lives full-time out of a backpack.
| paulpauper wrote:
| he probably never was a billionaire . He's lost so much over
| the past 4 months I don't think he's that rich anymore. i
| think he also is borrowing against his eth too. He put the
| eth up as collateral and spends against it without having to
| sell it.
| latchkey wrote:
| SBF is probably not as minimalist, but he has a similar
| belief system. I wish more of crypto would adopt that and
| drop the lambo culture.
| coolspot wrote:
| His dad is living like a king of Canada though.
| dubswithus wrote:
| I'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.
|
| I also only stay in places with washer/dryer and do laundry every
| day because of running. I'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.
| ravenstine wrote:
| > Minimalism is seriously a waste of time.
|
| Depends on what a person values out of their travel. I totally
| get why people bring lots of things with them during travel.
|
| I personally like being nimble and not having to pay extra for
| a checked back for air travel. Lugging around heavy bags really
| annoys me. If I'm playing my travel by ear, sticking to one
| light bag keeps things stress free. Minimalism is certainly not
| a waste of time in my case. It can be a waste of time if
| someone gets comfort, pleasure, or utility out of bringing
| things like kitchen hardware.
|
| > I also only stay in places with washer/dryer and do laundry
| every day because of running.
|
| Often times I don't know where exactly I'll end up, in which
| case I can't count on a washer and dryer. That's just my
| preference, and presumably that of others. It sounds like
| you're making the smart choice by traveling in a way that fits
| your lifestyle.
|
| > I'm not going to hang disgusting sweaty clothes.
|
| Yeah I agree. I don't rewear anything that's unwashed except
| for a pair of jeans.
| dubswithus wrote:
| Will agree with you on the jeans. Rarely ever wash them to
| maintain the color. Another advantage is that they still have
| that factory denim smell. And if I do wash them I use woolite
| darks and flip them inside out.
| ghaff wrote:
| Personally, I don't wear jeans much and they're the last
| thing I'd bring for lightweight travel. There are lots of
| synthetic trousers that are super lightweight and easy to
| rinse out quickly.
| rjh29 wrote:
| I'm with you, but I tend to stay in one place for a long time,
| to get to know the area and make connections, and for my own
| mental health. Minimalism seems better when you're constantly
| moving.
|
| Besides, one suitcase for a 1-3 month trip is still minimalist
| by average standards!
| bowsamic wrote:
| I'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
| dubswithus wrote:
| I pretty much stay in Airbnb's all year long. You don't have to
| be a billionaire to do it.
| chx wrote:
| Laptop stand: u-top.
|
| Backpack: Greenroom136 Rainmaker. Especially in VX42 it's just
| unbeatable. Light, durable, rectilinear, excellent organization,
| customization above and beyond -- they will even do things not on
| the website.
|
| 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.
| ubermonkey wrote:
| >I have lived as a nomad for the last nine years, taking 360
| flights travelling over 1.5 million kilometers
|
| Good CHRIST what a carbon footprint.
| el_nahual wrote:
| Legitimate question: what's the logical term for this argument?
| Those flights would have happened without Vitalik on them, so
| the carbon footpring is not really attributable to him.
|
| Other situations seem similar (ie, "why should I go vote? my
| vote doesn't really matter?") they really aren't: yes, I
| shouldn't throw trash in the park, because if we all did we'd
| be screwed--but we can't _all_ fly every 2 weeks.
| kevinqi wrote:
| Huh? Individual actions do matter. The fact that he got on
| these flights contributes to the overall demand on flights,
| and has certainly had an impact on how many flights need to
| exist. The argument that not all people can fly every 2 weeks
| is nonsensical.
| el_nahual wrote:
| Individual actions matter when they have some direct impact
| (even if small), or if they are a subset of a broader
| collective action.
|
| So me running my car matters. I'm directly putting CO2 in
| the air, even if _my_ contribution is small.
|
| By "are a subset of a broader collective action" I mean as
| follows: if all members of a given class/collective stopped
| doing an act, would there be an impact? If all voters
| stopped voting, or if all families stopped flying, or if
| all grocery shoppers stopped buying meat, then yes,
| elections would break, and flights would decline, and meat
| would stop being sold. Even though _my_ vote doesn 't
| matter, and _my_ family 's ticket doesn't matter, and no,
| Purdue isn't going to stop factory farming chicked because
| _I_ went vegan.
|
| In Vitalik's case--and I don't mean him specifically, but
| using him as a stand-in for a broader class of questions--,
| two things are true:
|
| 1. There's no _direct_ result between him getting on a
| plane and the flight existing. His impact on flight demand
| isn 't small, it's _zero_ , because flights existing are
| non-linear. Those flights were going to be there anyway.
|
| 2. He is sui-generis. He's not a vacationing family or a a
| travelling salesman. There's no collective problem of "man,
| excentric genius crypto billionaires fly commercial too
| much." That just _isn 't a problem_. If Vitalik, or all
| Vitaliks stopped flying, nothing would actually change.
| Whereas if all families stopped flying, or all business
| travellers--or whatever other class the vast, vast majority
| of flyers belong to--stopped travelling, then yes, there
| would be an impact.
|
| I guess you could say "ha! 'excentric genius crypto
| billionaires' isn't a collective! the right collective VB
| belongs to is 'people', and if _all people_ stopped flying
| then there would certainly be an impact! ". And that's
| certainly an argument, but I think both sides are arguable.
| SapporoChris wrote:
| https://www.edf.org/travel-footprint-calculator
|
| I ran some numbers and the air travel looks seriously trivial
| compared to the average USA car driver.
| dag11 wrote:
| Do note that that calculator uses different units for air
| travel and car travel. It uses MtCO2e for air and kgCO2e for
| car travel. When I went to the calculator I saw the same as
| you, but it turns out that with a few dozen flights a year
| that's still a few times the carbon (once converted to kg)
| generated by my electric vehicle (presumably from avg power
| plant emissions).
| reustle wrote:
| Bummer to see that he recommends the Nexstand, which is a blatant
| copycat product of the Roost https://www.therooststand.com
| whimsicalism wrote:
| Nextstand is cheaper, so seems they have copied well :)
|
| Glad he recommended the affordable option
| mupuff1234 wrote:
| Packing cubes + rolling instead of folding is a great space
| saver.
| Syzygies wrote:
| I'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't imagine traveling
| with eight T-shirts!
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| I can't praise highly enough merino wool T-shirts, even in the
| hottest weather. I found mine on closeout; they can be expensive.
|
| The Aranet4 CO2 meter is an interesting pandemic choice. I own
| one for monitoring my classroom assignments; they're very well
| made.
| martin_a wrote:
| Do you have more information on the Merino wool? I've heard
| good things about it but I'm not sure how much of that is hype.
| Is it really that good?
| stinkytaco wrote:
| Not OP, but I have a lot of experience with Merino wool.
|
| My opinion is that it's great, but expensive and not durable
| as outerwear. It snags easily and if you're wearing the
| thinner stuff, you will end up with runs and even tears after
| a while. If you can afford $60 t-shirts, that might be fine
| for you, but I haven't had a wool t-shirt that it didn't wear
| through the armpits on after a couple of years of regular
| wear. The thicker stuff holds up a bit better, but is
| obviously not as nice in hot climates. If you're wearing it
| as a base layer in a cooler climate, I love it.
| martin_a wrote:
| Thanks for your sharing your experience! "couple of years"
| doesn't sound that bad to me, to be honest, so the higher
| price could be fine.
|
| As mentioned in the other comment, I just started out with
| an endless scarf and am looking at other products, too. I
| had a Giesswein merino sneaker recently for a test fit and
| it was really nice on the bare foot and left a good overall
| impression. I'm looking into getting a pair of those for
| the office, any experience with these, too?
| Rebelgecko wrote:
| I've only owned merino wool socks but they're fantastic (as
| long as you get ones with a fairly high percentage of merino
| wool. 50% is _ok_ but >60% is ideal). I can walk 10 miles in
| my Darn Tough wool socks, take them off, and they have no
| smell the next day. If I tried the same thing in cotton
| socks, they'd smell like feet until I wash them. Wool is
| pricier but IMO better at thermal regulation, and merino
| doesn't have the scratchiness that a lot of people associate
| with wool. I haven't tried shirts because they're pricy and
| I'm a bit worried about durability, but if you have to carry
| your wardrobe maybe it's worth it.
| martin_a wrote:
| Improving "breathability" for my feet would be one of my
| goals. The example with your socks sounds good, for the
| moment I've started with one of those "endless scarfs" made
| out of Merino wool, because I can't stand all the synthetic
| fibers in those things.
| dubswithus wrote:
| I love merino wool shirts -- even dress shirts like those by
| Wool and Prince. But the dress shirts I only dry clean and the
| t-shirts I have some special things I do to keep them in good
| shape. I just wear athletic gear most of the time because I'm
| in a hot climate and sweat through everything immediately. It's
| just not worth it for me at this point.
|
| I really like having a fancy side-loading washing machine
| because I can run long cycles and use strong detergents that
| definitely ensure the shirt doesn't smell the next time I wear
| it. Ideally Persil but sometimes that isn't available. Top
| loaders have destroyed clothes many times.
| I_complete_me wrote:
| Merino wool garments? Oh dear - I tried them but against the
| skin they are, for me, a huge no-no due to irritation / rash.
| I am unbelievable allergic to merino wool.
|
| (The following is meant to be humorous, JIC). So I bought a
| herd of sheep that grow polyester wool and it has worked out
| brilliantly. I don't break out in a rash, I don't smell and
| my sweat gets wicked to a galaxy far, far away.
| ghaff wrote:
| >But the dress shirts I only dry clean
|
| Yeah, I bought one and it didn't really hold up very well.
| Having to dry clean sort of defeats the purpose of having a
| travel shirt.
|
| In general, I really like merino wool but it's expensive and
| fairly fragile even if I avoid putting it in a dryer.
| dubswithus wrote:
| I rarely have to dry clean the dress shirts under normal
| wear conditions. I'm guessing it depends on the GSM of the
| shirt.
|
| I don't know if I would agree dry leaning defeats the
| purpose. Most cities have a dry cleaner and dropping it a
| dry cleaner is going to be faster than washing, drying, and
| ironing it yourself. At least it is for me. Plus, you would
| need to find the right kind of detergent without enzymes or
| whatever while traveling.
|
| Are you saying it fell apart?
| ghaff wrote:
| It's still perfectly functional. There's just some
| pilling and lack of color homogeneity and certainly
| doesn't look new. I'll still wear it so long as I don't
| really need to be dressed up which I rarely am these
| days. (Like almost never.)
|
| You're right that it wouldn't need to be dry cleaned
| after each use under minimally sweaty conditions. That
| said, while I have occasionally had laundry done in the
| middle of an extended trip, by and large I don't want to
| be dealing with laundry and dry cleaning if I don't need
| to.
| brocket wrote:
| I'm confused by the laptop setup picture. Does he type on the
| laptop while it's on the stand? Not ergonomic for me, my hands
| would get tired too fast and that angle would trigger carpal
| tunnel.
|
| Is there an external keyboard everywhere he travels that's not
| mentioned? Or is he standing? Doesn't look like it based on
| picture.
| [deleted]
| eimrine wrote:
| This is the most differ guide I have ever seen from the mine one,
| because of the crucial difference in lifestyles.
|
| 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.
| ubermonkey wrote:
| I've been doing all my travel for the last few years in a
| Cotopaxi backpack ("Allpa"); it's 35L, opens flat for easy
| packing/organization, has sufficient pockets for tidiness, and
| excellent external handles for managing it when it's NOT on your
| back.
|
| It's also carryon-legal for even international flights, which is
| handy.
|
| I got mine on deep discount for about half the going price now,
| but if something happened to mine I wouldn't hesitate to buy a
| replacement at full price.
|
| https://www.cotopaxi.com/products/allpa-35l-travel-pack?vari...
| diego wrote:
| 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.
|
| Also, I have yet to visit a civilized location in the world where
| you cannot buy a decent disposable razor that's better than the
| electric shaver he carries around the world. I understand they
| recycle pretty well too, if you're worried about waste.
| reidjs wrote:
| I disagree, I can never get them to feel quite clean enough
| from the sink, so if I'm away a week, I prefer a new pair every
| day. Quality of life preferences!
| the_third_wave wrote:
| I'm tempted to ask what you do with your underwear that makes
| it so soiled that a hand wash does not get them clean enough
| but I won't. I'll just state that even a simple rinse tends
| to be sufficient to get it fresh enough for another day. Hang
| it on your tent and it'll be dry the next morning - unless it
| is stolen by a cow or horse, both of which have happened to
| me. Pitch your tent in the evening on some mountain, wake up
| the next morning by the sounds of a horse stealing your
| clothes, the joys of camping in the wild.
| InefficientRed wrote:
| _> I 'm tempted to ask what you do with your underwear that
| makes it so soiled that a hand wash does not get them clean
| enough but I won't._
|
| There exist non-dudes, and getting caught without a
| tampon/pad is a thing that can happen for any number of
| reasons.
|
| A hand wash with unlimited water will probably get the job
| done, but unlimited water is often a luxury.
| angrais wrote:
| While true, OP is a man, so it does also leave me
| wondering _why_ his undies are in such a state after a
| days use?
| the_third_wave wrote:
| A bit of soap works, doesn't it? I'll spare you the
| details on how a somewhat over-aged sausage leads to
| colourful underwear but a soap block and some water do
| wonders even in that case.
| hnhg wrote:
| Very little gets recycled, in reality. It mostly goes to
| landfill - e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/us-
| news/2019/jun/21/us-plastic-r...
| picture wrote:
| Landfills are a very effective solution for disposing of
| stuff when they can't otherwise be economically reused or
| recycled. As long as food waste stays out, landfills are
| quite inert. They should have clay lining to prevent waste
| seeping into the ecosystem.
| maxerickson wrote:
| Please be more specific if you are going to spread that may-
| may. It's non bottle plastic that ends up in landfills.
|
| Paper, cardboard, metal, #1 plastic bottles and #2 plastic
| bottles all recycle well.
| hnhg wrote:
| I'll try on my side below but that goes both ways - where
| are your figures coming from, and for which
| country/geography? You also seem to have switched the topic
| from how much gets recycled to what can be recycled well.
|
| This says that the vast majority of plastic globally is not
| recycled: https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
|
| Recycling rate for paper is much, much better, granted, in
| many countries:
| https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/recycling-rates-paper-
| and...
|
| The recycling of metals depends on which metal, of course.
|
| In general, IMO there is far too much depressing reading
| like this - 'An estimated 70-80% of the MSW generated in
| Africa is recyclable, yet only 4% of MSW is currently
| recycled': https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.
| 11822/30975/...
|
| I can't find any figures that say recycling is a success
| story across the world, or even economically viable and
| sustainable across most popular types of waste.
| bromuro wrote:
| Even done properly, "recycling" is not environmentally
| friendly: "reuse" is always the better choice. That is,
| consume less.
| isatty wrote:
| But why not? Washing every other day takes too much effort.
| Underwear is small and packs efficiently. I always travel with
| extra underwear and extra pairs of socks.
| et-al wrote:
| Yeah, last thing I look forward to doing while on vacation is
| washing my own underwear in a bathroom sink. Just bring the
| extra pairs--they weigh nothing.
| wnolens wrote:
| This is not vacationing. It's living out of a bag.
| InefficientRed wrote:
| _> last thing I look forward to doing while on vacation_
|
| IDK about nomading, but when dirtbagging you have an excess
| of time. If the sun is down then your day is done. In the
| winter especially, having chores to do is welcome reprieve
| from the cold and boredom. And bathrooms or laundromats are
| so awesome. Warm and dry and bright.
| cassianoleal wrote:
| > And bathrooms or laundromats are so awesome. Warm and
| dry and bright.
|
| In my experience campsite bathrooms tend to be cold and
| wet. Bright, sure, but not a place I'd like to spend any
| time more than needed in. :D
| InefficientRed wrote:
| _> campsite bathrooms_
|
| Gotta find a walmart or especially target. They're saunas
| :)
| vidanay wrote:
| Why an electric toothbrush and electric shaver? Both of those
| have well established and functional antecedents that are both
| smaller and lighter.
| dubswithus wrote:
| I find an electric toothbrush is much better for busting
| plaque. I have a Goby.
| sorokod wrote:
| so sorry to hear that...
| dubswithus wrote:
| If it breaks or the battery dies they send you a new handle
| for free. I may switch to another brand in the future. Not
| sure.
| jabbany wrote:
| The electric shaver "antecedent" isn't nearly as efficient as
| the electric version...
|
| (1) Those require some kind of lubricant like shaving cream (=
| extra space cost) or shaving in a shower/with water (=
| significantly reduced convenience). The modern electric ones do
| not require anything and can be used dry.
|
| (2) Modern disposable razors also dull quite quickly meaning
| you need to carry many extra blades (= more space) or only
| travel to places where you can easily buy more blades/razors (=
| less convenience). The electric ones can last years on a single
| set of blades and still be effective.
|
| (3) The older kind of "knife-like" or "safety" razors can
| largely get around (2) with sharpening, but as they are not
| allowed on flights, it largely excludes them as an option.
| karaterobot wrote:
| I think having access to a sink or shower is not out of the
| question for someone living a digital nomad lifestyle -- not
| so much if you're hiking or camping, though. But if you live
| in hotels or AirBNBs, there's a pretty good chance you've got
| a shower stall to shave in.
|
| In terms of dullness, I shave my head and face with a cheap
| Amazon razor every day or two, and one blade lasts for weeks.
| A 4-blade package easily lasts me over a month, and if you
| remove them from the carrying case it's about the size of, I
| dunno, a couple AA batteries.
|
| One downside of an electric razor is power. I suppose a USB-C
| based razor exists, but you probably wouldn't have very many
| options in that format, and probably not many nice ones to
| choose from. Perhaps that will change. In the meantime, I
| love the Braun electric razor I use for the back of my neck
| but it does need a little power brick and cord which,
| together with the razor itself, are probably more than the
| volume of several years worth of razor blade cartridges.
|
| Just providing a little counterpoint to your comment, I do
| like my electric razor and think it's probably a better
| option for many travelers.
| jabbany wrote:
| > But if you live in hotels or AirBNBs, there's a pretty
| good chance you've got a shower stall to shave in.
|
| A lot of these also provide disposable razors, shaving
| cream etc (either by default or if you ask the front desk),
| so definitely a good option when it is available.
|
| > one blade lasts for weeks
|
| I shave every day and have used random (not name brand)
| disposable ones during travel. In my experience it usually
| stays usable for 3-4 days and could stretch to about a
| week. Still, being able to just set-and-forget an electric
| one without worrying about getting more blades has been
| quite nice.
|
| > One downside of an electric razor is power
|
| Definitely agree, though, USB-C ones aside, there are also
| compact ones made specifically for travel that have
| integrated universal plugs & support all voltages (if you
| have access to that).
|
| I usually keep one of these in my travel bag rather than
| bringing along my regular one which is very nice but also
| needs an external power brick and cord to charge.
| ubermonkey wrote:
| Electric razors never really worked great for me, but my teeth
| DEFINITELY feel nicer when I use a modern electric toothbrush.
| If I were traveling as much as OP, I'd absolutely take one with
| me.
| corrral wrote:
| I thought electric toothbrushes were silly until I tried a
| modern one.
|
| A manual toothbrush is not a replacement. A half-assed job with
| an electric toothbrush will get your teeth cleaner than an
| extremely thorough effort with a manual toothbrush. I wish I'd
| tried one sooner. First time I used one it felt like I'd been
| in for a full dental cleaning.
|
| Bonus: their failure mode is that they become a manual
| toothbrush. Which, if you're used to electric, does suck a lot,
| but it's no worse of than you'd have been if you started with a
| manual to begin with.
|
| Agree about the shaver, though, but I gather some folks have a
| lot harder time with facial hair than I do (some ordinary soap
| in the shower and very cheap disposable razors do better for me
| than the electric razor I had years ago) so maybe it's
| important for them.
| ghaff wrote:
| >A manual toothbrush is not a replacement.
|
| While I agree, carrying a manual toothbrush when traveling
| has been one of my compromises. That said, my newish one
| comes with a travel case so I may give that a try. Not sure
| how long it will go without recharging but may be worth
| experimenting.
| soco wrote:
| The electric toothbrush "failure mode" is annoying mostly
| because the heads I use are tiny and round - definitely a
| pain to handle precisely without knocking a tooth from time
| to time.
| Tepix wrote:
| Can you point me to a study that shows that electric
| toothbrushes work better than manual ones? Last time i looked
| (a long time ago), they were still equal.
| secondcoming wrote:
| It's not a study, but the last time I was at the dentist,
| he asked me what I used to clean my teeth since I had
| pretty much zero plaque. Philips Sonicare.
| Freak_NL wrote:
| Our dentist definitely noticed (in a good way) when my
| partner and I switched to electric. For a holiday trip
| there's little point in bringing an electric tooth brush
| along though, unless you are going for months rather than
| days or weeks.
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| I think whether you have plaque is more of a function of
| what you eat and that you brush consistently at all. I
| don't have plaque either.
| bowsamic wrote:
| Two positive:
|
| https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3652371/
|
| > The subject group using the powered toothbrush
| demonstrated clinical and statistical improvement in
| overall plaque scores.
|
| https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcpe.13126
|
| > In the long-term, powered toothbrush seems to be
| effective in reducing mean PD and mean CAL progressions,
| besides increasing the number of teeth retained.
|
| One negative:
|
| https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S00206539
| 2...
|
| > The results of this study shows no evidence of
| statistically significant difference in respect to plaque
| control, between Jordan Power electric toothbrush and
| either of Oral-B Advantage or Panbehriz Classic manual
| brushes in a group of dental students after 2 weeks.
|
| I'm sure you can find many more of both
| dan-robertson wrote:
| I think a while ago my dentist suggested that a quick brush
| with a manual toothbrush would likely clear more out than an
| equivalently quick brushing with an electric toothbrush
| (rough theory: you can move it faster and cover more surface
| area). But he claimed that electric is better if you use it
| more thoroughly. I also disagree that an electric toothbrush
| converts to a manual one. I think it converts to an unusable
| bad manual brush because the electric toothbrush is too heavy
| to move quickly.
|
| Another toothbrush tip: toothpaste is mildly abrasive and can
| be used as an emergency polish if e.g. you're in a hotel
| getting dressed for a wedding and realise your silver
| cufflinks / novelty Texas-shaped belt buckle / whatever have
| become tarnished since you last looked at them. An electric
| toothbrush can help a lot here.
| cassianoleal wrote:
| > A half-assed job with an electric toothbrush will get your
| teeth cleaner than an extremely thorough effort with a manual
| toothbrush.
|
| I've had 2 electrics, one Philips SoniCare and one Oral-B
| with the rotating head. Once broke within a year and the
| other lasted longer but got flimsy really quick.
|
| It used to take me at least twice as long to get my teeth
| clean with either of them than it does with a manual brush. I
| usually ran 3 cycles of the electric before I was more or
| less satisfied with the job.
|
| > Bonus: their failure mode is that they become a manual
| toothbrush.
|
| Yes but a horrible one. Small and oddly shaped brush heads
| are not ideal for manually brushing.
|
| I'm not dismissing your experience, just saying that it's not
| universally true.
| vidanay wrote:
| Electric toothbrushes are fantastic. I own and use one twice
| a day at home. I was strictly speaking in the context of the
| blog post with regards to being as small and as light as
| possible.
| corrral wrote:
| Oh, sure, if you're _really_ optimizing for as light as
| possible I guess you could ditch the toothbrush entirely
| and just count on buying a manual brush for a couple
| dollars at your destination. Personally, I 'd favor cutting
| space/weight in a lot of other areas before giving up the
| electric toothbrush, though.
| dan-robertson wrote:
| Electric is heavier but they're also much bigger. I could
| fit 4+ manual toothbrushes in the space that my electric
| toothbrush travel case takes up. I think it doesn't
| include the charger either. And the shape is quite
| inconvenient too which constrains packing
| cultofmetatron wrote:
| I use a safety razor. delivers a great shave but the blades
| are hard to find. stores are filled with the standard one
| time use cartridge crap that fills landfills because you
| can't recycle any of the plastics used in it. unfortunately,
| you'll be hard pressed to take a back of double edge razors
| in your check-in luggage unless you want a free trip to
| gitmo.
|
| In this context, a electric razor is your best bet for the
| environment
| Freak_NL wrote:
| Depends on the destination perhaps, but even here in the
| affluent Netherlands I can buy safety razors at the
| chemist. And the lower the GDP, the better the availability
| of no-nonsense safety razor blades.
| whimsicalism wrote:
| You can't trim with the functional antecedent.
| vidanay wrote:
| Trim what? Do you mean maintaining a 2mm fashion length
| beard? (You can't trim with the pictured shaver either - it's
| only for smooth shaving)
| whimsicalism wrote:
| I'll admit I hadn't clicked on the article.
|
| I don't know what you mean by "fashion length" - as opposed
| to the fashion length of 0mm? or am I missing a term of
| art?
| vidanay wrote:
| I was trying to figure out what you mean by trimming. On
| one end of the spectrum is smooth shaved. On the other
| end is completely un-managed. Somewhere in the middle is
| where "trimming" would come into play.
| anuvrat1 wrote:
| I found decathlon, quality winter wear for the price.
|
| Why is he taking Ashwagandha, does it have any verified health
| benefits?
| dubswithus wrote:
| When someone has vitamins (or extracts or whatever) I never
| assume they know what they are doing.
| puranjay wrote:
| if the placebo effect works, why not?
| dubswithus wrote:
| Read this book and find out why:
| https://www.amazon.com/Trick-Treatment-Undeniable-
| Alternativ...
|
| One of their examples was homeopaths telling patients not
| to get vaccinated.
| koshergweilo wrote:
| A quick Wikipedia search points to no
| legionof7 wrote:
| There's some pretty good evidence for it.
| https://examine.com/supplements/ashwagandha/
| dabeeeenster wrote:
| "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."
|
| I guess he really doesn't give a shit about the environment
| anony23 wrote:
| He flies commercial, not private.
| dabeeeenster wrote:
| So what?
| anony23 wrote:
| puranjay wrote:
| I'm sure you wrote this comment with soot on a tree bark,
| stuffed it into a glass bottle and hoped that someone far away
| with electricity and computers would post it online.
| INTPenis wrote:
| Don't put that blame on the consumer. The fact that we fan fly
| from Stockholm to Riga for 50 euro isn't right. The fact that
| the EU subsidizes airplane fuel isn't right, the fact that
| Sweden and many other governments have until recently given
| millions to airlines isn't right.
|
| The consumer simply saw cheap flights and did what they do
| best. The root of the issue is elsewhere.
| liquidise wrote:
| I'm confused by this take.
|
| If someone said they take ICE public buses to commute daily, my
| guess is the sentiment would be that is environmentally-
| conscious commuting.
|
| Is this meaningfully different from boarding a plane? I can see
| a luxury vs necessity angle, but is that it? Over long
| distances planes are more efficient. And like buses, the idea
| that a single person's behavior will impact departure schedules
| feels wrong.
| loevborg wrote:
| You would have to spend 2083 days on a bus to travel 1.5
| million km.
|
| That would be 63% of his 9 nomad years.
| dabeeeenster wrote:
| Is this a serious reply? Do people travel 1.5m miles by bus?
| Think critically.
| liquidise wrote:
| I think you missed the point of my reply.
|
| Vitalik sitting on non-private flights doesn't meaningfully
| add to pollution, the flight was already happening. The
| fuel was already earmarked for burning.
|
| "This person boarded a lot of flights that were going to
| pollute anyways" is a strange take. Sure he did it a lot,
| but if an individual contributes no measurable impact by
| _sitting_ on a plane, then boarding 300+ flights pollutes
| roughly the same as boarding 0, since those 300+ flights
| happen anyway.
|
| If you want to argue about market forces, do that. But as a
| sibling comment said, blaming a consumer here is strange.
| birdyrooster wrote:
| Check out the Mystery Ranch Terraframe 50L. It'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.
| wooque wrote:
| Font is so big I can barely read it
| bowsamic wrote:
| What computer are you using where 16px sans serif is "so big"?
| kosyblysk666 wrote:
| InefficientRed wrote:
| This is interesting because I tend to think of packing as a
| dirtbag thing rather than a nomad thing... when I'm hotel hopping
| for extended periods I just bring normal luggage. Maybe I should
| start bringing my backpack instead.
|
| My first impression is that this is a LOT of clothes and the
| electric stuff is a bit weird.
|
| A few differences between dirtbag and nomad (the latter AFAICT is
| mostly hotel/airbnb hopping?):
|
| First, you think a lot about food and water. Especially water,
| and especially sans car. It's VERY heavy and very necessary.
|
| 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.
|
| Third, weight really matters.
|
| Fourth, cleanliness really matters. You'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 "Not A Dirtbag For A Day" kit.
|
| 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.
| alistairSH wrote:
| _when I 'm hotel hopping for extended periods I just bring
| normal luggage. Maybe I should start bringing my backpack
| instead._
|
| Wife and I use an Osprey Farpoint 40 [1] pack each when we
| travel. Max size for most overhead bins, comfortable for
| walking a few miles, and enough pockets to do some basic
| organizing. Longer trips might end up supplemented with a
| smaller carry-on bag (usually for my camera kit, or bike
| helmets and shoes if we're cycling). It's great for travel in
| Europe, where you often get off a train and the hotel/airbnb is
| a few blocks away (and hardly worth a cab/Uber).
|
| 1 - https://www.osprey.com/us/en/product/farpoint-travel-pack-
| ca...
| ghaff wrote:
| I have an Osprey Porter, the 4x liter size--pretty much the
| same thing--and an old Montainsmith large "fanny pack" but
| mostly use it over the shoulder (or in the Osprey). For
| business casual-dress business travel and some lightweight
| hiking and other recreation, I can straightforwardly go for
| 3-4 weeks like that. Winter is a bit tougher but can still
| manage as long as it's not _too_ cold.
|
| Overall, I don't carry as much day to day base layer clothing
| and just rinse in the sink, don't really have laptop stands,
| _may_ have a mirrorless camera, have a small kit with repair
| and other small just in case items. (When I was traveling a
| lot it was handy to have fairly standard kit bags I could
| just toss in my luggage.)
| chrisseaton wrote:
| > I tend to think of packing as a dirtbag thing
|
| You think it's dirty to pack things for a trip?
| pluc wrote:
| get a suitcase you bum! (/s)
| tkuraku wrote:
| Pretty sure they are referring to camping outside with a
| sleeping bag in the dirt -> dirtbag.
| chrisseaton wrote:
| Still don't get it - only people who sleep outside need to
| pack for a trip?
| Cerium wrote:
| "Packing" in this case I infer to mean hauling
| possessions via a backpack as opposed to a suitcase.
| InefficientRed wrote:
| "packing" as in "backpacking", not "packing" as in
| "packing for a trip".
|
| Dirtbagging doesn't necessarily entail living outside.
| Could bum a room for a while. See
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirtbag_climbing for
| context.
|
| To clarify: I tend to think of living out of a 40L pack
| as a dirtbag thing rather than a nomad thing... most of
| the nomads I know just use hard shell luggage, including
| me when I hotel hop (I've had nice expensive backpacks
| destroyed by bag handlers, so hard rollers are better).
| OP mentions that thy don't have to check their 40L bag;
| I've always ended up with mine checked but I guess
| splitting the load into a second personal item could make
| that less likely.
| dlgeek wrote:
| Think backpacking, where you're surviving on just what's
| in your backpack for multiple days at a time.
|
| The focus on "packing" there is on weight/volume
| minimization - for example backpackers have been known to
| shave down the handle of their toothbrush to save a few
| grams. That sort of thing.
| mauvehaus wrote:
| The reason to cut the toothbrush handle is to reduce its
| _length_ not its mass. It fits in a much smaller stuff
| sack when it 's 10cm long than when it's full length.
|
| Since that stuff sack contains other things of
| approximately that length or shorter (in my case, stuff
| like: nail clippers, travel sized toothpaste, floss,
| extra lighter, a pair of corded earplugs, headlamp,
| possibly a spoon [0]) it gets awkward to have one pokey-
| outy thing when you're shoving it in amongst the other
| gear in your pack.
|
| [0] Yeah, yeah, I know: there's earwax on my spoon and
| toothbrush. That's never felt that important five days
| removed from a shower :-)
| kemayo wrote:
| They're referring to "dirtbag" as a lifestyle-movement. It
| mostly, as I understand it, came out of rock climbing --
| people who gave up a regular life to go live by rock climbing
| spots, getting by on seasonal work and few possessions.
|
| It leads to a different aesthetic and priorities than the
| (coming later) techno-nomad movement. Notably, it doesn't
| kinda-imply that you also have a good-playing remote job,
| which changes a lot of the calculations... and the aesthetic
| leans closer to the kind that gets you kicked out of coffee
| shops if you linger. It also, of course, is focused on
| spending a lot of time outdoors and engaging in a fairly
| dangerous activity.
|
| https://www.desktodirtbag.com/dirtbag-meaning/ or
| https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dirtbag
| ruffrey wrote:
| A trick from us dirtbag ultralight backpackers - weigh everything
| with a kitchen scale and track in lighterpack.com
| xxxtentacijs wrote:
| Vitalik flies commercial?
| unnouinceput wrote:
| Tell me you're under 30 yo without telling me you are under 30
| yo.
| wing-_-nuts wrote:
| What does age have to do with anything here, other than older
| folks probably needing to pack a prescription med or two?
| ghaff wrote:
| I am somewhere in the vicinity of 2x 30 and, while many of my
| specific packing choices differ, this is conceptually how I
| pack for most of my travel for multiple weeks at a time when
| I'm not simply driving from my home. I check luggage only when
| I have to.
| dukeofdoom wrote:
| 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's kind of great. It has a laptop compartment.
| They still sell it. So might be a great option for someone.
| bertil wrote:
| I'm impressed at how many people coalesce to the same suggestions
| to save space: simple clothes, layers, etc.
|
| 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.
|
| Am I out of sync with the times?
| dannymi wrote:
| I don't know about the US, but in the EU, aviation only
| contributes 3% (that is not a typo. Three percent) of the total
| greenhouse gas emissions (measured just before corona--so there
| was a shitload of aviation going on). The major greenhouse gas
| emitters are electricity production (30% - mostly gas
| generators!), road transport (20%), industry (20%). Source:
| European Environment Agency
|
| So I wouldn't worry much about the climate impact of flying.
| uoaei wrote:
| As a singular factor, cutting down on carbon emissions that
| are caused via flying is a better leverage point than many
| other interventions to slowing climate change precisely
| because the consumption is so high per user. For road
| transport, industry, and electricity production, those
| provide benefit for orders of magnitude more people, and
| individual actors' choices have less impact.
|
| It is probably wiser to judge based on emissions per user.
| Bad_CRC wrote:
| so that 3% of aviation is part of the 20% of transport or
| that transport is for cars?
| dannymi wrote:
| "Transport" is for road transport. Sorry. I edited it now
| to make it more clear.
|
| https://www.easa.europa.eu/eaer/system/files/usr_uploaded/2
| 1... section 7.3 for the citation on aviation (gah, is the
| europa.eu website slow).
| whimsicalism wrote:
| HN, where marginal thinking comes to die.
| smallpipe wrote:
| Or even thinking in his case...
| cma wrote:
| Take the relevant population class of people that can afford
| to fly frequently, and it is a much larger % of emissions.
| samatman wrote:
| The climate doesn't care who benefits from emissions, only
| how much is emitted.
|
| Air travel is much harder to do without fossil fuels than
| ground transport or electrical generation, and is essential
| to civilization on the basis of cargo alone. It's simply
| not an efficient target for change right now.
| b3morales wrote:
| How much cargo actually goes by air? Last I knew boats
| (ships) were the vast, vast majority of cargo transport,
| followed by trains, then trucks, with planes coming a
| distant last.
| samatman wrote:
| This says nothing about the importance of the cargo which
| is transported by plane. Given the much higher expense,
| we would expect this cargo to be more important, not
| less.
|
| An extreme example would be organs.
| b3morales wrote:
| Sure, but I can't agree that our civilization would
| collapse, or even be at serious risk, if tomorrow
| airfoils suddenly no longer functioned.
| morsch wrote:
| Some air travel may be essential to civilization, most of
| it isn't. We don't really have a way to determine which
| is which on a societal level. The best we can do is price
| in the externalities (and deal with income disparity, but
| that's an orthogonal issue).
| samatman wrote:
| Air travel itself is essential, it's one of the defining
| abilities of the modern world and can't just be shut off.
| It would be corrosive to try and separate the essential
| from the frivolous, I agree with that.
|
| I favor carbon taxes that dig an industries grave for it:
| such as taxing coal to build nuclear, wind, solar. That's
| not feasible with air travel yet, which leaves a
| consumption tax, those are regressive.
| morsch wrote:
| You can tax air travel to encourage travel by other means
| where applicable, or alternatives for work trips, or
| local tourism, or slow tourism, all kinds of things. Air
| travel itself may be defining and I don't envision
| getting rid of it; but the weekend trip to Vegas or
| Mallorca or Delhi is a defining feature of the present
| that is not sustainable in the future.
|
| Taxing dirty electricity generation is regressive
| taxation, too; like I said, it's an original issue. A
| first step would be to pay out all the generated carbon
| taxes on a per capita basis.
| toma_caliente wrote:
| > You can tax air travel to encourage travel by other
| means where applicable.
|
| This would never happen in America because it would
| require Americans addressing their views on transit and
| addressing their pitiful consumer rail or even consumer
| bus industries.
| uoaei wrote:
| Inflation and corporate profiteering re: oil prices are
| having much the same effect anyway.
| toma_caliente wrote:
| Is it? I see one side blaming Biden and the other side
| blaming corporations but neither side is saying we need
| better public transit.
| b3morales wrote:
| Still, if that's an easier segment than the others to reduce
| in absolute terms (and without the expenditure just hopping
| to another column) it shouldn't be off the table.
| Aunche wrote:
| Aviation contributes to 3% of EU emissions because most
| Europeans don't take 360 flights in 9 years, whereas they do
| use electricity, cars/busses, and products of industry.
| morsch wrote:
| It's a lot more of your personal CO2 budget if you're one of
| the persons doing the flying. Probably the majority if you're
| doing intercontinental flights every year.
| unixhero wrote:
| Nobody cares about carbon footprint bro
| kemayo wrote:
| Vitalik's one of the founders of Ethereum, so I'd guess that
| "minimizing carbon footprint" isn't one of his primary goals.
|
| (Yes, yes, proof-of-stake, claimed to finally be launching
| later this year. That's been "coming soon" for so many years
| that I'll believe it when it actually happens.)
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalik_Buterin
| paulpauper wrote:
| "coming soon" for the past 4 years
| kemayo wrote:
| More like 7, I think? They were laying groundwork in 2015,
| at least. https://ethereum.org/en/history/#frontier-
| thawing-summary
| corrral wrote:
| Minimalism as expressed on the web is mostly a well-off
| consumerist thing, oddly enough. It's largely about selling
| nice (or at least "premium-mediocre") stuff to people with
| money. Natural that it's tied up with expensive travel, too--
| that's the aspiration hook that gets people who _really_ don 't
| need the stuff to bust out the ol' credit card.
| mc32 wrote:
| This reminds me of:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4755470 which has quite
| on-point comments roasting D Curtis.
| bowsamic wrote:
| Vitalik's post seems to be a counterexample against what you
| claim here
| dubswithus wrote:
| The products he seems to recommend look like knockoffs and
| incredibly cheap. But often if something breaks while you are
| abroad you pay 2-3x the price to replace it. And even then
| the replacement might be of horrible quality too but you're
| desperate and suck it up.
|
| Except his Anker brick. I love Anker.
| salicideblock wrote:
| I had the exact same immediate reaction. If you're out of sync
| with the times, that makes two of us...
| the_third_wave wrote:
| > I'd expect that to come with some comment about carbon
| footprint.
|
| What would you expect him to say? Apologise in some way? Spin a
| tale of "carbon compensation", the indulgence [1] of this non-
| theistic religion?
|
| I find it refreshing to hear people speak without constantly
| genuflecting towards The Current Issue. That does not mean I
| always (or even usually) agree but I prefer for people to be
| honest instead of hypocrites when it comes to their 'sins'.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence
| whimsicalism wrote:
| Is it just me or has the disdain/venom in how people discuss
| the notion that they have moral responsibility to anyone
| other than themselves increased in recent years?
| jabl wrote:
| Not just you. Selfish ME ME ME is the current zeitgeist.
| Heavily sponsored by today's robber barons who are taking
| the obvious action to deflect attention from their
| corporate empires towards identity politics.
| the_third_wave wrote:
| Where is the venom? As to disdain there is a core of truth
| which is easily explained by the large number of people who
| - though social media or otherwise - portray their affluent
| jet-setting life styles with a little bit of green-wash
| that just does not fit well with the current discourse
| which centres around the reduction of consumption and
| energy use. If you choose to fly around the world while
| simultaneously trying to convey your dedication to the
| "climate cause" you should expect to be chastised for it.
| If you just fly around the world without adding indulgences
| you will still be chastised but at least you're more honest
| about the fact that you simply care more about your own
| convenience.
| kspacewalk2 wrote:
| Maybe I need to get myself a more progressive social circle,
| but the number of people around me who non-performatively care
| about their carbon footprint when travelling (and back the
| concern with actions, not words) is very very low.
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| I don't think I've ever heard someone mention their carbon
| footprint ever in real life. Only on an internet message
| board would someone be surprised that a blog post didn't
| mention it.
|
| Quite a bubble. But I also think it's very performative which
| is why it doesn't show up in day to day convo. For example,
| even the HNer wanted to see a feel-good aside about saving
| the environment or at least some sort of atonement for their
| sins.
|
| It's one of those things where we don't have any central
| entity to blame, so we look for small payoffs by holding
| random individuals to the flame.
| dj_mc_merlin wrote:
| The author mentions traveling to multiple continents in his
| post. Do you expect him to use a train/ferry everywhere? That
| would be incredibly slow and unfeasible in some situations.
| OTOH, you can fly everywhere. Not everyone deeply cares about
| their carbon footprint when by far the largest amount of CO2
| generated is industrial.
| cranekam wrote:
| > Not everyone deeply cares about their carbon footprint when
| by far the largest amount of CO2 generated is industrial.
|
| Industry makes stuff that consumers demand, either directly
| or indirectly. It's a bit of a meme to suggest that global
| warming is all down to companies emitting co2 just for lols.
| Of course, industry is sometime dirty because it's cheaper,
| but it's putting one's head in the sand to pretend that
| consumers have no bearing on what companies do.
|
| This is not to say that the blame lays solely with consumers.
| People are acting rationally -- they want to go on holiday
| and can afford it; what's stopping them? The issue is one of
| regulation. If emitting actually had a cost (well, a cost
| now, to the emitter, rather than to the whole planet at some
| later date) people would make better decisions.
| dj_mc_merlin wrote:
| I did not suggest companies emit CO2 for lols -- it is
| quite obvious they are responding in an optimized way (for
| them) to consumer demands, since that is what a company is.
|
| But the onus to change is on the companies, and since they
| won't change themselves, it falls on the government.
| However, taxing the emitter will lead to companies passing
| on the cost to the consumer, which, while lowering the
| emissions, would end up locking away a large number of
| luxuries (air travel, different kinds of food like meat,
| etc.) from lower-middle class people. It is very easy to
| say "increase taxes!" when you have enough disposable
| income to be able to afford these luxuries anyway. I
| personally do not want to go back a hundred years where
| meat is rare luxury and the farthest one travels is to the
| nearest country, once a decade.
| topranks wrote:
| This guy is responsible for a relatively significant proportion
| of the entire planets carbon footprint!
|
| His air travel is the least of our worries.
|
| https://digiconomist.net/ethereum-energy-consumption
| anony23 wrote:
| Relatively significant as in a fraction of a percent?
| dubswithus wrote:
| > I'm impressed at how many people coalesce to the same
| suggestions to save space: simple clothes, layers, etc.
|
| Buying toiletries locally can mean paying 2-3x the price in
| your home country. You actually save money by bringing more.
| For example, in the US the last time I checked I could buy a
| pack of floss for $0.99. In LATAM it's at least $3. The
| solution is to bring ~20 packs of floss.
| ghaff wrote:
| It's also one more thing to do. If you can trivially bring
| things with you, you've managed to avoid finding the
| appropriate store, finding what you're looking for among
| possibly unfamiliar brands, and potentially very different
| languages.
| Rebelgecko wrote:
| At least for me, walking into a grocery store that feels
| totally alien is part of the fun of traveling. It's a neat
| way to see some of the more blatant cultural differences,
| while also accomplishing a task.
| ghaff wrote:
| Yes, but in general I prefer I don't have errands I
| _need_ to run. Other than picking up wine or whatever :-)
| I 'm certainly fine with going into stores but I prefer
| to start out with some base-level stuff even if it adds a
| few pounds.
| bergenty wrote:
| I only take long distance trains for fun. Flying is way more
| convenient at all other times. Show up 45 minutes before the
| domestic flight and get there at least 5 times faster.
| [deleted]
| alejoar wrote:
| Maybe in the US. In Europe high speed train tends to be more
| convenient.
|
| I live in Madrid and I can travel to any major city in the
| country by train in less than 3 hours. I don't have to show
| up early. I depart from the city centre. I arrive at the city
| centre. 500% more convenient and (mostly) cheaper.
| [deleted]
| reidjs wrote:
| If this is the Vitalik I am assuming he is, he is a bit of a
| celebrity, so he probably has to fly to conferences, talks, etc
| often.
| cgeier wrote:
| "has" in "chooses to"?
| nonameiguess wrote:
| Given the stuff he's collected, he appears to be traveling all
| over the world. You can't take a train across oceans. I don't
| know why Europeans seem to want to derail every discussion of
| anything into "why can't the world be more like Europe," but
| have you looked at an equal area map of the whole globe lately?
| (https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/wp-
| content/uploads/2019/...). The overwhelming majority of the
| world is not Europe. Vitalik is Canadian. All of continental
| Europe seems to fit roughly east of the Hudson Bay when shoved
| into Canada. Some other person in this comment string is
| talking about how easy it is to get around all the major cities
| in Spain by train. That's great. Spain is 2/3 the size of
| Texas. Getting around North America isn't nearly the same.
| Presumably, Vitalik flies more than he uses trains because he
| has a finite lifespan and wants to devote more of his time
| living as a nomad to being where he is going rather than in the
| act of getting there.
|
| As for carbon footprint, I'm not going to comment on the moral
| quality of his choices, but the dude founded a cryptocurrency.
| Once you've done that, I don't think much else you can do short
| of also founding an oil company is going to make your carbon
| footprint worse than it already is.
| rhn_mk1 wrote:
| > All of continental Europe seems to fit roughly east of the
| Hudson Bay when shoved into Canada
|
| Your math does not quite check out.
|
| From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe
|
| > Area 10,180,000 km2
|
| From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada
|
| > Total land area 9,093,507 km2
| cammikebrown wrote:
| 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.
| [deleted]
| amelius wrote:
| I don't need the microphone. How do I optimize the space that is
| available now?
| egypturnash wrote:
| condoms
|
| a whole lot of condoms
| gumby wrote:
| I don't like those "wall wart" chargers nor the "all in one"
| international adaptors.
|
| 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/strain added by the cable etc). Plugging that into a huge
| adaptor like the massive one recommended by the author simply
| compounds the problem.
|
| The second problem is that power points are often inconveniently
| located behind things and/or high on the wall, and not always
| where you want to be.
|
| So instead I use small standard IEC 60320-C1 (AKA "figure 8")
| power cable. I carry a US/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.
| Pasorrijer wrote:
| My dream is a simple, one plug extension cable about three feet
| long with a built in travel adapter.
| splonk wrote:
| I do a considerable amount of long term travel carrying about
| half of this, but it all depends on what you'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'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've done the
| towel wringing trick but it's not all that necessary with my
| clothes unless I'm in a damp environment and am short on time.
|
| The two things that I mostly agree with - eSIM is a massive
| improvement (I also use Airalo), and I've also tried to
| standardize on USB-C (except for my headphones, where I haven't
| found a good replacement). /r/onebag does have some good product
| recommendations but is somewhat skewed to young backpackers.
|
| I would encourage everyone to ignore anyone telling them they're
| "doing it wrong" 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's
| wasted effort. Trust me, they'll find you and tell you all about
| themselves.
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| Yeah, I came to the same conclusion as far as optimizing for
| two carry on bags.
|
| My setup is really simple but works for me for months at a
| time. I have a tri fold clothing bag (an old Patagonia burrito,
| which they sadly don't make anymore) that's for clothes,
| grooming/hygine, etc, and then a messenger bag that's for
| laptop, kindle, headphones, emergency rain gear, medications,
| other similar things.
|
| It may not work for everyone, but I found paring down to
| essentials was very worth it. I never have to worry about
| checked bags going wrong. I can wear both bags comfortably
| while walking for a couple hours, so if I'm moving locations or
| can't check into my accommodations yet it's no big deal.
|
| One thing I like about this setup is I don't look like I'm
| hostel hiking. I just look like someone in business casual with
| an extra overnight bag. It's not fair or just, but sometimes
| this makes the difference about getting hassled hanging out
| somewhere with wifi for a couple hours.
|
| The tri fold is roomy enough to pack a suit and plenty of
| casual clothing. I just hang it up when I get to my room.
| Unless I'm wearing or using it, items go back to their place in
| the bag. I never have to unpack, pack, or worry about leaving
| something behind.
|
| A few simple tricks can make a big difference, but they're
| probably pretty personal. I pack a lot of extra socks,
| undershirts, and underwear, all made of thin wool. This helps
| me stay fresh if I'm a bit long between laundry services. In my
| electronics bag I carry a short extension cord, some USB plugs
| and charging cables, etc. That'll make you the hero in every
| cafe you go to.
|
| In any case, my big takeaway was that I just don't actually
| need much stuff to be content for months at a time.
| stinkytaco wrote:
| > In my electronics bag I carry a short extension cord, some
| USB plugs and charging cables, etc. That'll make you the hero
| in every cafe you go to.
|
| A small power strip might have been my best travel
| investment. Good way to meet people if nothing else.
| closewith wrote:
| > /r/onebag does have some good product recommendations but is
| somewhat skewed to young backpackers.
|
| /r/onebag is skewed towards solving all your problems by buying
| something, and seems astroturfed to within an inch of its life.
| jms703 wrote:
| Can someone explain this expression to me? "astroturfed to
| within an inch of its life"
| kens wrote:
| The expression "astroturfed to within an inch of its life"
| means that most of the reviews are fake recommendations for
| marketing reasons. Specifically, it's a mixed metaphor,
| which makes it harder to understand. "Astroturfed"
| describes a marketing campaign that is disguised as genuine
| opinions, in the way that AstroTurf is an artificial lawn
| that is supposed to look real. "Within an inch of his life"
| is an old expression typically used to describe a thrashing
| or beating and means "almost to the point of death", but is
| used metaphorically here to mean "extremely".
| stinkytaco wrote:
| For readers not at all familiar with American idioms,
| "astroturfed" is a response to "grassroots". A
| "grassroots" movement in American slang is one that is
| bottom up and not driven by advertising, corporations or
| political parties. Astroturfing gives the appearance of
| being grassroots when it is not.
| kevinmgranger wrote:
| Lived all my life in America and never made that
| connection. Whaddya know!
| kens wrote:
| I should have known that :-) I was curious, so I looked
| into this a bit more. Monsanto advertised Astroturf in
| 1971 with the slogan "The new grass-roots movement. It's
| away from grass, to Astroturf." In the 1980s, grass-roots
| vs Astroturf started to be used as a political metaphor
| by people such as Bob Dole and Lloyd Bentsen, and then
| became a popular media expression in the 1990s. So
| ironically, the metaphorical use of "astroturf" was
| originally driven by advertising.
| mrtesthah wrote:
| How do you know the individuals offering their ostensible
| personal experience of a particular product aren't being
| paid to disingenuously market said product on social media?
| EwanG wrote:
| Curious what kind of detergent you have found to be most
| effective for doing laundry in sinks? I'm aware of Woolite, but
| presume that's not what you're talking about?
| splonk wrote:
| I just carry whatever powdered detergent is available
| locally. I've tried the camping strips but I don't really see
| the point for my use cases. The powdered stuff does seem to
| set off airport scanners in the US if you have too much of
| it.
| itbeho wrote:
| I once had a waiter drop a dish of spaghetti and meatballs in
| my lap. I was on the road without an appropriate change of
| clothes. A fellow minimalist traveler gave me his Dawn dish
| soap and it worked so well that that's all I use now when
| traveling.
| hyperhopper wrote:
| > except for my headphones, where I haven't found a good
| replacement
|
| What issue have you found here? On a weekly basis I use IEMs
| (Sennheiser IE80) which don't need external power, and Jabra
| elite active series earbuds which are usb-c. Most options I'm
| aware of are one of these two categories.
| splonk wrote:
| My headphone quality requirements are slim to nonexistent
| since I mostly only use them on planes and trains to listen
| to music and block out noise, but my form factor requirements
| are pretty strict. I currently use Anker Soundbud Slims. I
| like the wired necklace and the magnets on the earpieces that
| allow the necklace to be sort of completed, although they're
| very weak. I pull out one earbud pretty often when I need to
| hear something, so the necklace lets me just drop it instead
| of having to faff about with storage. I guarantee I would
| lose individual detached earbuds pretty quickly. I don't use
| them for videoconferences, so I don't need a microphone. When
| I did my USB-C unification the closest equivalents tended to
| have solid plastic necklaces for more structure and mic
| mounts (looks like one of your recs has this?), but I store
| my headphones crumpled up in a tiny pocket. This was a year
| or two ago so maybe there are better options now, but at the
| moment my headphones just have a permanent adapter attached
| to them.
| Nergg wrote:
| Is it some airpod on the microphone picture ("My miscellaneous
| stuff") ? Wouldn't be my first choice to maximize usbc usage.
| kkleindev wrote:
| For a reason I haven'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.
| smallpipe wrote:
| Ah that explains why he seems absolutely insufferable
| bowsamic wrote:
| If you find Vitalik insufferable, who _do_ you like?
| olalonde wrote:
| It'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'.
| marginalia_nu wrote:
| Well he's a hypothetical billionaire. Problem with holding lots
| of crypto is that you can't really liquidate your crypto
| without tanking the economy. That's the point of all the crypto
| grifts going around, to get people to buy into crypto so the
| whales can exit.
| olalonde wrote:
| That's not true, the crypto market is very liquid nowadays.
| Around 22 billion dollar volume for Ethereum in the last 24
| hours for example and multiple known billion-dollar trades
| (Tesla, MicroStrategy, etc.). He probably could have
| liquidated all of his ETH by now if he had wanted to. And
| definitely enough not to have to live out of a backpack.
| marginalia_nu wrote:
| How much of that is wash trading?
| olalonde wrote:
| It's difficult to know for sure but even if we pick a
| ridiculously high number, like 90%, we're still in the
| multi-billion dollar daily volume range.
| caymanjim wrote:
| I've backpack-traveled extensively. I think I'm pretty good at
| minimizing my gear. My limiting factor is clothes. I'm a big guy,
| and my clothes and footwear take up easily 3x as much space as
| the author's. Same for sleeping bags and blankets and even
| towels. Even if I were less fat, I'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.
| rory wrote:
| As a fellow bigfoot, IMO for long backpacking: first pair of
| footwear on feet. Second pair gets tied to the outside of the
| backpack. Third pair gets cut.
| wetpaws wrote:
| /r/onebag will get a stroke from this
| fleddr wrote:
| For travel shaving I love the Philips OneBlade products. Light
| weight, works well enough and for a 3 week stay I don'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.
| xeornet wrote:
| I'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!
| hrdwdmrbl wrote:
| I use grams instead of cm^3 but otherwise I agree. I just don't
| want to carry heavy things!
|
| I will recommend 1 specific thing that is rarely mentioned which
| is soap slices, sometimes known as camping soap. They'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'd think.
| dabedee wrote:
| I wonder if the author has ever calculated how much metric tons
| of CO2 were produced as an externality of his nomadic lifestyle.
| ksdnjweusdnkl21 wrote:
| Probably a lot less than the blockchains he helped develop and
| advocated for
| break_the_bank wrote:
| I got into one bagging a few months ago after looking at Pieter
| Levels blog post about it https://levels.io/carry-on-world-
| travel/ and have been operating from one since the 15th of April.
|
| Bought a minaal 3.0 Cary On after going through the r/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.
|
| 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.
|
| The minimalism makes life easier. Only one pair of shoes & a pair
| of flip flops. Depend on the hostel / airbnb to provide a towel.
| Like Vitalik I have a weeks worth of clothes in the bag and one
| me.
| dubswithus wrote:
| I hope airlines ban carry on. When we land I would like to get
| off sometime in the next month or so.
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