Travelling Light?

One of the things I have always loved about travel is that feeling of carrying everything I need in one suitcase or backpack, of being unencumbered and not weighed down. Lightness has always equaled freedom to me.

When I finally relocated to Thailand after selling my home in Australia, closing my business there and selling all my no-longer needed "stuff", the entire sum of my possessions weighed in at 71kg across 2 suitcases. And it felt gooood! No storage lockers for me!

FFWD 19 years later and I witnessed an extraordinary conversation online this morning in an Expat Moms Group:

"We will be moving away from Thailand later this year. I asked my previous shipper I used to move to Thailand and his quote was over $6000 for 2 to 3 cubic meters (which is crazy! That’s like triple the price I paid to ship to Thailand). He suggested I ask around in Thailand for other options. Has anyone used an international shipping/moving company that they like here? We will be shipping to the states."

I had to close my eyes for a moment and consider what 2 to 3 cubic meters of "stuff" might look like...

What on earth do people need to carry from one continent to another in such volume? It's not like you need much more than a couple of changes of clothes and 2 pairs of sandals in Asia!

I found myself dwelling on the sheer COST of schlepping "stuff" from one country to another, from one city to another, and pretending we're global nomads. And then I started thinking about how much energy it all takes, how much fossil fuel it uses, and how many emissions it creates.

And for what? So someone can have 23 sweaters to choose from instead of just 2?

There ensued quite a vigorous discussion about the cost of shipping and the global shipping crisis, and how that's created a serious bottleneck in the world's supply chains.

"London: The vast network of ports, container vessels and trucking companies that moves goods around the world is badly tangled, and the cost of shipping is skyrocketing."
"The pressures on global supply chains have not eased, and we do not expect them to any time soon," said Bob Biesterfeld, the CEO of C.H. Robinson, one of the world's largest logistics firms. Source

And part of me wanted to cheer!!

Cos after a lot of umming and ahhing and suggestions that went nowhere, one woman posted this:

Minimalism is a lifestyle CHOICE - a choice - but some people need a jolt or an external reason to begin to consider living more lightly.

Are we coming to a time where the cost of moving things around is finally too high, to such a point where traveling light is the only sensible option?

Will schlep become a wonderfully archaic word and drop out of popular usage?

In many ways this Covid time globally is enabling Great Resets on so many fronts. Is traveling much lighter going to be one of them?

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