Packing Light: How To Travel Sustainably

How is it that when you board a flight, there seems to be a direct correlation between someone’s cabin status and the lack of baggage they’re carting? First class seem to stroll across the airbridge with nothing but an iPad mini enveloped in a monogrammed leather sleeve. Business class carry thin laptops and tiny wheelie bags. And it’s not uncommon to see rear cabins bursting with bulky bags of a questionable overhead compartment size. There are theories that the wealthy pack light because everything they need is on the other side – second homes, outfit fixers, international wardrobes etc. Truly though, breezing through an airport, knowing that you’ve packed succinctly and smartly pertains to a celestial smugness, and there is nothing more horrifying than being shamed into checking your carry-on because you tried to cheat the system. Alas, here’s the not so smug part – those iPad carrying flat-bedders? They’re harming the environment the most, as first class suites leave the largest footprint on the earth. So, there.  

In the age of the digital nomad, it’s actually easier to travel smarter and lighter than it ever has been before. What if we rethought the privilege of air travel on a more woke scale and considered the damage our habits, choices, weighty bags and their contents are doing to the planet? It is possible to still enjoy a glass of champagne at take-off, if we just make the right choices.