Louise's Guide to Minimalist Backpacking

 I originally wrote this piece at the beginning of 2020, but world events made it pretty irrelevant for the last year and a half. Let’s hope we’ll all soon be back to a world where this advice is useful instead of nostalgic.

With my recent trip to Myanmar/Thailand, I’m excited to say that I've now visited 20 countries! I feel that my backpacking strategy is pretty well optimized; it's taken some trial and error over the last few years to really dial it in. To help other people avoid the same beginner's mistakes I made, here are some of the tools and tricks I like to use.

Big Ol' Disclaimer: The point of traveling is to have fun. That means traveling is different for everyone. I find travel purists really annoying: 

"Oh, you visited India and you didn't try streetfood? Why did you even go?"

(that's sarcasm, don't be that person) 

Everyone has a different travel style that works for them; trying to travel with someone who has a different style can be incredibly frustrating. I personally hate road trips and love museums, some people have the opposite tendencies. Take everything I recommend with a grain of salt, you'll probably want to tweak/substantially alter these in order to match your own style. I also realize that not everyone has the time or money to travel extensively, this guide assumes that you have both a bit of time and a bit of money. If you don’t, then maybe search around for some other more specialized guidebooks.

My central philosophy of travel: my favorite experiences come from unexpected and unplanned interactions. However, if experiences are too unexpected then they become stressful. When I’m backpacking, I try to strike a balance between under-planned chaos and over-planned rigidity. Three places that are absolutely on my list of "So Cool, Must Return" I only visited on the advice of locals and hadn't heard about prior to entering the country (Chefchaouen, Morocco; Triund, India; Lake Inle, Myanmar) - if my trip had been too structured, I wouldn’t have had time to see them. My travel style is designed to give enough space for unexpected things to happen, but not enough to become chaotic and tense. So, without further ado:

Louise’s Guide to Minimalist Solo Medium-Budget Semi-Structured Short-Duration Backpacking 

1: Choose a Place to Go

Absolutely, hands down the best way to do this is to know someone in the area. This person doesn't have to be a close connection, it can even be a friend of a friend or relatively unknown acquaintance. Most people are excited to talk about their country, sometimes in way more detail than you want to hear. Failing that, knowing someone who used to live in the area or previously visited will work pretty well too. Ask them for advice, if they live in-country see if you can spend time with them getting the local perspective. 

Then, find a time to go. Plan around both weather (winter/summer/rainy/dry) and local politics (in general, avoid elections - it seems that this advice now applies to the US as well 😟 ). If you're planning for a specific event you'll have a different sort of trip than a random free-form adventure; you'll probably want to get event tickets way ahead of time.

You can take a look at the US State Department recommendations by country, but I haven't found them to be too useful. The state department map of the world tells you more about the state department than it does about the world; almost every country is marked "yellow danger" and a few are "red danger”… as of late 2019, Italy and Uganda were both “yellow zones”.

Some of my friends recommend cheap last-minute ticketing sites, I haven't tried these but the reviews are usually positive - you basically decide your trip a day or two in advance. Unfortunately these are only a viable option if you don’t have to worry about Visa complications (American passports make most places quite easy to enter, not everyone has that luxury).

I know a fair number of people whose definition of a good travel experience is to get 10+ friends together and get really drunk in a beautiful place - totally valid, but not my preferred style. Traveling with a group vs. traveling solo are pretty different experiences, I kind of like the instant snap-decision flexibility of traveling solo. If you’re traveling with a group, you’ll probably want to have things more planned out than you would for a solo trip - otherwise every minor travel decision becomes a full parliamentary session. When traveling solo, I avoid beaches. Going to a beach alone is just weird, you pretty much have to be in a group to enjoy a beach. Mountains and cities, however, are pretty interesting for solo travel. For large groups (7+ people), I would just use a tour company or similar service - you'll spend a bit more money but be much less stressed.

One of my friends has a theory of travel that's essentially "comfortable last" - you can travel to London at any time in your life, but travelling to Bangkok or Nairobi will be most fun when you're young. When you're young, getting sick while traveling is an annoyance instead of a trip-ending disaster; young people are better at handling discomfort. I've also started adopting this strategy when choosing trips - specifically search for the place that seems a bit uncomfortable.

2: Choose your minimalism level

When I say minimalist, I mean minimalist - one laptop bag. Of course there are other alternatives, but my preferred strategy is to bring just a carry-on laptop bag with a folding duffel inside. The alternatives I've tried:

1. Single large backpack (hiking bag) - these hold more stuff, but make it very obvious that you're a tourist. You can't blend into a crowd wearing this, which can be annoying. Long-range low-budget backpackers prefer the storage space, but I dislike how awkward it makes you - there's just no way to casually wear a giant hiking backpack.

2. Single laptop bag + suitcase - pretty standard, but I've had trouble with this before. Checked bags don't always make it to their intended destination. I once had to wait for 5 hours in the Entebbe airport as my bag was flown from Entebbe to Kigali, then back to Entebbe (complicated baggage logistics after a flight reroute) - since then I've preferred bringing just a carry-on.

3. Single laptop bag - just a carry-on is nice, but I always find myself buying souvenirs. I can tell myself that I won't buy anything, but that always turns out to be a lie. Part of the fun of traveling is finding mementos to take back; after the third time buying a last-minute duffel bag/working out complicated logistics to move souvenirs around I just acknowledged that souvenirs are inevitable.

4. Single laptop bag (carry-on) containing a folding duffel bag - this is the best of both worlds. Carry-on portability, you can blend into a crowd this way but by the end of the trip you have extra carry space. 

As a general rule, you should never travel with more than you can carry up a set of stairs. As someone who's wrangled 2 maximum weight suitcases (22 kilos/50 pounds each) and a carry-on through NYC subway turnstiles (to the annoyed indifference so typical of NYC subway riders), I can now quite confidently say that more luggage is not better luggage. 

3: Choose your travel gear

Here's my standard loadout (not these exact products but pretty close to them): 

• 1 laptop backpack 
• 1 tiny folding daypack
• 1 folding duffel
• pens (lots of border crossings require pen + paper)
• tiny duct tape (I've had backpacks fall apart at inopportune times before)
• travel toiletries kit - toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, mini liquor bottles (airlines frown on these but they're legal)
• sunglasses
• baseball hat
• 3 days worth of clothing (too much more won't fit in a carry-on, you'll have to choose between repeating outfits and constantly doing laundry)
• Microfiber beach towel (partly because I'm a douglas adams fan, partly because these have a wide variety of uses - as a blanket, sun shade, separator for dirty laundry, packing material, etc.)
• Tissue Packs (many cultures don't use toilet paper or don't believe in giving it out for free. Having a tissue pack around has literally saved my ass a few times)
• Gorillapod tripod (I dislike selfie sticks but am ok with tripods, these are great for group shots/timelapses)
• Phone Tripod mount
• Medical kit: Neosporin (!), ibuprofen, immodium, a few bandaids, moleskin, gauze, surgical tape, gloves (the last few are rarely used, but you absolutely want to have gloves - some of the countries I frequently travel in have a >5% HIV infection rate so you DO NOT want to touch someone else's blood). Some people like to have a larger medical kit, but this is infrequently used - you want to be able to handle minor emergencies, trying to pack for every possible circumstance would be excessive.
• Passport (duh)
• Passport belt (see the section on using these)
• At least 2 credit cards (one in your wallet, one in your passport belt)
• Safety pins in case your clothes go all Janet Jackson on you unexpectedly
• 500 ml - 1 Liter water bottle. For serious hikes you'll want to just buy a larger disposable bottle, this is mostly for airplanes/hangovers, not multiple-day survival.
• universal charger + 2x charge cables for your phone (charge cables go missing all the time)
• headlamp (preferably rechargeable)
• rain jacket
• Emergency cash ($200 USD minimum)
• Power Bank
• Passport photocopies (in case you lose the main passport)
• Cheap Noise Cancelling Headphones
• Plane headphones (one of those little 2-to-1 converters and some earbuds)
• Earplugs
• SIM Card Holder
• Starbucks Vias/instant coffee packs
• Caffeinated candy (can be helpful when you need a quick energy boost after a long travel day)
• Small Notebook (sometimes leaving notes like "don't eat this food" can be helpful)
• Travel scale

Modify that list as needed for the environment - sandals, winter jacket/gloves, etc. In general you're trading off comfort for portability - a sweater + rain jacket combo is more portable and flexible than a winter jacket, but less comfortable and looks quite dorky (I’ve just accepted the dorky look by now). Everything you bring you should be prepared to lose/have stolen, electronics especially have a tendency to grow legs and walk away.

If (you're a workaholic nerd who jokes in pseudocode and travels with the intention of working anywhere) {

Bring a laptop - I really like the Microsoft Surface, it's powerful enough to compile code and control cloud servers without being bulky. I recently switched over to a MacBook, we’ll see how this holds up in comparison. I like to have a surface/USB flash drive/power bank/spare HDMI cable/bluetooth mouse/charger packed into a small canoe bag - this is enough to setup a workstation nearly anywhere.

I don't trust "waterproof" backpacks for electronics, I always keep things in a canoe bag within a larger backpack. Some of the torrential rainfall I've encountered in the tropics would have overwhelmed a normal "waterproof" commuter bag in seconds.

}

else {

I don't know how cool people travel, bring condoms and beer bongs or something?

}

Things I've heard of/might try soon:

• Card games (Monopoly Deal is good, Solo is a fun + portable one with some serious hipster cred)
• Glycerin soap (my Uncle swears by the stuff for washing clothes)
• Bug spray
• Google Fi (makes more sense if you are primarily based in the states and frequently travel, but a bit expensive compared to East African SIM cards)
• Bluetooth camera remote

Things I stopped bringing:

• Water filter - it's generally much easier to buy bottled water than filter it. One of the stupid rules of travel in the developing world - the fancier the hotel, the less likely they are to have a water filter available for your use. Often, the fancier hotels just find more excuses to nickel-and-dime you for petty charges like bottled water. Whenever I stay at fancy hotels I bring this model of filter, for low-end hostels you can usually leave your own filter at home.
• External hard drive - USB drives are simpler, this depends on the trip
• Retractable cable lock - in theory you can use this to attach your bags to a bench + leave them (go to the bathroom, etc). In practice I don't use this trick much, I like having small bags instead.
• Solar charger - I brought one to Africa and barely use it, power banks are much better than portable solar panels. You really don't need these.
• Portable speaker - these are cool to have for group trips or hostels, but they take up a bit of bag space. 
• Mosquito nets - just accept that if you travel enough you're going to get exposed to Malaria, bringing your own net is a pain in the ass. Most places that need these will have them. If you're worried about mosquitoes and bed bugs then I like this tent, but it's only worth bringing for a multi-month stay.
• Travel guides - some people love them, I prefer to ask locals + use google
• Point it picture book - this seemed like a useful purchase, but in general I just use google images/translate to bridge language gaps. 

4: Check before going

Verify these details at minimum:

• Visa situation (do you need to buy a visa ahead of time?). Some countries are more serious than others, many will want a printed visa document. In general these take 2 weeks at most to process, so apply 2 weeks before going to the country.
• Plugs/voltages. Some countries are weirder than others, American/Euro/UK style plugs are common. Typically most electronics will work at any voltage, but any device with a motor (like a hair dryer) will only operate at a specific voltage so check anything you bring before frying it. All electronics bought in the US should have operating voltages written on their cases.
• Currency/conversion rate. It's easy to get scammed if you don't know what prices you're paying.
• Time zone
• SIM card frequencies - sometimes this is an issue, different countries will have different cell frequencies. If you absolutely NEED to have a phone in a country like Ethiopia (my phone only worked on 2G there), you may want to consider buying a burner.
• Active political situation - check US Embassy alerts at least to see if there's a civil war going on. You may want to reconsider your vacation if so.

5: Getting There

I'm going to assume plane etiquette is common knowledge - I'm pretty used to the airport game by now (always give 2-3 hours between flights, show up 2-3 hours before the flight, rush to your gate and then wait there for an hour, etc.) Some pro-tips - whenever I have the choice I'll sit as far back in the plane as possible, I've found that on long international flights you can walk to the rear galley, ask for snacks/booze/water and usually get it. I kind of like plane travel, I'm pretty adjusted to long flights by now (I just wish they had more leg room... grr).

Always have a change of clothes in your carry-on, air travel is unpredictable and you may get stuck in a random place.

My main rule for planes: NEVER GET OFF A PLANE WITHOUT A PLAN. The most vulnerable you'll be in the entire trip is the hour between getting off a long international flight and getting to a safer location. In general Uber or official taxis are better than random dudes offering to drive you. If I'm getting off a 24-hour flight while 8 hours jetlagged to an African location, I always setup a taxi connection before the flight. I hate the feeling of navigating an unknown environment while sleep deprived - spending a bit more on a taxi from a known driver is much better than getting mugged.

Personally I hate the "commute" part of travel (road trips, extended drive time, etc.) but like the "being somewhere cool" part of travel. It's a good idea to align on this if you're traveling in a group, people have very different opinions about what constitutes a good trip.

One common mistake first-time travelers can make is to pack a schedule too tightly (like taking a different plane every day) - if your entire trip is commuting it's unlikely you'll have a fun time. It's generally a good idea to schedule things so you could miss any one non-plane connection and still finish the trip.

6: Being there (General Tips)

I like the travel style of "start light, end heavy" - start off with just a carry-on bag so you can be fast/light, then buy souvenirs at the end of the trip.

Ask the locals. I find that people follow roughly the same bell curve everywhere - 5% are super-nice, 50% will help you in general, 95% will help you in an emergency, 5% are jerks. People who live somewhere have nuanced opinions about what's fun, what's not fun, what's dangerous and where you absolutely should not go. Don't be an idiot - if locals tell you not to go somewhere, DON'T GO TO THAT PLACE (regardless of what the internet/travel guide tells you). Similarly, a lot of the coolest places I've seen originated from asking locals for travel tips - people are usually happy to share stories about their favorite local spots.

Randomly wandering - I like to aimlessly wander around a city with vague missions (go see x museum) but leave time to get distracted (wow, that's a cool street fair!). In some places this works better than others - in Ethiopia I found this hard because amateur tour guides kept glomming onto me and it was hard to politely deter them. This worked great in NYC/Budapest/Paris though.

Decide your own cost vs. comfort vs. stuff vs. mobility priorities. In general:

• more stuff = more comfort = less mobility
• more money + less stuff = more mobility (just buy things there if you need them rather than bringing everything with you)
• cool tourist events costs money (like safari trips into the Maasai Mara), but are usually worth it
• most problems can be solved by throwing money at them
• disagreeing on the importance of stuff vs. money vs. mobility will cause problems in your group, align ahead of time

For truly vital items (toothbrush, soap, etc.) you can always buy essentials in-country. Bare minimum travel gear is a passport, credit card and any specialty medications - anything else important can be purchased pretty much anywhere. I have yet to visit a country where that wasn’t the case - if you’re picturing third-world countries as mud huts without any modern conveniences, you really need to spend more time outside the States.

I like to book 2 nights at every hotel/hostel I visit and schedule things 1 day in advance. I start to get a little nervous if I don't have a place to sleep worked out by noon, I had a negative experience (10 years ago, pre-smartphone) wandering around Berlin until 11 PM and eventually spending all my money on the only fancy hotel that I found open. Having a private room/locker is nice in that you can leave stuff behind and aimlessly wander a town, but only booking 1 night means you have to carry everything all the time. I kind of like taking a private room in a hostel, it’s a nice balance between talking to strangers and the option of not talking to strangers.

Ask people before you take pictures of them (duh). 

Extra ziplock bags are always useful. Especially if you have a large bag, keeping separate ziplocks to organize items can help a lot.

Invest in shoes and backpacks, it sucks if these break halfway through the trip.

7: Specific tips

Money:

You'll want to have local currency, many stores/restaurants don't take credit cards (or will egregiously overcharge you if given the chance). I like to have some local cash in a wallet and a backup amount in a money belt. ATMs are generally easy to find, I've yet to visit a country that didn't have them readily accessible. 

Everyone respects USD, but not all USD is equal. Many places don't accept currency printed before 2009 (look for holographic strips) and people may not accept USD that's not perfectly fresh and crisp. Many national parks/border crossings require USD, so it's good to have. You can exchange currency at a border but the rates won't be great.

Lots of tour guides/companies will play games with the exchange rate, for small purchases this doesn't do much but for thousands of dollars this can be substantial. Agree on an exchange rate as you're negotiating prices.

In the developing world, most prices are negotiable; some people will give you an accurate value up front but many will wildly inflate prices for tourists. It doesn't hurt to ask if prices are flexible.

If you're absolutely broke, maybe you shouldn't be traveling. You should always have enough money in your account to get back home. Beg-packers are just embarrassing for everyone. Don’t do that.

Smartphones/Data:

Smartphones have made travel incredibly easy; some features like Google Maps or Translate are stunningly useful. However, these tools only work if you have a charged phone with an internet connection and/or pre-downloaded information; if your phone battery is dead, it's just a useless lump of silicon and plastic. A backup power bank + charge cable is helpful.

Really important note on this - you should never ABSOLUTELY DEPEND on your phone. A phone is a tool, but it's possible to travel without one. I once had my phone stolen on the Paris subway just as I was starting a long trip; in some ways it was a positive experience in that it forced me to improvise and realize phones are luxuries, not necessities. Related note - make sure your phone has a password + encryption enabled. Just assume your phone will get stolen eventually.

Pre-downloads I like to take:

• eBooks (great if you end up eating at a restaurant alone - I like to use project gutenberg or the NYPL eBook library). Some people take a dedicated e-reading device or physical book - also an option, but I like to minimize the number of devices I carry.
• Google maps pre-downloaded offline maps
• Google translate language packs
• white noise generator apps (great for planes/overnight buses)
• audiobooks (spotify/librivox)
• all tickets as PDFs
• picture of your passport bio page/visa
• important addresses/contact info stored on your device, especially for very job-protective countries like the UK

Cloud storage - it's now pretty cheap to treat devices as disposable and data as permanent. Google cloud plans are great for this as long as you make sure your photos backup at regular intervals.

Google Maps is amazing, but not always accurate (especially for cities in the developing world). When you're unsure of directions trust your eyes instead of your phone.

Getting a local SIM is often worth the expense, these are usually available in the airport on arrival. I've gotten a surprising amount of use out of my Kenyan SIM card, it works internationally on a pre-paid basis so I can load it with a few dollars as needed rather than purchasing a SIM for short-duration trips.

Security:

Thankfully, in 5 years of international travel I haven’t had any serious security incidents and I’d like to keep it that way. There’s no real secret to it, much of this is just luck. In general I tend to err on the cautious side; when checking into a hotel/hostel I’ll usually ask “Is it safe to walk at night?”. This is good to know - in India I once got the answer “The people around here are fine, just watch out for the bears at night.”

Situational Awareness - keep an eye on your context. I'm lucky in that I usually can keep situationally aware while drinking, some people can't. If you know this about yourself, maybe be careful about going bar-hopping solo in a foreign country. If you start getting a bad vibe, it's generally better to listen to your gut and leave (even if nothing happens).

"People Sense" - I have the advantage of being male, it certainly helps that the worst people I encounter are interested in the contents of my pockets rather than what's between them. In general it's better to stay safe - if someone is giving signals of being angry with you it's preferable to leave at the risk of offending them. Develop a thick skin for laughter though, people laughing at me for doing something culturally inappropriate is basically background noise to me now.

Know risky areas for pickpockets - public transit, subways, markets, etc. Pickpockets aren't malicious so much as opportunistic - they're watching for people who aren't situationally aware. A trick for this is the "naming game" - try to give a name to everything in your environment, noticing every detail around you. I believe it's better to look confident and decisive while marching in the wrong direction rather than indecisive and lost.

Security layering rule - you're best off keeping valuables on your person. If you have to leave something in a hotel room, I like to layer things (put a valuable item in a bag inside a bag inside a bag). Hotel staff who steal things are usually doing so quickly, they don't have a ton of time to take apart everything in your bag for a detailed search. Fancy hotel staff are just as likely to steal items from you as budget hotel staff if not more so.

Sunglasses have multiple functions - they help to filter sunlight but also make it much easier to say no to beggars, haggle in markets and generally keep a psychological barrier between you and passerby.

Don't pet animals, don't give money to children. If you want to help give money to organizations, not individuals.

Watch kids closely, little hands are great for picking pockets.

Don't bring a backpack to a crowded market, this is a good way to lose stuff.

Uber is available in most countries now and is way better than normal taxis, at least with Uber there's a record of where you went and with who.

Lots of places in the developing world have a tradition of vigilante justice, especially where traffic accidents are concerned. Look up more details on this before visiting a country. Traffic patterns are much more dangerous and unpredictable in the developing world than in the states, I prefer to hire taxis rather than deal with the stress of driving and/or potential lethality of an accident.

Getting mugged or pickpocketed is cheap compared to getting hospital care, in general the safest advice is to not resist muggings.

(From One Acre Fund's Security Trainings): Absolutely never get out of a car and wait in front of a locked gate at night - this puts you in a really vulnerable situation. Paying a taxi driver extra to wait is always better.

Money Belts:

Used properly a Money Belt is the most important travel accessory you can bring. The whole idea of a money belt is that no one should know you have it; if you're flashing a Money Belt in public you're using it wrong. It's your second line of defense - if your phone + wallet are stolen your money belt should have enough to let you keep traveling. Your money belt should have:

• your passport
• emergency cash (USD)
• backup local cash
• backup credit card
• printed visa/passport bio page copy
• any important addresses/contact numbers written down

Some tips:

• these aren't perfect, good thieves can still lift money belts from you (a would-be pickpocket in Cape Town brushed his hand down my back to see if he could find a money belt, that freaked me out)
• the neck-based money belts are useless, those strings are very visible and quite easy to cut.
• keep the belt small, if it's visible it's not useful
• I like to wear a stomach belt with valuables behind my back, then a backpack on top of it
• put money + docs in plastic bags, once you start sweating inks from money can leach out of it + into clothing
• have a credit card in your wallet, if you're exposing the belt every time you use a card it doesn't help much
• these only make sense with baggy clothing, IDK what fashionable people are supposed to do
• Stomach-fastening Money Belts + hangovers are a terrible mix. No good answers for this one, I’ve made the mistake of drinking and then traveling the next day many times.

Safety/Diseases:

Get travel shots before you leave the states, it's a good idea to know of the risk factors for the area you're visiting. Some things are inherently risky - like eating street food containing meat - but if you avoid all possible risk factors you'll have a boring trip. Sometimes you just have to accept that you may get sick; most “scary tropical” diseases aren't as terrifying as Americans make them out to be. If you're spending any significant amount of time in East Africa just accept that you will get Malaria; if you're there for less than a month take anti-malarials, but for longer timeframes it's not worth it. I can’t say I enjoyed having Malaria and I don’t want to repeat the experience, but as long as you treat it early it’s not terrible.

If you're going to eat street food, schedule some time to potentially get sick. Don't eat street food the day before an international flight. The best street food vendors will have a crowd around them, avoid street food from vendors who don't have a ton of clients.

Luggage:

Get luggage that you can find on a baggage carousel. I don't know how New Yorkers do it, every time I arrive in NY everyone has the same identical black suitcase with no distinguishing features.

If you're at the end of the trip and running out of space, packing clothing into souvenirs and folding/neatly packing dirty laundry can be good ways to stretch space a bit.

Wheeled suitcases are great. I've hauled mine up the side of a Himalayan mountain before - it was awkward, but still better than taking a duffel bag through an airport.

Language:

I like to learn two words everywhere I visit - "Hello" and "Thank you". Smiling and showing respect can go pretty far; google image searches for specific items, google translate or similar tools are ok too. Overall you just need to be comfortable not having full understanding of what's going on around you.

A trick that I haven't used but a friend recommended - every time he meets a bilingual person (such as on the plane ride to a country) he makes sure to get their number, then calls that person if he needs an interpreter. I think this one is more cultural, I’d be hesitant to bother someone like this.

First-Time Travel:

If you're new to international travel, voluntourism or guided tours are a good way to start. I prefer my semi-structured solo trips, but that's only after years acclimating to travel conditions. There's no "better" or "worse" way to travel, a guided tour is a perfectly valid way to see a country - I just personally find that travel style restrictive. 

8: Wrapup

These tips are all the things that have worked for me and my travel style, but the important thing to realize is this:

Fun travel doesn't require specific items or specific practices, it requires the right attitude. You have to be willing to not know what's happening around you, to improvise based on new information, to go outside your comfort zone. Sometimes that doesn't work; sometimes you make mistakes and end up with funny stories. Overall though, it has literally never been this easy to travel; smartphones, ATMs and antibiotics are fixtures pretty much everywhere around the world. To paraphrase a quote from the Delhi airport:

"The world is like a giant book; those who don't travel can only ever read one page."

So more than any one tip or trick or gadget, the most important commodity you need to travel is a willingness to just… Go.