While travelling from southern Italy to Prague in April, my large backpack was stolen in the train station in Bologna. I was sick with food poisoning and not being as careful as I should have been with my stuff.

Suddenly I had just a little backpack and 2 months of travel to go. What to do? After a bit of &quotoor me," I realized that the thieves had liberated me from the burden of overpacking. I decided to buy just enough to get by and to spend the rest of my trip making do with less variety in my clothes and less room for souveniers.

It was great. At times I miss certain pieces of clothing, or keepsakes that were lost, but overall it was a fortunate thing. I felt really free. Changing trains was easy, and coming back through customs was a breeze (I was out of there so quickly because I had only carry-on luggage).

Be brutal with yourself while packing and you too could enjoy the freedom of light travel. A school sized backpack is definitely enough for at least a month (provided you’re not camping or anything). I may never check a bag again…