APU Cyber & AI

Traveling Light Requires Sacrifices

traveling-light-tipsLast week, I had to travel from Philly to Dallas in order to attend the 7th Annual Medieval Graduate Student Symposium. I brought one bag, which covered six days’ worth of clothing and everything I needed for the symposium, and it weighed less than 10 pounds.

However, packing so light required some sacrifice that you should consider before you pack multiple bags for your next trip. The two biggest offenders to our efforts to pack light are electronics and books.

Like many students, I have a laptop and a smartphone. In addition, I have a tablet and a Kindle. They all serve different purposes, but do you need all of them? I used to think I did. However, I determined that for this trip, I could check email from my smartphone. I worked ahead on my schoolwork, so there was no rush to do some late night studying.

As such, I left both my laptop and my tablet at home. I would have found that offensive several years ago, as I thought I could never part with my laptop or tablet.

And like other students, I am in the process of reading about a dozen books for school, reviews, and some pleasure reading on the side. However, you have to consider that your time for reading is never as much as you expect. While on the trip, I knew I would be spending most of my time attending the conference and hanging out with other medievalists.

As such, I did not bring a single book, instead only brought my Kindle. I managed to read roughly 300 pages of a single book during the trip, so it was not as if I was left wanting for material.

So that is the sacrifice for traveling light–leave your unnecessary electronics and books at home. Enjoy the lighter load.

By Scott Manning
Online Learning Tips, Student Contributor

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