The Weekend Trip: Inspiration to Leave Your Luggage Behind.

Until two months ago Mr. Meena and I had primarily only taken two types of trips: the day trip and the loooong trip (remember that time we traveled over 2000 miles in 10 days?).  While day trips to nearby towns like Bamberg are easy (I only have to take my purse), the longer trips in Germany usually require us to load up two suitcases and the bird (and pray for enough space on the train).

I was afraid of the weekend trip; I thought I was too high maintenance for it.  I need a fan to help me sleep, a special pillow for my neck arthritis, more than one option for tomorrow’s outfit, and a million other things.  But then I read this post by Submerged Oaks about how they travel with just a backpack and I was inspired.  I decided to try it.  I have a strong husband that would wear the backpack and he was really excited about the chance to take weekend trips.

We decided to go to Stuttgart for three days at the end of Mr. Meena’s Christmas holiday with only a backpack.  Before we left I got nervous about the items we were leaving behind and tried to talk him into taking a suitcase instead.  He encouraged me and we did end up leaving with just a backpack (albeit a heavy one).  After a few hours on the train we found ourselves wandering around Stuttgart with this huge sense of freedom that came from not having to check into a hotel immediately.  We had an early dinner, walked around the Schlossplatz, and just generally enjoyed our time in the city.

However, things got a bit rough that night after we did check into the hotel.  Even though it was January, the hotel room got hot and stuffy once we closed the window for the night (their website promised AC, but it didn’t work – perhaps they disabled it because it was winter).  We tried to use a white noise app on our phones in place of a fan but the recording would ‘blip’ every once in a while and it made me anxious.  It seemed like everything was wrong – the German pillows were the typical massive square ones that offered no support, we didn’t sleep well, we had neck aches, we tried to wash my dress in the sink but it didn’t dry enough overnight for me to wear it again, and so on.  The trip was one big rollercoaster of emotions; going up and down between the elation we felt for the freedom that accompanied ‘backpacking’ and misery when we needed something we didn’t have.

So you can imagine my trepidation when Mr. Meena said we should only take a backpack when we visited Mannheim, Karlsruhe, and Worms in the same weekend.  Surely three cities would be more demanding than one, right?  Surprisingly, the trip went really well and I did just fine.  Here are some things that helped the backpack situation work for us:

I made my needs travel size.

By far the biggest problem we had in Stuttgart was not having a fan.  So we bought this itty bitty (it’s four inches in diameter) USB powered one.

This solved two problems at once; it provided me with the small amount of the white noise I needed and it fixed the issue of German hotel rooms usually getting too stuffy.  It didn’t take up much space in the backpack and just knowing that we had it made me a great deal calmer about the trip.  Plus, when the super-hot heat wave hits no-air-conditioning Germany I can plug the fan into my phone and walk around holding it in front of me.  You think I’m kidding, but I’m not.

I went minimal.

I made a list of everything I wanted to bring and then picked the top-tier, can’t live without, most important things.  In many cases there were smaller items that I could substitute for the larger ones, like bringing my IcyHot roll-on applicator instead of my heating bag for potential arthritis pain.  And even though most German stores are closed on Sunday, we were traveling through train stations that probably could have provided me with something if I absolutely needed it.

It also helps to go through things that you routinely (or absent-mindedly) pack and make sure you actually need it.  For example, I always just throw my makeup bag in with everything else that’s being packed.  I finally went through it recently and realized I was carrying around really old perfume, oversized fingernail clippers, three different eyebrow pencil sharpeners, and several other things that I don’t need during a weekend trip.  I put my must-haves (concealer, foundation, and mascara) into a ‘travel bag’ and the rest in a different bag that won’t be traveling around Germany on Mr. Meena’s back during our next trip.

I realized I can ask the hotel for things.

When I book the room I ask for a couple things – and I also ask for them to follow up with me if they cannot provide something I ask for.  For this trip I asked for a quiet room (since I knew my fan wouldn’t block out much noise) and a bathtub because I knew we would be walking a lot and my knees would hurt.  Even though the hotel was almost full when we booked our room, they were still able to provide both things I asked for (the room was super quiet and I was super happy about it).

The cool thing is that when we arrived we found a huge fan in the closet!  I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to ask for that, too.  The hotel that we are living in has tons of fans downstairs that they loan out to guests (we are actually using one of them right now).  I think this is a common thing for hotels in Germany to have because it’s one of the few ways to cool the rooms down in the summer.  So next time I’ll definitely ask if they could provide a fan.

I improvised.

The pillow at the hotel in Karlsruhe was just ridiculous when it came to support, so I took the small, firm pillow off the couch, put the oversized pillow case on it, and slept great.  Most hotels here have a couch or chair with a little pillow in it that I can use.  Perhaps I’ll start asking hotels if they can provide firm pillows as well.  The worst that can happen is they say no.

I wore black.

I always want to pack double clothing in case I spill something on myself and I can’t re-wear my clothes.  So I only packed an extra top, and instead of packing additional pants I just wore my black leggings that probably wouldn’t show a stain anyway.  I think I’d also benefit from getting some clothing that dries quickly (especially after the wet-dress disaster in Stuttgart).  Travel experiences are worth more than fashion to me.

I hoped believed that I could do anything for two days.

This trip was only 36 hours long – so if I was miserable it was probably going to be for less than 36 hours.  If you’re going to try traveling with a lot less baggage than usual then I definitely recommend taking a shorter trip and getting a feel for how it goes.

Sometimes I get so focused on my problems I forget that there’s usually a way to fix them.  Even though our minimalistic trip to Stuttgart caused me a lot of stress, Mr. Meena and I were able to regroup and plan better for our next trip.  We saw what needed fixing and were able to overcome most of our previous problems.  You really just have to try it out, see what happens, and then give it a chance to work for you.  I’m really glad we’re improving our weekend trip skills now so we can put them into practice this summer as we visit as many European coasters/amusement parks as possible.

What tips would you add?