Wilson Zhao

On Onebagging

It is impractical to lug a 50-pound suitcase if you’re constantly moving across country lines. You want the option to carry all your shit with you. Dragging a suitcase across cobblestone streets and over muddy rivers really detracts from the overall travel experience. In addition, if you ever get mugged, you want the option of making a quick getaway. The solution was simple: stuff everything I needed for 3.5 months into one bag. And make it fit inside airline carry-on. I was looking for a couple of things in a backpack:

• Durable (self-explanatory)
• Compatible with airline carry on policies (checking bags on budget airlines usually costs extra)
• Ergonomic (so I don’t get back pain)
• Easy to repack (as I’ll be moving hostels every 2-3 days)

There are communities for all this (specifically /r/onebag). I purchased the Tortuga Setout ($199). The price tag made me slightly skeptical, but I chose it over other similar cylindrical bags because it opened like a suitcase, making it much easier to repack. And repack I did…it became a minigame to see if I could pack and repack all my belongings faster than the previous night. I think I started around 30 minutes and got it down to 10. My itinerary posed a slight inconvenience. At the time, I knew I was definitely going to Korea, Thailand, and China. From below freezing weather to tropical paradise to freezing my ass off again. Which meant that I needed to pack for two entirely different biomes, and I needed to stuff everything into my backpack. I was going to go clubbing and partying, but also hiking in the wild. I needed to cover all my bases. It became an optimization problem. After packing and repacking the two nights before I left, I had to make a very crucial decision: whether to look fashionable or stay warm. I obviously chose the fashionable option…so I packed in my fancy jacket.

Right before the trip, I copped some necessary items at the annual REI garage sale.

Salomon X Ultra 3 Mid GTX

These boots became my new best friend: I wore them everywhere, from scaling the Great Wall of China to hiking 20 miles in Petra, to the 24/7 techno clubs in Berlin and on top of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Got my moneys worth.

I remember weighing my bag at the start of my trip. It was 15 kg. It became 10 kg at the end when I started giving away clothes that I no longer needed. Also when I lost my bag underwear in Shanghai. Also when I ripped my pants scrambling rocks in Wadi Rum.

In hindsight, the specifics on what you pack aren’t too important: you can always rebuy what you lose or forget at your destination country once you get there. And it might actually be cheaper.

My final list:

Clothes

• 7 pairs of underwear (Doesn’t hurt to bring more)
• 3 pairs of no-show socks
• 3 pairs of heavy wool socks
• 4 t-shirts
• 1 nicer dress shirt for clubbing and fancier restaurants
• 1 set of thermals
• 1 pair of jeans
• 1 pair of Adidas sweatpants
• 1 pair of swimming shorts
• 1 pair of lounging shorts (for sleeping/relaxing in the hostel)
• 1 pair of regular shorts
• 2 sweaters
• 1 classic Patagucci vest
• 1 Marmot shell for layering
• Scarf
• Gloves
• Beanie
• 1 pair of hiking boots
• 1 pair of Ultraboosts

Electronics

• Chinese Gopro
• Travel adapter
• Kindle
• Chargers
• Clothesline for drying clothes (I ended up handwashing most of my clothes)
• Travel sheets (if I stay in a sketchy hostel with visible blood stains on the bed). This thankfully never happened.
• Laptop

Others

• Toothbrush & toothpaste
• Contact lens case & solution
• Deodorant (essential)
• Moisturizer
• Sunscreen
• Backup pair of glasses
• Plastic bags (surprisingly useful)

Medicine

• Bandaids/pads for shoe burn. Very neccesary.
• Neosporin
• Airborne
• Hand Sanitizer
• Electrolyte tablets (for hangovers)

On Twobagging

When I was in Beijing, I “borrowed” my granddad’s old IEEE Raytheon backpack. And it turns out having a daypack (carrying both at the same time) actually helped.

On Hostels

Hostels are a solo travelers’ best friend. You sleep in a room with anywhere from 2 to 20 strangers in the same room for a dirt cheap price. You have to wear sandals to the shower because that’s where people hook up after a drunken night out (just ask the folks at Carpe Noctem Vitae why cleaning the shower drains is probably the nastiest thing they’ve ever done). Usually there is some communal area where you can socialize and get fucked up and there is a kitchennette where you can slice your quarter euro bread and half euro salami and one euro cheese to atone for the fact you spent fifty euro on drinks the night before. You meet wacky characters with such colorful backstories and alibis, all huddled together on the same dirty couches, united by the shared reality that we were too broke to afford AirBnbs. It’s amazing, it’s dirty, it’s grimy, you might get pink eye or foot fungus, and everyone should experience it before they become too rich and old to do so. There is this beautiful app called Hostelworld where you can book hostels directly (and last-minute) where you can sort by reviews by relative cleanliness. I would say there are three main categories of hostels, and depending on the vibe you’re looking for, you can choose. Usually I do my resarch on Hostelworld and then book directly through the website because usually there is some sort of extra perk such as free breakfast. Or it is cheaper by one or two dollars because hostelworld charges a commission. Every dollar counts: that’s basically a beer.

Party Hostels

Party hostels are called party hostels because it is a gathering place for like-minded people with one thing on their minds: to get fucked wasted with people all around the world. Don’t expect to get much beauty sleep; you’re gonna have people hooking up on the bunk bed above, below, and around you (all true stories). The vibe is great, and there are events every day. The staff are all high-functioning alcoholics who lead group activies day-in day-out from boat parties to beer pong to alcholymipcs to karoake night. Great to stay in if you don’t want to remember your stay and contract several venereal diseases. Ex: Mad Monkey in Thailand

Corporate Hostels

Corporate hostels are chain hostels spread across many locations. They are generally cleaner, well-managed, and contain 1000 beds. Don’t expect to make new friends here. They mainly cater to groups such as Aussie stag parties or college rugby getaways. Hard to meet people or meet new friends. Great to stay at if you already have friends in the city you are in, or you’re feeling extra antisocial.

Smaller Hostels

My favorite type of hostel: intimate and by the end of your stay you basically know everyone living there and their dreams and aspirations. Some examples: Bauhaus in Istanbul and Carpe Noctem OG in Budapest. Great for meeting new people and recruiting people on adventures. In Istanbul there were about 10 people staying during off-season and they planned a 3-week Turkey road trip (which I would’ve done if I didn’t book a flight to Tel Aviv).

On Instagram

I became fairly addicted to Instagram while traveling for a couple reasons. The first is that it is the easiest way to exchange contact information to a traveler you meet for the first time: no one uses phone numbers anymore, and you get a visual reminder on the person’s identity based on their profile picture. If you post stories, I’ve gotten great recommendations either from locals who were from that location or travelers who have been there before. I’ve had spontaneous meetups (like in Madrid) when travelers I met a month prior would say “oh hey I’m literally five minutes away let’s grab lunch and explore the city.”

How to get photos

You get a lot of downtime while traveling solo, and I dedicated myself to take quality pictures of each landmark I went to, especially during the first half of my trip. I had nothing to do while on buses or subways or trains, so I would edit old photos using VSCO and choose the best shots.

I also became a master at asking completely random strangers to take my photo. You usually do some profiling: if they are also travelers and speak English, they are a lot less likely to just sprint off with your phone. If they’re a couple, you usually break the ice by offering to take a photo for them, and then asking for a couple of shots in return (hopefully the girl takes them). If the photos look blurry or the sun’s angle makes you look like the devil’s spawn, wait until they leave and ask the next couple. I used to edit my photos a bit with VSCO but got lazy and just used the magic wand under the default photos option for the iPhone.

Post to Instagram. Pray for likes. Rinse and repeat.

Authenticity

However, my attitude towards Instagram became fairly jaded . When I first started the trip, I wanted to present the best version of myself–all the highlights. You’re always forging this semi-authentic highlight reel of yourself. If you look at my Instagram profile page, you only see the fun destinations and the carefully crafted pictures I’ve asked utter strangers to take of me. However, people often don’t recognize the sleepless nights because of people yelling at the hostel at 2am, the stale bread and cheese to stay under budget, the blisters and welts from walking 12 miles a day, the massive inconvenience when you leave your entire packing cube of underwear in Shanghai. It’s definitely not all sunshine and rainbows.

In the second portion of my trip, I would play a minigame in which I would spot a girl and her unfortunate Instagram boyfriend and guess about how much time they would spend taking pictures at a particular spot. Pretty fun game to people-watch and pass the time.

I remember when I thought I was going to the only person in Petra because I woke up at 4am. And I almost was…except for a couple influencers and their Instagram boyfriends with probably over five thousand dollars of photography equipment. The girl in very pretty dress would twirl in a spectacular fashion, hopefully a flourish with the perfect amount of light and spread and shape, run back to the camera, shake their head, run off, pose, twirl again. And this would happen around thirty times (I counted). I shook my head and continued hiking.

In the end, I started approaching Instagram as more as a recording device for my own adventures.

On Planning

I didn’t plan anything other than the first three flights (until Istanbul). I would usually find an itinerary from a fellow traveler or a tinder match or an obscure reddit post made in 2012. In my mind, there were one or two landmarks I would really want to see. I just let the rest fall in place: nothing is better than the feeling than getting lost and ending in a small restaurant where the staff doesnt speak English and you have to order by gesturing wildly, or hearing live folk music and ending up in a meat festival, or getting adopted by a Sardinian stag party. Sometimes travelers would convince me to visit their home countries: I chose to go to Porto instead of staying in Spain and visiting Grenada. Other times I would base my direction: I met a French girl I originally encounter in Thailand in Athens two months later. I spontaneously decided to go to Petra because an influencer I was following posted it on her story. And so it goes. If you have the time to do meticulously research, by all means, go for it and plan every minute of your trip. But there was a certain point when I was spending more time watching youtube videos on how to explore the city rather than actually exploring the city, and I realized I preferred the latter.