Packing in carry-on and coming home with less than when you started (or so you can take treasures home), is my favorite way of traveling.

When I travel I often leave clothes and other items behind me when I leave.  They can be either thrown away or intentionally left for people there.  Either way, it leaves me more room in my carry-on going home (and less weight) which I can fill with treasures or shells or anything else I’ve found in my travels.  This discarding generally happens in three ways:

Planned discarding of nearly worn-out clothes:  For example, I frequently take a few items of clothing with me that are nearly worn out or have stains or such, and then throw them away after getting one or two more wears out of them on a trip.  Frequently, the shirt I wear on 14+ hour planes flights is one of these items, as by the end of the trip,  I’ve probably spilled something on myself (if not a couple times) so I don’t want to wear anything good that I want to wear again on the trip.  At home I put nearly worn through socks and other such items into my suitcase so they often go wherever my next trip is if they might be needed.

Activities where clothes can be damaged: Another thing I have done when I know I might be doing activities that can ruin clothes, if I don’t have anything like the above, is get something cheap off Thredup. It’s a site with clothing from people that is new with tags, like new with tags, or with very minor issues (a little pre-pilling, a small amount of fraying on an edge, etc).  You can often get nice previously worn shirts there for around $3 to $6.  If these clothes  survive the hike or animal encounter or cave crawl, great, I or someone else (if I leave it there, see below) got a new cheap shirt or shorts or whatever.  If it doesn’t survive, no worries, I only paid a couple dollars for it, and I didn’t ruin something I like to wear a lot or paid a lot of money for.  I have gotten some great deals on new with tags clothing there that I intend to keep and wear too.

Intentional leaving of clothing/supplies in less affluent countries: Another thing that sometimes happens is I just leave clothes, food, toiletries I didn’t use for the hotel maid, hostel host/patrons, etc. to use. If you do this, either give it directly to the host/maid, or make a neat pile or bag of what you are leaving behind with a note that whoever finds them can take the items and keep them or give them to someone else. Otherwise, depending on what you leave, the hotel/hostel may hang on to the items for a while thinking you may contact them about getting them back.  I have also brought things specifically to leave them behind in some countries I’ve visited (like Cuba, although they dollar amount you can leave is severely restricted, I was able to bring a bag of cheap kids toys and toiletries with me to leave with an orphanage).  I often also take snacks I like with me and routinely leave them behind as well if I didn’t finish them (like granola bars, fruit snacks, etc.).  Also, I’ll often take a physical book with me and leave it at the airport (with a note that it’s free for the taking) after my first flight as I don’t generally keep them as I’m going pretty much Kindle only.  [Check out my Kindle facebook page for good deals on Kindle books when I find them.]  I know how happy I’ve been when in a foreign country and finding an English book, so I’m hoping I’ve brought that joy to others in foreign airports, hotel lobbies and hostels.

Safe (and lightweight) travels!