The Jettison Principle is named after President Jettison. Sorry, just kidding. It's simple: you discard things as your travel progresses to lighten your backpack. But it also goes without saying that you must not negate the Jettison Principle by collecting souvenirs (except photos).
I have found that the most effective things to discard, going by weight, are: printed matter and jeans, You throw out or leave behind in hostels: novels, travel guides, photocopied pages and so forth as they get used or become irrelevant. If you think about it, a book is basically sliced compressed wood and just as heavy. Jeans on their, er, last legs can be discarded during the journey, keeping a last pair to get home in.
Travel is also a good opportunity to give away, via the local equivalent of St. Vinnies clothing appeal boxes, those shirts that you have never quite liked. However the weight loss from throwing out shirts is small.
I must admit to an irrational and disproportionate pleasure in seeing my toothpaste tube shrink, even though the loss must be of the order of grams. But it's not an unalloyed pleasure; it also reminds me that my holiday is ebbing away.
You'll have to draw your own parallels in life for the Jettison Principle. I'm not going near this one...
I have found that the most effective things to discard, going by weight, are: printed matter and jeans, You throw out or leave behind in hostels: novels, travel guides, photocopied pages and so forth as they get used or become irrelevant. If you think about it, a book is basically sliced compressed wood and just as heavy. Jeans on their, er, last legs can be discarded during the journey, keeping a last pair to get home in.
Travel is also a good opportunity to give away, via the local equivalent of St. Vinnies clothing appeal boxes, those shirts that you have never quite liked. However the weight loss from throwing out shirts is small.
I must admit to an irrational and disproportionate pleasure in seeing my toothpaste tube shrink, even though the loss must be of the order of grams. But it's not an unalloyed pleasure; it also reminds me that my holiday is ebbing away.
You'll have to draw your own parallels in life for the Jettison Principle. I'm not going near this one...
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