Backpack for long enough, and you slough every last gram of dead weight to become your most efficient, durable self. I did a lot of pre-trip Googling for what I’d need to last 17 months on the road, but in retrospect what I needed most was a stranger on the internet reaching through their computer and slapping like 5 pounds of junk out of my hands. In Bali I once had to walk 12 miles in the midday heat, in flip-flops, because I missed a bus. If I’d been carrying anything more, I’m not entirely sure what I would have done. Died, maybe.