I have a dream..
That dream is to never have to pack anything when I travel because everything I need will be waiting for me in my destination. It’s crazy I know, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for quite sometime. So usually when someone talks about ‘Urban Caching‘ they are either talking about geocaching in an urban setting, or some kind of city specific survival cache. Both of which are interesting in their own right but not what I’m talking about here. I’m thinking about something a little more functional.
Part of the original MultiBasing plans spawned from the idea that, or rather the frustration that I was feeling packing the same things all the time when traveling to the same city. When I talked to some friends (like Joi and Tim) who also travel a lot, and to many of the same places I found they had the same issues I did.
On a super obvious level if I live in Los Angeles (I do) and it almost never drops below 40° F here then I really have no reason to have big jackets and gloves. I certainly have no reason to have snow gear. That is unless I travel to places where it does get colder. But then I’m stuck in the situation of having something that sits in my closet until I pack it to take it somewhere, use it there, then pack it up and bring it back and throw it in closet. Just keeping it in the place I’m going all year makes much more sense, the question is how to do that.
If I have a friend there and can leave it at their house then problem solved. But maybe I don’t and I need to rent a locker somewhere or hide something in an office that I’m fairly sure I can get back into next time I’m in town. Hotels would be ideal but are rarely cool with the idea of holding your crap when you aren’t there paying on a daily basis. So that is on challenge, but assuming you do find a place to keep items, maybe this idea can be expanded? Climate specific things are obvious, but do I usually bring the same things to many places? Actually, yes I do.
So lets get one travel tip out of the way real quick – packing for a 1 or 2 day trip is much harder than packing for a week or more. When you start packing for a week you have to think about items you can wash and reuse which often results in bringing less. When you are packing for a day or two, everything you bring is single use and often you get sucked into the idea of “options.” If you are traveling for one specific event, you might bring 2-3 things that you could wear to it resulting in returning from your trip with things you never even touched. When you are packing for longer periods of time everything gets used.
So that in mind, in theory, you could create a pack of commonly used/worn items and leave them in the major cities you pass through or visit regularly. This would contain about a weeks worth of clothes covering various options – several casual things, a few nicer items, perhaps a jacket or different shoes. Depending on your work perhaps a suit. This creates a bit of a redundancy issue, in that you’ll likely have a few of the same thing, but if they are scattered out around the world that isn’t really a problem. And once you have this “basic” pack together and stashed in a few different cities, then what you need to take with you next time you go to one of them is suddenly reduced immensely.
If you find you need something you hadn’t anticipated you can probably just wear it on the trip itself. Or maybe you’ll need on very small carry on, maybe a backpack or something.
And maybe this doesn’t just apply to clothing. I know we are getting very speculative here, but with more and more data being stored in the cloud it could be possible to not even need to bring a computer with you. When you can pick up a brand new netbook
Assuming this all makes sense and worked, it wouldn’t be too hard to imagine being able to travel between a handful of cities on a regular basis and never need to pack anything. The thought of flying internationally without the headache of any luggage makes me giddy. Anyway, obviously this is still firmly in dreamland for the moment, but I do really think it’s not only viable but a very real option in the near future. And if you add into that pack a few disaster/survival/preparedness related items you’d be pretty well covered anywhere – or at least anywhere you regularly visit.
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Over the summer I helped incubate a company called Sparefoot – http://www.sparefoot.com through a ycombinator-style program called Capital Factory http://www.capitalfactory.com
The original premise of the company was to build an online marketplace for unused personal storage at someone’s home – say an attic, garage or closet to rent out instead of a public storage unit.
Urban Caching is a perfect use-case for Sparefoot since taking delivery of a box or suitcase at your home and holding on to it indefinitely can be negotiated seamlessly through the site. It’s certainly not the reason why the company got launched, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Excellent ideas here
So wish i had thought of that back when I was travelling a lot. I rented a room and “stashed” stuff there… it was wonderful!
Reminds me of the movie “The Saint”, where Val Kilmer changes his identity in various cities with items he stashes in a locker at the train station. When traveling from my chilly hometown Vancouver Canada, I wear my big coat to the airport, and leave it locked in a locker there while I fly someplace warm. When I land home again at YVR, I simply take out my big coat and boots and stay warm on the way home.
This reminds me of a Fortune Mag article from a decade ago about a CEO that had a standing shopping list for his business trips with Lands End. Each trip, his assistant would order the requisite items and have them Fed-Ex’d to the hotel. He’d ware the clothes then have the concierge donate them to charity. He’d never travel with anything more than a briefcase & laptop and his company would take the write-off for the donation. Analysis showed that his time value was high enough the time saved collecting luggage at the airport was worth more than the cost of shipping the clothes.
Wish I could find the article.
As for a business plan, you could create small storage lockers with a reservation and access process similar to the unmanned hotels.
I used to store a set of studio lights and backgrounds in another city. I also used to keep work/shoot clothes with that gear too. This worked well while I had lot of work in that city. A few of my hang gliding friends store gear and gliders in two different cities. It is a great idea and worth re-visiting.
How about a company that rents clothes and stores your personal cache? They could cater to business travelers, world travelers, and mini-retirees (4HWW). Patrons could also rent netbooks, suits, camping equipment, etc. That way patrons are prepared for anywhere and any situation…like James Bond. See http://bit.ly/53fZar. Any thoughts?
Sounds like you got a potential business idea on your hands. Instead of figuring out where to stash your junk, provide inexpensive medium-term storage space for others… And yourself in the process!
The basic idea is really appealing, I do the same with my parents: this way I always have a nice set of clothing ready, for formal occasions.
Two limitations are arising:
- When you are in the location of preference, you always end up wearing the same clothes as last time. This may look awkward to local friends when not informed. This is why I like the lands’ end executive case.
- When are you going to clean your cache? You cannot when you’ve left and will not when you wear it. This gives two options: use the dry cleaners as your cache. A service like reply #1 could be extended.
Jef – I wear the same thing all the time anyway. Really, I have 10 of the same shirt and 4-5 of the same pants so the wardrobe isn’t an issue for me.
But where would you stash the clothes though? As i think with security the way it is nowadays lockers etc would be treated like bomb containers
[...] days ago from Tim Ferris (of The 4-Hour Workweek fame), praising Sean Bonner’s recent post on Practical Urban Caching. The idea is that when you travel regularly to certain destinations, you shouldn’t have to [...]
Very inspiring post! Thank you for getting me thinking about how to travel lighter. I think (@james and others) that the solution, if you don’t want to go the SpareFoot route, is to build solid relationships in the locales you are traveling to on a regular basis. Work to get to know people so that, after a few visits, you might be able to leave a bag at their place to pick up later. I wrote a response to Sean’s post, elaborating on this idea of “relational travel,” at The Nylon Carry-All. Thanks again for a really inspiring idea!!
I have an alternative method to this.
I always travel with my computer and a small variety of electronics (specifically, iPhone, Kindle & decent digital camera), I have a nice quality computer backpack (my TED Rickshaw bag is perfect). I also keep my neck pillow in there for the airplane portion. Even with a small amount of items, the weight adds up fast, and I prefer not to carry it on my shoulders. Thus, my small roller suitcase is handy as I thread the backpack on it and it’s then a cinch to roll almost anywhere w/out the weight on my shoulders.
In my small roller suitcase, I have multiples of the EXACT SAME: T-shirts (all plain black T’s @ $3.50ea), socks & T-shirts. Done. Cool weather? Add my black Icebreaker sweater.
Cheers,
Greg
[...] flawless system where I can all travel without ever packing a bag, but I’ve used things like urban caching to take a few steps in that direction. I don’t have my own place in any number of cities that [...]
In Japan, what you need is someone in the countryside with lots of space who can ship a suitcase to your hotel just before you arrive and then receive it again when you leave.
The big problem would be mold if the clothes are stored for any length of time as there would certainly be moisture in the case when it was packed especially in the summer months. Maybe it could be combined with a laundry service. Send all your dirties and have them returned repacked and laundered.
I’m not sure whether a business could be made from it though as the demand is probably not so big, but who knows?