My luggage - travelling light
What I Took
Flying Jetstar, I chose not to pay for checked luggage, so I had a limit of 10kg.
With the netbook and charger, a fairly large DSLR (Olympus E-1) with standard and telephoto zooms, four batteries and a charger, plus US, UK and European power adaptors, a good chunk of that was taken up by electronics.
I also had a small first aid kit, a small bag of toiletries, a compass, a torch, insect repellent, and nail clippers.
Otherwise it was all clothing: two pairs of long pants, one long shirt and two short shirts, underwear, a light jumper, and a pair of hiking sandals. I didn't take any kind of rain jacket, but had bags for waterproofing my pack and figured I would buy a cheap umbrella if rain turned out to be a problem.
What I would leave behind
I ended up wearing one shirt, one pair of trousers and two pairs of underpants for the entire trip, except for the first and last days and the flights. Every evening I washed what I'd worn and hung it up to dry, and it was either dry or close enough in the morning.
If I were doing the same trip again, I would leave behind the jumper and the third shirt, and replace the second pair of trousers with a pair of shorts. I would also leave behind the bag for my sandals, the circular polarizer, the fourth camera battery, and the US and UK power adaptors (the European plug worked everywhere).
What I would add
- a universal sink plug
- a small alarm clock
- printouts of basic city maps and hotels, for orientation on first arrival
- a small thermometer
If I did that and replaced the DSLR with a compact camera, I could get my luggage back down to the daypack and five kilograms or so I carried around India in 1998.