Indefinite Backpack Travel

Does anyone have experience with ad hoc baggery - bags as ongoing DIY?

Years ago, going for carry-on only, with a heavy tech load (VR) and thus light everything else, commercial bags embodied non-viable design-space tradeoffs. Flying two bags, with varying size and mass constraints, plus wearing layers with pockets, needed to transform on arrival into something like one comfortable heavy backpack with an excellent waist belt.

"The pack frame can be my 'portable workstation'" is... not a well-served commercial niche. Maybe someday we'll upload bag designs for rapid prototyping, but not just yet. And just a good COTS waist belt could blow the volume budget.

So, build-a-bag. Sort of the "backpack = dry-bag + straps" concept, but dialed up. As in "dry-bag = nylon-sack + plastic-bag + shaping-strappage + backups", and "straps = vecro strips + strapping + TSA-compatible adhesive + ...". Etc. Core of weight belt became a form-fit layup of velcro. Which hooked into the laptop, with velcro pads on it's back to support a frame shelf. And so on. Life deflected me from travel before it was used much, but for a heavy pack, it trialed comfortable. And became two nylon packable shoulder bags for carry-on. I was pondering combining TSA-acceptable selfie sticks with wheels.

Again, not used. And bouncing around with luggage would have been bad. And very not "It Just Works" - travel/life as DIY engineering exercise. And it could look odd. But even with now relaxed tech constraints, I'm tempted to try something similar someday. So, has anyone attempted/survived/considered/seen something similar?

Maybe, but as someone who's done a 4-month backpacking stint, I was over it after 1 month, so I think even just that amount of time is enough to make an impact psychologically. By month 3, I was acclimated to it, but still eager to be done with it.

(As an aside, the experience actually made me less enthusiastic about nature and gave me a deeper appreciation of civilization. Never in my life did I have such deep gratitude for having a flat paved sidewalk to walk on.)

I'm all for light travel, but this being everything you own is unrealistic and not something that most people should aspire to.

OP treats clothing as disposable, buying swim shorts for swimming and ditching them before moving on, buying more t-shirts when in one place and ditching them before leaving. I hope they are donating them for re-use.

Between medication, toiletries, and general hygiene products I could fill nearly half a bag, and that's just for me to stay healthy, I don't have any cosmetics. Travel sized toiletries are fine temporarily, but significant plastic waste if used long term.

And beyond OP's lack of human connections, they are also lacking sentimentality. My house is filled with pictures, art, sculptures, drawings, cards, books, plants, all given by friends and family, and which remind me on a daily basis about those human connections.

Like top level athletes who sacrifice their bodies in ways that we should not generally aspire to (we admire and respect), OP is doing things that for most people would sacrifice health and wellbeing.

This type of minimalism is not to be confused with 'frugalism'. It has nothing to do with treading lightly on the planet and more to do with blasting the upper atmosphere with jet engine exhaust as often as possible.

For me a bicycle is crucial for getting out and about, and I have done some long distance trips across continents with big mountain ranges to get over, with stove, tent and sleeping bag. This opens up a whole new level of 'minimalism'. Where possible, every item has to be 'dual use' to some extent, so that fleece hoodie doubles up as a pillow. Furthermore, every stupid travel gadget has to go, so no water purifier, no first aid kit, no 'stuff sacks', no special toiletries bags and no evening-only leisure clothes/shoes.

But this is luxury! The real pros are refugees. Imagine walking from Iraq to France, having to avoid every border guard, with no food in your stomach and just the clothes you wear as belongings.

In all fairness to the author of the article, the abundance of tech can be fully justified if he is a web developer and needs to make sure everything works on all of the devices that matter. That doesn't explain the Kindle, however, books (reading matter) has to be a priority item. From past experience, I would get rid of pretty much everything before getting rid of the reading matter.

Legit question, how do you work stably enough to have a good income to support this? Personally I find living a "regular" life and maintaining a 9-5 job is hard enough in terms of time management and logistics. And that's with the ease of not having to think about where my next accommodation, next meal, next shower will be.

Do you find yourself more time pressured? More stressed? Spending more on conveniences to make life easier?