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| My life in 2 suitcases & 2 guitars |
The time had finally come it was April of 2026 and I was about to hand my home of over 15 years off to a property management company and begin my life as an expat abroad, starting in Argentina... I knew I couldn't bring too much as it would be a matter of whatever I could carry to the airport, that decision became 2 checked bags, one back pack, and two guitars. After 45 years on the Earth, it was time to get rid of all the other shit. I knew I would ultimately be happy with the decision but expected some depression from getting rid of stuff early on... That turned out to be very wrong!
Lets start with what I brought beyond the common sense things that everyone brings overseas (some clothes, important documents, etc):
- The 2 Guitars, I have 5, but I had a hard case for my electric which I would put in the fate of baggage handlers and carry the other. It wouldn't save me a ton of money, but I really liked these guitars. That being said if the airline destroyed em I'd buy new ones. Update: the electric guitar made it in great shape!
- Certain guitar pedals, hard to find overseas, made life easier bringing them.
- Vocal microphones, small and way cheaper to buy in the USA.
- Harmonicas, same thing.
- Two coffee mugs, I literally brought these because there was so much extra space in my second luggage and they were both a homage to my life in the USA so I felt I'd bring a part of me there. If there was no space they would have sailed off into the trash.
- 2 hard disk drives, these were SUPER IMPORTANT, I said planning on moving abroad, the most important things I owned were photos, music, videos, and guitars. 3 out of the 4 all fit on a hard disk. I also sent one to my brother as a third back up. Normal photos sailed off to trash which we will discuss next, but it was important for the memories to bring the hard disks with me.
- I am born in the '80s, so I still had a few photo books from my childhood, and even my early twenties. I didn't want to get rid of these, but it was also unrealistic to carry around photos for the rest of my life. I found a great company called Legacy box, not sponsored, sent them the photos and they sent me back a hard drive. Easy peasy and the memories can now travel with me forever.
- Flair Bottles, I have a super weird hobby from my bartending days of flipping bottles, I didn't check before I left but I venture to say it may be difficult to find these in Argentina. Turns out when I arrived I could have got them there as well. You live you learn.
Now lets get to the getting rid of shit, aka the fun part!
The day I flew out I realized that the above was too much shit! I planned on getting rid of more shit when I got to Buenos Aires, yes I literally was bringing things to another continent just to ultimately get rid of them. I was so frustrated that I didn't even wait to get to Buenos Aires. At the airport in Phoenix, my carry on with essentials had things that weren't so essential. For example a nice watch in a box... I don't need the box! Some documents over 15 years old... Don't need em!!! I also only had my first apartment for a month so after the big move, I would move all my personal stuff again, this was a good opportunity to reevaluate. Here's some things I did wrong and either changed or would have changed:
- CDs, Back to the '80s, or perhaps the '90s. I had a collection of CDs forever. I haven't played them since the early 2000s at best. But I kept them on my wall, kind of a decoration or homage to the bands I like. I always joke that I knew I would never play them again, it was more like an art display. I really did not want to get rid of them, I even considered just putting them up in the attic, the heat would ruin them, but they would still be the art. During this period. I had spent not joking, around $19,000 on my house on upgrades and things to rent it out. And I saw I could sell the CDs for about $200, I decided why not! I probably spent about $2,000 on the CDs, but it wasn't really about money, I just wanted to know they had a good at home. Hopefully the people that bought them on eBay from me or enjoying them now.
- Socks and underwear... For my normal trips this is the most important thing to load up on, I say you can wear a shirt two or three times in good weather without washing it but you certainly can't do that with socks and underwear. These are also the most easily replaceable items, think about your favorite shirt, gym shirt, pants, you can probably think of them quickly. But if I said your favorite socks or underwear it would be a tough decision.
- Reevaluate daily wear! I go to the gym 5-6 times a week, yet I arrived in Argentina with at least 10 gym shirts, I do laundry every week, so this was a waste of space.
- How many black shirts do I really need? I arrived with 5-7. One short sleeve, one long sleeve, and two tees, would have been better.
- Coats, pick 1, unless you are moving somewhere very cold. And that coat will go on your body for the flight, along with one heavy sweater. I however brought 2 coats, and 3 sweaters, which I probably didn't even need for a New York winter where I grew up, but they made good padding for my electronics.
- Living out of my suitcase also helped more with getting rid of shit. When I say living out of the suitcase I am speaking literally. I was in an Airbnb first, and didn't know if that was what was going to stay for me. So I really only unpacked as needed. After the first week the suitcase was still at least 75% packed. The first week had multiple gym days, a formal event, a few nice dates, and yet still I only needed 25% of the clothes!
- Shoes: this was a hard one, especially for me personally because my foot is a little bigger and not always easy to find my size, but shoes take up a lot of space in the bags, even if you stuff them with socks. I had to get rid of a good amount of my shoes. I showed up with 6 pairs counting the ones I wore. Threw out about the same amount.
- Bring $5,000 extra. It's probably too much, or it may be just right if you need to buy furniture. One of my checked bags was worth no more than $1,000 in items. For now I am young and can haul four bags on my own, but if I continue the nomadic life I think it would just be easier to have a padded savings and spend a day buying things on arrival.
New apartment essentials
The Return Trip: Shit I brought back to Argentina that I Didn't Think I Needed
I went back to visit the USA and get some work done after about 4 months, I plan on going back every 4-6 months or so. It's my financial center of interest, and Airbnb management companies charge an arm and a leg for a few projects I'll continue to do myself on my rental. So I headed back in June. And even though I just talked about getting rid of shit, I brought more shit back to Argentina! Sort of...
- Italian language novels, I speak fluent Italian but I'm not a native speaker, so I don't want to lose it. It's a bit harder than I thought finding print books in Argentina, and the ones I ordered from Italy in April may never arrive to my apartment in Argentina at this point (September). So I brought 20 or so books mostly paperback back to Argentina. I really gotta bite the bullet and get a kindle!!!
Argentina homework, don't forget Italian! - Cast iron pans! In the carne capital of the world we went to so many department stores and couldn't find these. I could have ordered them online, but this is the type of thing I need to touch before I buy it. So I picked up a couple from the US for the meats I cook here. Then of course as karma would have it, I saw them in the same store that didn't have them before I left.
- Electronics is a no brainer, I bought my girlfriend an amazon fire tablet which is dirt cheap in the US compared to here.
- Socks... Work with me here... Yes Argentina sells socks, but I hate organizing my socks! So I don't want different ones. It was hard to find champion socks in Argentina so I bought some in the US to restock! I know I said these are easy to replace, but those damn champion brands are so comfortable!
I have a formula for my clothes, whatever amount of shirts, pants, etc I own, is the number I will forever own. If I buy a new shirt tomorrow, I need to figure out a shirt to get rid of. I don't get rid of it that day, I take the shirt that is a bit old, or next in the chopping block, and put it in my travel bag. So the next trip the shirt will come with me, but won't come home with me! It's so much easier to get rid of "your favorite shirt from 2015" when it will make more room for a nice bottle of wine, or a new shirt you are buying while back packing Chile.
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| Why am I shopping here??? Hmm... |
Little knickknack things are great. I bought a few for my home in Argentina, but the U2 photo, the Bariloche magnet, the Optimus Prime glass, will not be part of my life forever, it's something that's easier to accept now that I've moved across the USA once, and out of the USA once! I even bought a Samurai Sword, it looks great in the apartment, but when I leave, it will be sold or donated... Where does one donate a Samurai Sword??? Hmmm... Anyway...
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| Transform! |
Minimalist doesn't mean nothing. But I love the freedom I now have living here, and the freedom of being a minimalist to get here. Once you arrive, you think a little bit about everything back home... From the little knickknacks to the big things. But then one day... You wake up, and all of your "things" are now in your new home. You live a life of freedom. Freedom of movement, flexibility, adventure, new frontiers, new memories.... The memories... You don't need any luggage for those, and they are the best things that we can carry forever... All from the freedom of getting rid of shit!
Choose the continent!!!!
OR...
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