Thanks,
http://www.SojournVacationRentals.com

I was sent this link thinking it was the post about studying v. speaking

Oh well, thanks for the quick reply!

Fact is, there are different ways of studying, and there's going to be at least one way which suits each person on this planet.

Musical types can learn the words to their favourite songs on Youtube; academic types can pick up vocabulary which will help them speak and communicate better at work by reading the Economist.

EFFECTIVE studying is what matters.

So instead of just saying that studying is limited, EFFECTIVE studying + speaking will greatly enhance your communication skills more than either alone.

Virgin Blue which fly around Oz are now 7kg, as is Air Asia, which is probably the most popular airline for asia. You're only supposed to take one bag per person carry on too, although I saw a few people take 2 on.

Fair enough on the big laptop, I use a 1kg netbook, even the power pack for it is small. My main luxury is my dSLR which is 2kg, most people don't have a camera that heavy.

Books certainly do weigh you down though, I have a novel and local guidebook at most usually, and tend to swap ones I've read at hostels.

The closest I came to paying excess was when I left Korea after studying at university there. I bought so many Korean books; texts, novels, etc. Plus my ordinary university texts and 6 months of life. I had around 60kg in total.. 45kg to be checked. She commented on it in English and I tried explaining in Korean about how they were all books for “learning the beautiful Korean language”. She let it slide with a smile and a not-so-serious sounding “try not to be do it next time”.

I'm not quite “on the road” in the same way a lot of travellers are. I don't stay at hostels and go to many countries over a few weeks/months. I travel to a city and stay put for 3 months, so my living style is a lot less minimalist because of that! I end up living like a local, and locals have stuff Smart travellers need to avoid having stuff because it hinders their flexibility.

My laptop for example is SIX kilos (it's the biggest most powerful one I could get from Dell – installed Ubuntu on it) plus stand, fan cooler, mouse, wires, heavy power adaptor etc. whereas many people may travel with tiny macbooks. That's practical on the road, when you want to swipe it out anywhere to quickly check your e-mails, but my laptop sits on my desk for 3 months without moving even to a café. As far as I'm concerned it's a portable desktop.

After that the weight comes from books (language books, a thick vegetarian cook book) more electronics and wires and then some random items that are not essential to travel but I like to bring with me. It would be stressful and unpractical to travel like I do regularly (once a week for example), but I only do it once every 3 months or so, so it isn't that big a deal for me to use the jacket-hack etc.

Although the best thing someone can do is to simply not bring so much crap with them!! I'd never suggest people travel the world with 40kg. I moved around Thailand for a few weeks and it was mega annoying. Very very slow travel is the only way I like to do it

Ryanair were 10kg just a few weeks ago, but it's possible they reduced it to 7. If this video gets popular enough, maybe they'll add jacket rules too