🧳 How to pay $0 in baggage fees

Welcome to the Freaking Nomads Newsletter, your weekly dose of stories, insights, tools, and opportunities for digital nomads and remote workers building a life without borders.

Hey Freaking Nomads,

I am that person sitting on her backpack at the gate, trying to squash it 3cm smaller before boarding.

And I’m NOT ashamed of it 😜

In five years of nomading, I have never paid for a checked bag. Not once.

(Ryanair, if you’re reading this, I know you hate me!)

It wasn’t always this cute, though. My first year I packed like I was moving house. Three fancy tops. A hairdryer. A pair of heels I wore exactly zero times across four countries.

So now I have one rule: if it doesn’t fit in the carry-on, it doesn’t come.

My CabinZero 28L fits the free under-seat sizer on Ryanair and Wizz Air. I got so obsessed with this that I wrote a whole guide measuring bags against every budget airline’s rules.

Here’s what survived five years of me being ruthless.

Right now I’m in Europe, and it’s freezing cold. A couple of months ago I was sweating through my T-shirt in Indonesia.

Same bag. Same clothes.

The trick isn’t packing winter clothes. It’s layers:

A merino base layer: Smartwool merino tee. Beach T-shirt in Bali, thermal under everything in winter. And it doesn’t smell after three days, I swear on my life.

A packable puffer: 32 Degrees packable down jacket. It squashes into its own pocket and doubles as a pillow on night buses.

A rain shell: Columbia Arcadia II (women’s) / Watertight II (men’s) for wind, rain, and plane aircon set to Arctic.

If you’re cold, wear all three. If you’re hot, wear just one.

This is where carry-on gets tricky, because tech is heavy and none of it is optional.

Laptop, obviously. My Anker power bank, which legally has to fly in the cabin anyway.

An Epicka travel adapter that actually charges a laptop. Most can’t, and Luca just tested a bunch for our new adapter guide.

Noise-cancelling headphones, for the baby in row 12 (there’s always a baby in row 12).

And an AirTag in the bag, because sometimes the gate agent makes you check it anyway 🙃

For everything else, my phone does it.

I have lost so many full-size bottles to airport security. RIP to a very expensive sunscreen I've ever bought 🪦

Now it’s a solid shampoo bar from Ethique. Solids don’t count as liquids, so suddenly the tiny liquids bag has room again.

GoToob+ silicone bottles for whatever can’t be solid. And sunscreen, I just buy it when I land.

Is it always glamorous? No. I’ve worn the same three outfits in every photo for five years, and my friends have noticed.

But walking straight past the baggage carousel while everyone else is still waiting is… Chef’s kiss. Never going back!

So tell me. What’s the one thing you’d actually pay the baggage fee for? Hit reply. I promise not to judge (much).

Until next week,

Irene

Let’s try something new 👀

Can you guess the country by just looking at its shape?

Hint: it’s a nomad favourite, and probably one you’ve been to or keep saying you’ll go to.

Vote and you’ll find out straight away if you nailed it. If people love this, it becomes a weekly thing, so tell me if it’s too easy 😏

Who is hiring this week? Here are some top roles to check out:

For my first couple of years on the road, I carried actual paperbacks.

Books are beautiful. They’re also heavy, bulky, and done after one read.

So if you’re trying to go carry-on only like me, the Kindle Paperwhite has been one of the easiest swaps I've ever made as a digital nomad. It’s a whole library that weighs about the same as one paperback.

Why it works for life on the road:

Kindles often go on sale around Black Friday, so if you’ve been on the fence, this is a good time to keep an eye on the price 👀

📚 Check the Kindle Paperwhite on Amazon →

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📚 Want more digital nomad guides? Read our articles on all things nomad, including travel tips, budgeting & finance, legal and taxes, community, productivity and more.

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We'll see you there, Freaking Nomads 👋