I wasn’t planning on going zero bag for a six-day, five night trip to attend the Rubik’s WCA World Championship in Seattle, but a few days before our flight, I said, “Why not?” I wasn’t competing, just spectating. With my family in tow who were both one bagging the trip, I had the opportunity to show them how my Jack Reacher-style of travel worked firsthand. Up until now, they had only read or heard about my experiences before or after my previous three trips to Las Vegas, Chicago, and Spokane.
Public transportation
We flew up to Sea-Tac from San Jose using Southwest Airlines. While Southwest has instituted its new checked-in bag policy, customers can still choose their own seats until sometime in 2026. We hung out with relatives and friends the first two days before getting settled into our hotel in Bellevue on Thursday. The conference ran four days, Thursday through Sunday, so we only attended the final three days.
When he’s not “borrowing” cars from bad guys he beats up, Jack Reacher travels primarily by bus and trains. And like the fictional modern day knight errant, we took the bus from Bellevue to downtown Seattle each day. This meant taking a local King County bus before transferring to either the 550 or 554 ST Express that went over the bridge. Adults pay $2.75 for the KC bus and $3.00 for the ST Express. Youth under 18 are able to travel on buses for free (they have to pay a discounted price in the San Francisco Bay Area). So, that came out to $23 roundtrip each day for the three of us, far cheaper than paying $60 for a one-way Uber ride, or $120 for roundtrip.
I found the bus experience to be quite pleasant, as long as the bus was on time; there were two days when we had to walk back to our hotel after crossing the bridge into Bellevue because we missed the bus. The walk was under two miles, and since we were unencumbered, it was—mosquitos aside—just fine.
Upon our return to San Jose, we even took the VTA bus back to our house. Convenient, almost as fast as taking an Uber, and much more affordable. The bus driver just waved us through without having to pay with our Clipper cards!
Black Coffee
In the novels, Jack Reacher drinks coffee like it’s water. When I am traveling like Reacher, I eschew all the foam and sugared coffee creations and opt for his go-to, black coffee.
I am not a regular coffee drinker, however, and I wasn’t going out of my way to buy coffee on this trip. The hotel offered free breakfast with coffee each morning from 6:00 to 9:30 am. So I loaded up on a cup or two to get me to the championships. I also took advantage of the free coffee at the airport lounges in San Jose and Seattle during our travel days.
A new jacket
This was also an opportunity to try a slightly different load out. When you are not bringing that much to begin with, there isn’t that much you can change. Years ago, I had purchased this Western Rise Meta Shell rain jacket. Described as “the ultimate men’s rain jacket for travel and outdoor activities,” the Meta Shell packs into its own sling bag. In this configuration, there is an external zippered pocket for storing a small amount of items. The main pocket where the jacket is packed into can also be used for some storage. To maximize the available space, it’s important to pack the jacket instead of stuffing it in haphazardly.
The Meta Shell replaces the Uniqlo Utility jacket that I brought to Chicago and Spokane and the Scottevest Pack Windbreaker that I wore in Vegas.
It’s warmer than both of those jackets, which was useful because inside the Seattle Convention Center was cold. The built-in hood also came in handy when I was attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes while walking from the bus stop to our hotel. While it did not rain at all in Seattle, the Meta Shell would have been ready for it— the Uniqlo or Scottevest would have gotten soaked in a downpour.
In warmer weather, I was able to convert the jacket into a sling. The Scottevest packs into a pouch, but doesn’t include a sling or waist belt. The Uniqlo is not designed to be packed, so I would have had to fold it in half and carry it draped across my arm.
As for the downsides, the Meta Shell cannot hold as much gear. In jacket mode, it has two side pockets, an inside breast pocket, and a back pocket (which is the external pocket in sling mode). Stuff in the back pocket is visible in jacket mode. Put too much stuff, and the back of the jacket will sag.
When we got back to San Jose, the temperature was 80 degrees. This was way too hot to wear the jacket, so I converted it into sling mode for the short walk back home from the bus stop.
Tech thoughts
If I brought the iPad mini, it would sag in the back pocket or be a really tight fit in the side pockets. I was able to write the bulk of two blog posts—including this one—using just my iPhone 15 Pro Max and read several e-books I checked out from the library.
There were two days when the iPhone’s battery got into the dangerous territory of reaching 20% or less before the end of the day. As we were traveling primarily by bus between our hotel in Bellevue and the convention center in downtown Seattle. I used Apple Maps to calculate transit directions, which taxed the battery via the GPS. Taking photos and videos also drained the battery. I have yet to purchase a combo charger/battery so I had to plug in for a spell along the walls of the convention center. Many other people had the same problem, and I saw dozens of phones plugged into wall adapters or battery banks during the conference.
Unlike my Spokane trip, I didn’t have to plug in anyone else’s devices into my Anker Prime 67W charger, so I could have opted for a smaller and lighter charger. The Anker MagGo 3-in-1 was left in the hotel when we went to the conference, as I didn’t need to charge the AirPods Pro or my Apple Watch Ultra during the day.
Gear list
Here is the complete gear list for my zero bag trip to Seattle:
Clothing
- Western Rise Meta Shell
- Bluffworks Ascender Chinos (Black)
- Bombas Socks
- Puma ankle socks
- Running shorts with built-in briefs
- Ex-officio briefs
- Icebreaker wool shirt
- Synthetic shirt
Personal care
- Travel toothbrush
- Electric toothbrush head
- Five strings of dental floss
- Travel toothpaste
- Collapsible hair brush
- Disposable razor
- Toiletry bag
Tech
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- Apple Watch Ultra
- Anker Prime 67W charger
- MagGo 3-in-1 travel charger
- 3-foot USB-C cable
- AirPods Pro
Other
- ESR MagSafe wallet with ID, two credit cards, and cash
- Vapur collapsible water bottle
- Saucony Cohesion 14 shoes
Once again, I washed my clothes, except for the pants, pretty much every night during the trip. This kept everything fresh and ready for the next morning. One night, I had forgotten to hang dry my socks and underwear, so I had to use the hotel’s hair dryer to speed up the drying process before we left to go to the conference.
Small concessions
Traveling with family afforded me some small concessions to deviate ever so slightly from a 100% zero bag experience.
As I listed above, I brought my electric toothbrush head with me on this trip. That’s because my wife brought the electric toothbrush itself. I used that during the trip instead of my travel toothbrush. An electric really does a better job of cleaning one’s teeth.
I also used my family’s larger hair brush, since bigger is better. But I could have easily used my collapsible one if it was just me.
Lastly, I sometimes stored my full water bottle in the side pouch of my wife’s backpack. The Vapor has a small carabiner, and I would like for my pants to have a strong attachment point separate from the belt loop on which I can clip the bottle onto when walking around. If I had the jacket in sling mode, I could have clipped it onto the strap.
Another zero bag trip in the books
I saw tons of sling bags and backpacks among the contestants and spectators at the speedcubing championships here in Seattle. I would be extremely surprised if there were any zero baggers at this conference, and I doubt anyone was one bagging, so these people were likely just bringing their day packs, slings, and waist packs with them to the conference. Safely stored in their hotel rooms or cars was the rest of their luggage: roller bags, larger backpacks, and suitcases.
Were I competing, I would have had to bring all my cubes, such as 2x2x2, 3x3x3, 4x4x4, 5x5x5, 6x6x6, 7x7x7, skewb, megaminx, pyraminx, clock, and square-1 to Seattle. Bringing all of those is definitely incompatible with zero bagging, but it’s possible if I one bagged with a backpack or big sling bag. This is purely a hypothetical situation, as I will never be good enough to compete in a cubing competition. These people are insanely fast!
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog!
tow.com 
Leave a comment