Before your imagination runs wild, no, it’s not about hopping in a plane with no clothes on! ‘Naked flying’ is a cheeky new travel trend that’s taking off, pun intended, encouraging people to travel with little to no luggage. This travel trend is all about flying with no frills, no distractions, and minimal luggage! Gen Z and millennials across the world are all keen on trying this new travel trend, and those who have tried it, approve of it! So, if you too wish to fly ‘naked’, here’s what you need to know about the latest travel trend.
Naked Flying: What Is The Trend?
Naked flying refers to the travel trend where travelers fly with as little luggage as possible. Travelers skip the usual, bulky luggage – bags, carry-ons, and suitcases, and go for just a single piece of small luggage (like a backpack), a laptop bag, or even just a few essentials tucked in pockets of clothing.
You might be asking what’s the point? Well, the aim is to reduce luggage and stress. Carrying minimal (or no) luggage allows travelers to save time at long check-in counters. No stress of worrying about excess luggage, no need to pay extra charges for the same. Plus, with minimal to no luggage, you don’t even have to worry about misplaced or delayed luggage.
This new ‘naked’ travel trend is all about embracing the ‘less is more’ philosophy. Many travelers have noticed – you might have noticed it too – that each piece of extra luggage can stack up and burden your travel budget.
By letting go of most travel items and bulky luggage and using a small carry-on or packets to carry essentials, travelers not only save on time but also on money. While Gen Z and millennials are surely picking up on this trend, travelers of all ages seem keen to try out this provocatively named trend!
Three Kinds Of Naked Flying
Naked flying isn’t just a one-size-fits-all trend – it has three different and unique kinds. These are as mentioned below:
The first kind is the one that goes ‘all bare’. No extra clothes or personal items, just the bare essentials. With a passport (of course), charger, wallet, mobile phone, and a few other essentials, these kinds of naked flyers take the trend too seriously – but we aren’t complaining!
The second kind of naked flyers are the ones that use their pockets and a small backpack to carry essential items. With just a small backpack and a few pockets, travelers only carry what they need – think of a charger, wallet, a few electronic equipment like power banks or cameras, books, spare innerwear, and a few other essentials.
The third kind of naked flyers do it a little differently – they send their travel essentials, clothing, and luggage to their travel destination via courier service. While this is comparatively pricier and requires advanced planning, it is a great way of skipping long baggage lines.
How Naked Flying Is Changing The Way The World Travels
This trend has garnered attention from several airlines in the United States and Europe, which have started offering exclusive benefits to passengers with no overhead baggage, such as priority boarding, seat upgrades, or faster exit lanes.
It has also garnered attention from many digital nomads, frequent travelers, and those living on the go, across the world. Be it Europe, the Americas, or Asia, travelers are seeing it as a modern, self-reliant, and stress-free way of travel.
Seeing travelers embrace this trend, many airlines are also offering incentives to those with less luggage. Airline carriers in Europe and the United States have started offering exclusive benefits like priority check-in, seat upgrades, and faster exit lanes to passengers with no overhead baggage.
On the contrary, many netizens online have criticized and mocked this new travel trend, citing it as an impractical, rather foolish way of traveling. With little to no luggage, many on social media are of the opinion that this trend can expose travelers to more problems than solutions. Think of inadequate clothing options and no bags to keep your personal belongings, as well as the need to buy items like clothes, medicine, and other essentials in a foreign country.
Summing Up
What do you think of this trend? Is it just a social media fad with a catchy name or THE ultimate way of traveling stress-free? With no extra luggage fees, skipped queues, and the liberty to travel as freely as possible, naked flying does offer a few benefits, especially to those who travel with a free spirit and wanderlust their way through a destination. For other travelers who like to plan and organize their entire trip and prefer packing half their closet with them, naked flying might not be the best option. Which kind of traveler are you, and what’s your opinion?
