No Baggage

by Clara Bensen

Newly recovered from a quarter-life meltdown, Clara Bensen decided to test her comeback by signing up for an online dating account. She never expected to meet Jeff, a wildly energetic university professor with a reputation for bucking convention. They barely know each other’s last names when they agree to set out on a risky travel experiment spanning eight countries and three weeks. The catch? No hotel reservations, no plans and, best of all, no baggage.

No Baggage will resonate with adventurers and homebodies alike—it’s at once a romance, a travelogue and a bright modern take on the age-old questions: how do you find the courage to explore beyond your comfort zone? Can you love someone without the need for labels and commitment? Is it possible to truly leave your baggage behind?

One dress, three weeks, eight countries—zero baggage.

Clara Bensen originally came to the public's attention with her Salon article from 2013, entitled ‘The craziest OkCupid date ever’. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Memoir, Romance, Biography, Biography Memoir, Audiobook

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Clara Bensen’s 2013 Salon.com article entitled “The Craziest OKCupid Date Ever,” was read by more than half a million people. The story of her luggage-less adventure attracted major national and international attention, with coverage in USA Today, and appearances on The View, Fox News. No Baggage has also been optioned by New Line cinemas.

Clara and her partner Jeff have made four subsequent no baggage trips, to South America, the Caucuses, Scandinavia, and Japan. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Reviews

[Lorilin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clara Bensen is 20-something and unsure of who she is and what she wants. After graduating college, she begins the process of applying to grad schools…but ends up having a nervous breakdown instead. Months of existential crisis and social isolation ensue. Eventually, she begins to feel ready to join the land of the living again, so she creates an online dating profile and meets Jeff. After only a few weeks of dating, they decide to travel around Europe together with virtually no luggage. Just to see what happens.

While I like the premise of this book–and while there is no doubt that Bensen is a thoughtful, earnest person and a good writer–I can’t say that I really LOVE No Baggage. First, I wish the book had been more about Bensen and less about her boyfriend. Oh, I get the appeal. Believe me, I’ve been there. He’s a little bit crazy. He’s kind of fun, and he helps you get out of your head. But he’s masquerading as a Relationship Pioneer! when really he’s just unwilling to do the hard, hard work of talking through the inevitable crap that comes up when you are in an adult relationship. (Those episodes of silent treatment followed by “everything is fine now!” is called stonewalling and avoidance. John Gottman wrote a great book about that–and other self-preservation tactics–called The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. It is wonderful and worth checking out.) Basically, I wish Bensen had been able to forget about Jeff for a little bit. Let it happen or not, you know? Make HIM do some of the emotional heavy lifting. If he wants you, he will come to you. If he doesn’t, well, at least go out there and have a good time–just for you.

But then again–and this is the other part of the book that irks me–Bensen reminds me SO much of myself at 20. Seriously, I kept thinking of going through these exact same experiences at this exact same age. (And my present self still can’t decide whether I should go back in time and give myself a hug or punch myself in the face.) On the one hand, I completely understand where she is coming from. This is the time when you are more me-focused. Your thoughts on life are so important. You think you are revolutionary for discovering that you don’t matter as much as you thought…yet, somehow NO ONE IN THE UNIVERSE understands this like you do. You aren’t special, but somehow you still are? Ugh, I get it. I wish I didn’t, but I do. Unfortunately, though, this hyper-self-aware mental masturbation just doesn’t make for the best reading material. It’s self-indulgent. And even if you don’t mean it do be, well, it’s pretty much always going to come across that way.

In the end, I think this book is the best it can be for what it is. It’s a good start, and Bensen is definitely on my radar. I’ll just be expecting a little more from her next time.

[Marta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes the star system seems so cold. "It was okay" implies a nose wrinkle, when really I respect the courage it takes for a shy, anxious person to travel for six weeks in one dress with only a tiny purse for security. Additonally, Bensen knows how to tell a story: where to intersperse dialogue and description into what is essentially a lot of introspection about her internal and external travels.
For people who adore the long articles in Oprah magazine, this book is a great fit. It is intelligent and filled with insights into personal growth. I am not one of those people, so it was a bit too much time reading about someone's inner journey to be truly enjoyable for me.

[Lee at ReadWriteWish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Travel memoirs aren’t big on my ‘to read’ list, but this one had a cute cover and an interesting premise, so I thought I’d give it a go. Am I happy I did? Well…

Let me start with the premise. Clara’s new boyfriend, Jeff, invites her to go on a vacation to Europe with him. But there’s a catch. He insists they go on this holiday with no firm accommodation bookings, and more alarmingly for Clara, no luggage.

Yep, the idea is they rock up to the airport and jump on a plane to Turkey wearing only the clothes on their backs. Don’t think there’s any cheating with carry-on bags or huge backpacks either. Clara’s allowed only the essentials in one small handbag. And Jeff’s so strict on this rule, even toothpaste isn’t considered essential.

See, sounds interesting! I was thinking endless fun descriptions of foreign countries, enough to give me the travel bug, along with some screwball comedy and a little romance (Jeff and Clara’s relationship is quite new).

I would have loved that book.

I didn’t get that book.

Yay for Bensen finding herself by travelling with Jeff and indulging in some public therapy by writing this memoir, but instead of empowering or inspiring me, it feels like she's transferred her depression over to me. I did finish the book, but only just. Reading this made me feel like I was stuck in the corner with a ‘me generation’ twenty-something girl who has suffered no real crises during her short life, yet wants to impart upon me her intellectual ideas on the meaning of life (all aided by her brilliant university education) at a party where I'd be just happy to dance and get drunk.

Even the premise isn’t as adventurous as one first imagines. The couple only go for three weeks (not so long without washing your hair! like camping really!) and they do take money, so emergency accommodation, clothes and other essentials can be bought if desired.

Instead of fast paced and fun, I read about the years she was so paralysed with some kind of fear/depression (for no particular explained reason other than being an ex-home schooled high achiever with parents that were madly religious at one time) that she couldn’t even get out of bed.

Going out in the world again does happen though, and she meets Jeff on an internet dating site. I find this odd. You’re just learning to cope with society and life in general, so you throw yourself to the mercy of an internet dating site?

Anyway, I could have perhaps enjoyed this book much more if it wasn’t for Jeff. I really want to slap Jeff (which is awful because he’s a real person). I feel like he would drive me mad in real life. He’d be one of those people I’d need to avoid, should I give in to temptation to tell him he’s an idiot.

Not only does Jeff come across as totally immature on the page, he also reads controlling. (Yes, he's the survivor of a bad marriage, but that hardly makes him a special snowflake these days.) Everything on this trip has to be done his way, and when it’s not he either walks off in a huff or gives Clara the silent treatment for hours upon end. And I really wish I had never read about his public sex kink (or Clara's menstrual issues). Still, Clara insists, in length, that Jeff is exactly what she needed after her breakdown. Her seriousness was evened out by his spontaneity, or something or other.

Perhaps this book would have worked for me if Bensen had turned her story into a fictional novel (with that little bit of comedy and romance), because I can’t complain about the way she writes per se. I also think someone younger than I am might love this book with a passion. Most of the time Clara and Jeff’s ‘adventures’ simply made me feel old and staid and I felt like I wasn't 'getting it'.

There might be lots of people out there that adore this book, but I am old, and impatient, and cranky, so I'm giving the book a 2/5.

[Yeng]

"Within a few days of knowing one another, they embark on a 21-day travel adventure—from Istanbul to London, with zero luggage, zero reservations, and zero plans."

Did not finish.

Sorry but I just couldn't do it. I've tried reading this for multiple times now after requesting it from Netgalley. I was really intrigued from reading the synopsis! But after failing to finish it a thousand times, I now decided to just DNF it. It just wasn't for me. The character's felt a bit off and boring. The main male character also felt too philosophical for my liking. It's so full of description of places, which is understandable since they are traveling, but I'm honestly more interested on their struggles from traveling the way they did, which I didn't really saw.

I swear I really tried!

*A copy was provided by Netgalley for an honest review.*

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am sorry to say but this wasn't for me. I felt like it was all about Jeff's philosophy on the world, which I got in the first twenty pages and was laboured throughout annoyingly. Especially since Jeff is represented as, well, kind of annoying. He might not be but this was my perspective.

Not enough travel detail or substance for me but others might like it.

[Julie Bestry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, I hated this book. OK, that's not true. I hated almost everything about the author, Clara Bensen, and her travel partner/boyfriend-but-don't-say-the-word-"boyfriend," a guy who doesn't wash his ONE PAIR of underwear for three weeks and only washes his body once per week. The rest of the people in the book (save another unbathed type, a walk-on character who takes Ecstasy and prompts the author's jealousy) are benign, and at some times intriguing. I'd have enjoyed trading stories and shopping for shoes with Ezgi or taking a dance class and dining with Veroniki. But the protagonist is practically a ghost in her own life, and her boyfriend doesn't care which people or whose culture he insults.

Were this a novel, I'd have stopped after the early chapters, but because it was a memoir of sorts, I was curious. Months after beginning her recovery from her mental breakdown, Bensen goes on OKCupid, agrees to date a guy (a professor) more than a decade her senior. He's two years divorced, has a five-year-old daughter, and illegally sleeps in his campus office in advance of his open plan to sleep in an empty repurposed dumpster. Yes, this is Jeff, the great unwashed love of Bensen's story. (You can smell him from here.) Four months into their ambiguous, allegedly "open" relationship, they agree to travel to Europe with only the clothes on their backs, a wallet, hat, and small notebook for him, and a small purse for her (containing two spare pairs of underwear, two tampons, and deodorant). Her fancies-himself-a-free-spirit beau and deems toothpaste to be a luxury.

The book is part memoir, part travelogue, and part "look how poetic I am" and all ridiculous from the perspective of adulthood. I'm all for people taking a foray into minimalism. I favor downsizing and aspire to traveling lightly (though, if one cares about hygiene and requires lifesaving medicine, perhaps this lightly is impossible), but this author and her boyfriend take themselves ridiculously seriously, to the point that Bensen's great epiphany is, "Maybe there was something to be said in praise of an outwardly unremarkable life. Maybe there were deep, everyday forms of magic that had nothing to do with profound accomplishments or a Twitter feed that resonated down through the ages." — reported without tongue firmly in cheek.

I've given this two stars -- recall, you can't give fewer than one -- for two reasons. The writing is not bad, per se. Bensen (or her editor) has enough of a command of the English language that there are no agonizing grammatical errors. And I feel that Benson should at least be given some credit for getting something (money, a creative endeavor) out of the two years of pain caused by her weakened mental health (severe depression) prior to the beginning of her tale. Yes, I am crediting her a star for survival, much like the "participation" awards we are accused of according Millennials, of which Bensen is otherwise quite an annoying, stereotypical example. Her breakdown, as she shares it, comes from believing that her entire life is supposed to be one clear, defined path to a certitude of greatness. Only a twentysomething in the 21st century could get a publishing deal for a fairly boring story that reflects a Cliff's Notes version of the cities she visited, tales of awkward stories about a guy she knows well enough to sleep with but not well enough to tell how she feels, an undercover anti-Feminist focus on defining herself through relationships with men, and worst of all, a book that is all about her unhygienic boyfriend's philosophies of travel and life with scant attention to her own beliefs beyond a propensity toward lofty language about ancient ruins and the earth after a rainstorm.

Atypically-homeschooled Bensen could have written a decent travel memoir. She could have written a memoir of her descent into depression and her deliverance. Instead, she chose to pick highlights of the two and wrap them around a tentpole of an homage to stinky Jeff (whose only redeeming features are that he is easy-going — except when he is horrifyingly not — and that he purchased pads for her in a country that does not sell tampons, which just shows how foolish the author was to travel for the better part of a month to various Asian and European locales without so much as a toiletry bag). The gory TMI aside, this could have been slashed to make a decent feature for a woman's magazine or long-read on Medium, but as is, it's un-funny, lacking in entertainment value (except for one brief, angry anecdote) and more than a little pretentious.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd have enjoyed this book much more if Jeff weren't such an asshole & if Clara hadn't put up with his immature bullshit.

[Jane Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was more 3 stars, but I'm adding another star for the courage it takes to travel baggage free.

As a writer, and publisher of kids travel books, I liked No Baggage. I travel with only one small carry-on bag, which most people think is impossible, so the idea of travelling completely baggage free is appealing to me. (Mind you, I travel with 4 kids too...)

It takes guts to do what Clara Bensen did, especially after battling debilitating anxiety. She's clearly an intelligent woman, with an interesting take on the world. My problem with the book is her boyfriend, Jeff. He comes across as a bit of a wally and so much of the inner conflict in the book revolves around him. As a result, Clara ends up sounding 'young'... I get that he's unusual... but she's so much more interesting than him, and she hands the tale over to his uniqueness rather than making it about her own.

Her mental health issues, the struggle with stepping out into the world in such an extreme way, and the places she visited were so much more interesting to me than the relationship with Jeff. I hope any future books dig deep into those areas. In doing so her true talent as a writer will shine.

I'll definitely read her next book. I look forward to seeing where Clara Bensen goes next as a writer.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book chronicles a three-week vacation- where Bensen and maybe-boyfriend Jeff bring nothing but the clothes on their backs. Interspersed are memories of Bensen's nervous-breakdown and how she met Jeff.


I found the book to be disjointed. The trip really took backseat to relationship worries that painted Jeff as almost entirely unlikable, and Bensen slightly unbalanced. There was also quite a bit of time spent exploring Bensen's "existential crisis,' which read more like a self-indulgent fissy fit. Rather than garnering sympathy, it all felt very forced and melodramatic. I would have like to learn more about Bensen's travel experiences, and how her grand no baggage experiment played out.

However, all that criticism aside, Bensen is clearly an intelligent and skilled writer. Her research into the scientific and mathematical implications of coincidence or Greek philosophers is stellar. Her thoughts on the nature of being are quite interesting as well.


I understand that Bensen and Jeff continue to travel sans baggage. I'll be interested to see how future writing manifests itself.


*I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good memoir will inspire you and a good travel memoir will make you excited to see what's out there in the world. This book did not neither. I am one of the a-hole readers who doesn't empathize with her anxiety and cringed at how she falls right into the millennial stereotype. She does occasionally interlace her narrative with interesting history on the countries she's visiting, but most of the time I'm wincing at her portrayal of her relationship with Jeff. I finished the book within a day; it's an easy read so I'm not too annoyed that I spent time on this.

[Shauna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed that there wasn't very much travelogue -- the different places seemed mostly to be jumping off points for the author to talk about her mental breakdown or her relationship with her travel partner. I wanted to hear more about the people she met, the day-to-day delights or hassles of traveling they way they did, and so on.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I binge listened to this book in one day because it's about meeting a guy on ok cupid and then deciding to travel halfway around the world with him after knowing him a month, and I met a guy on ok cupid and decided to fly halfway around the world with him after a month so it's kinda relevant to my interests. We leave for Thailand Tuesday!

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The other reviews that I read praised Clara for her bravery, for eschewing luggage and all the paraphernalia that one brings on vacation. Actually as you read the book and think about it, that is the easiest way to travel and I'm surprised that most people don't travel that way. I applaud her bravery on just getting over a two year bout of psychological issues, with dropping everything in her life, meeting a new man and just taking off without being paralyzed by fear that while thousands of miles away she might relapse. This is a book well worth reading.

[Clarisa Amador Jimenez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro excepcional, que aborda temas como la salud mental, temas de filosofía de vida y sobretodo, viajar por el mundo sin equipaje, literal. Una pareja que viaja por 3 semanas sólo con lo que tienen puesto.

Me encantó vivir la experiencia con ellos. Sin duda alguna, algún día, me gustaría también vivirla en carne propia.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book while traveling on vacation myself. I started it on the 3 hr plane ride home yesterday and finished it after I landed and got home. I loved everything about this book - the writing style, the thoughts on philosophy, the commentary on mental illness, the story of their travels, and the story of their relationship. I was impressed that this was Clara's first book, she has a beautiful writing style that speaks very personally to me - it is a very visual language, full of metaphor and beautiful prose. Another way of putting it is the way Clara described her own thoughts in the book - "mental poetry". When she describes the roles her and Jeff played throughout their travels, she says "I processed the magic of the environment. He moved us through it. I was poet. He was steersman." I felt this was wonderfully accurate, and I loved the poetic way Clara described her experiences. Many times I felt that she is an HSP (Hyper Sensitive Person) like myself - "It had taken me most of my life to realize that my nervous system was more sensitive than the average kid on the block. Not everyone walked into a party and intuitively felt the inner emotional landscape of the guy doing Jell-O shots...the boundaries between the outside world and myself were porous and paper-thin. I was constantly away in emotion - some of it my own, but much of it not." I also loved the obvious intelligence of Clara and Jeff and enjoyed the meandering philosophical conversations and references that were included. Their embrace of the uncertainty and messiness of life was inspiring and refreshing, and I'm so glad I picked this book up on a whim.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A number of years ago I had a nightmare about arriving at the Portland airport at 5:00 a.m. carrying only a book which had only 45 pages left to be read. I didn't think about the fact I had no luggage or carry on bag with fresh undies or my tweezers(!), all I could think about was that 45 pages was not going to last very long and I needed another book for the European flight I had ahead of me. I raced around the airport but couldn't find any place to purchase another book! As you can see, it was a very traumatic dream, so I was very intrigued by "No Baggage" and snagged an advance copy at BEA.

Imagine boarding a plane for an overseas trip carrying nothing but a purse with a few essentials plus to add to the stress, traveling with a guy she had just met through an online dating site. Ultimately the book is part travelogue, part romance, and part musings about her post-college breakdown. I would have liked to read more about other experiences and sightseeing on the road but she's an engaging writer and enjoyed reading about her life and relationships.

I'm also hoping the finished book has a few photos as the ones I found of their trip were fun to view, especially the one with all of their travel belongings laid out on a table.

[Sharon Siepel · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a person that is (barely) old enough to be Ms. Bensen's mother, I got caught up in this book from the perspective of being a mother young adults and teens. A third of the time I wanted to give Ms. Bensen an encouraging hug and hot cup of tea, another third I was having an anxiety attacks over her safety and well being, the other third I spend saying, "You didn't just do that!" or covering my eyes saying, "TMI, TMI."

A deeply personal book, Ms. Bensen pours her life on paper in a very well-written fashion. I expected there to be more information about the actual travel and less on her past, but the past is relevant and makes the story more interesting. Just know that this book encompasses relationships, childhood memories, spiritual exploration and mental health, as well as how Ms. Bensen and her partner manage to survive traveling with no luggage for three weeks.

[Monica Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

I checked this book out back in 2017 from my local library and read it over a weekend.

Needless to say, it was so unmemorable that I bought it at a second hand bookstore recently and it only took me a page to realize what I had done.

It’s not really a travel memoir- it’s more of a social experiment.

#bookvoyagechallenge

[Gerdine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spullen maken niet gelukkig... Erg leuk om dit op reis te lezen. Je gaat heel anders kijken naar je bagage;-)

[Virve Fredman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tämä oli oikein viihdyttävä ja kiinnostava kirja vastikään tutustuneesta pariskunnasta, joka lähtee Yhdysvalloista Eurooppaan kolmen viikon matkalle ilman matkatavaroita ja vaihtovaatteita. Claralla on mukana pienessä käsilaukussaan vain parit alushousut, kaksi tamponia ja hammasharja (sekä varmasti passi ja maksuvälineet) sekä päällä yksi mekko. Paitsi ettei heillä ole matkatavaroita, ei heillä myöskään ole mitään tarkkoja suunnitelmia tai varauksia majoituksen suhteen, vaan ainoastaan menolippu Istanbuliin ja aikomus lentää takaisin Yhdysvaltoihin Lontoosta kolme viikkoa myöhemmin.

Kirja kertoo paitsi Claran kokemuksia äärimmäisen minimalistisesti matkustamisesta, mutta kuvaa myös pariskunnan uutta suhdetta. Lisäksi se käsittelee Claran omia mielenterveyteen liittyneitä vaikeuksia.

Clara on selvästi todella nokkela nainen ja kirjoittaa todella sujuvasanaisesta ja rikasta kieltä, minkä vuoksi kirjaa oli erityisen mukava lukea. Äärimmäisen minimalistisessa matkustamisessa on mielestäni myös jotain kiehtovaa, joten kirja oli senkin puolesta inspiroiva. Oli myös kiehtovaa lukea, kuinka kaikki aina järjestyi jotenkin, vaikka mitään ei oltu suunniteltu. Tällaisista kirjoista tykkään!

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the plot was interesting enough to give it a read, and I got it super cheap from BookOutlet so I figured why not and I am really glad I read it. It felt so honest and open about everything Clara and Jeff went through those 3 weeks traveling and the truth in the struggles and triumphs. Their relationship was complicated and not "normal" in the standard way but it was real and realistic and theirs completely. It was a relationship where I wasn't rooting for them to stay together or not, I was rooting for both of them to grow as their own people and to enjoy their experiences and enjoy the time together. It wasn't about if they made it or not, but the path they took together.
4/5

[Hope Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a sucker for books that focus on personal journeys, travel, and minimalism. This has all three! I love the honesty in regards to mental health and the sense of adventure. It makes me want to travel and explore my own city more, and it’s so unfortunate that I’m this time of COVID even that’s limited! I guess it just means I’ll have to plan for the future!

[Sarah Walsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone told me to read this book because it’s about travel and I like travelling. ITS NOT A BOOK ITS AN EXTENDED BLOG POST. This dipshit went on a 3 week holiday and turned it into a 200 page narrative of comparisons between America and turkey. Waaaaaaaaaay to much descriptions about train rides, and standing in lines. And also..., there are 4-8 pages of explanations on the couch surfing app. Firm no. Calm the f down on your three week holiday mate. It’s not that interesting and you are not eat pray love.

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a recipe for a fantastic wedding toast or a recipe for disaster: take someone you've been dating for a few weeks and embark on a three-week whirlwind through Europe, taking only what will fit in your pockets and a small purse. Add to that that one of them is a commitment-phobe and the other is barely functioning after an extended quarter-life crisis, and there you have it.

Bensen wrote an article about said trip and (I presume) got the book deal as a result. I love the idea—not sure I'd have the chutzpah to do that sort of thing myself, but then that's kind of the point: here are two people going against the grain, both resisting attachment (they spend most of the book being carefully non-committed) and taking a step (multi-week travel together) that most couples don't take until later in a relationship (unless they're, say, teenagers on a school-sponsored trip...but that, uh, isn't quite the same thing).

I really would have loved a bit more of the travel end of it, though. Perhaps in an effort to up the stakes/drama/length, a lot of attention is paid to Bensen's mental health crisis and then this looming question of whether or not Jeff will ever commit to something more than a day in advance. In some ways it's less a question of what it's like to travel with someone you don't actually know that well, or what it's like to travel to all these places without luggage, and more a question of whether or not the relationship will last...and while that's a much more universal theme, it's also a more done one.

Still, in terms of the latter, there are some interesting relationship dynamics at play. Take these:

That's how he was. Tension was always followed by a silent split. Then he'd show up a few hours later as if he'd forgotten about the offending incident altogether. Speaking anxieties into the air--giving them audible weight--was an act of vulnerability. Safer to just skip it and move on. If he opened to me, I might do the same to him. And then where would we be? It wasn't so easy to "keep things simple" with our underbellies exposed. (95)

I had to spring to keep up with his long, frustrated strides. He didn't mind being lost when he chose to be lost, but this was different. We had somewhere to be and he was failing to get us there. (189)

I realized my mistake as I put my finger on the map. "Oh dear, oh dear..."
"What?"
"Well, I'm a bit turned around..."
"WOMAN, WHERE ARE WE?"
"We're on the wrong side of the Thames," I confessed, close to tears. "I was holding the map somewhat...upside down."
"FUCKING HELL!" Jeff's face was red. It was the first time I'd ever witnessed him lose control. And over such a mundane predicament, too. We'd fallen into the classic couples argument, replete with crumpled map and shouting tirade (all we were missing was the part where I ordered him to pull over and ask for directions). He did compose himself quickly, to his credit. (275)

Jeff's the one with the hangups about commitment and the drive to travel in this sort of way, but he's also the one who falls apart when his non-planning doesn't work out as he'd...planned. And even when things are going well, there's always this undercurrent of 'will this still be going well tomorrow?' Not because of the travel uncertainties, and not because they haven't been together long, but because for all that they trust each other in some some ways—some important ways—they also don't trust that the other person will still be there tomorrow.

Realistically, I would have read this even if the reviews had been terrrrrrrible—travel memoir with a twist is right up my alley—but I probably would have gotten equal satisfaction from the article.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was thrilled and elated with probably the first 10% of this book. But it turned out it covered all of the fascinating aspects of the book in those initial pages and was pretty repetitious from then on. I got this book from audible.com and it was read by the author something that I always find interesting. The author was 25 when she was having the experience of this book and her coat traveler I guess was in his 30 somethings.

One of the most engaging topics for me in the book was the effort of the relatively newly acquainted couple in having an open relationship. I made a similar effort once in my past so I was intrigued that the book included that aspect of life and relationships. The personal history of the author was interesting. She was home schooled as a member of a very fundamentally religious household. She also had a history of mental illness. This was alluded to fairly regularly in the book without much detail. I wanted to do more immediately but by the time she got to a link the discourse on it in chapter 14 I found her discourse on the topic to be flowery and uninformative.

The travel log aspect of the book was pretty poor. They traveled with the clothes on their back and not much else. They occasionally stayed with people located at the last moment through something called couch surfing. They had no planned itinerary. A lot of pages are spent detailing their interpersonal relationship and squabbles. The idea that they could let the next moment and tomorrow take care of itself was emphasized to the extreme. The fact that they cut their adventure short by a day or two to rush back home to Texas was telling I thought. They made it seem like that was part of the adventure since they were in London and rushed off to the airport when the flight was leaving in two hours.

According to the short epilogue they have stayed together for the two years following this adventure and have made other similar trips out into the international realm. They're open relationship which was maybe never really an open relationship seems to be a committed unmarried arrangement. I am now following the couple on Facebook so may have some notion of their future life.

[Muphyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book makes me want to travel with a lot less "stuff" than what I do... I expected it to be mostly a travel account about Bensen's adventure basically travelling with just the clothes on her back but it is much more memoir and her attempt to openly deal with her anxiety and depression than travelogue. In some ways it feels like some kind of public confession or therapy, and that would have been ok if she'd just dug a bit deeper into the whys of her anxiety attacks. She never really goes there, except for stating that she was trying to find the meaning of life. She was lost, didn't know who she was and what she wanted to do; I get it, I've been there myself, it's not that unusual when you're in your twenties but somehow her analysis only scratched the surface. Maybe she just didn't want to bare it all publicly but then some other (sexual) parts are just too explicit (especially for my liking) to warrant avoidance here.

Overall an easy, honest read that leaves you with some food for thought (seeing life as experimental and letting go of stuff/preconceptions/expectations...). But it also strangely made me feel sorry for how lost she was and her view of relationships, though the epilogue seemed to indicate that she's moved on and that life is much more stable now (yet still full of crazy adventures and further 'no baggage' trips).

Lastly, one thing I did appreciate was her open way of dealing with her period while travelling and the challenges periods on the road bring. I'm sure this would put of a lot of (American?? Australian?? :) ) readers but I actually found it refreshing since these things hardly ever seem to get mentioned in travelogues (or maybe I've read too many travel memoirs written by men).

[marlin1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a bit of a closet 'armchair' traveller. I love travel books which immerse me into the exotic or not so exotic of every day life and while this book was easy to read, it wasn't really what I was expecting.
A short time after meeting Jeff on an online dating site, Clara has agreed to accompany him on a three week 'No Baggage' trip. With just the clothes their wearing, toothbrush, passport and phones they set off starting with a one way ticket to Istanbul and ending in London with a return ticket home. On the way they organise to couch surf around the cities they travel through.
While this title is called 'No Baggage' I came to realise that both Clara and Jeff have a huge amount of emotional baggage, which their both working through. Jeff has come out of an unsuccessful marriage which has caused him to live a minimalist lifestyle and Clara suffers from anxiety problems.
I found Jeff's behaviour very exasperating at times, all over the place and unpredictable and I felt it came across in the book that Clara often had to tip toe around his moods.
The story jumps back and forth between their time overseas and Clara's narration of life before meeting Jeff and I guess this is the point it comes back to, that it wasn't a travel memoir in the way I had envisioned it.
Still, as previously mentioned it was easy to read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read and review.

[Nicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skimmed more than read. I think I’m too old and sensible for this type of thing. While I’m all for traveling lightly, there are certain hygiene related items that a young woman is going to need on her holiday. Not really a big surprise when you end up in a situation in a non English speaking country!
Also, Jeff. Seriously? Wow sign me up for a winner like that. Walks out on his wife and child because he needs to be free. I get that kids aren’t for everyone. Hell, they’re not for me either. That’s why I don’t have any. Maybe Jeff should have thought it over too before committing to one! And then this not discussing the relationship and free reign to be open to others, sleeping illegally in his office, waiting for the universe to provide. Oh sorry, isn’t that expecting other people to provide for him? Nup. I really wasn’t impressed with him. Which is a problem since the book is more about Jeff than actually traveling.
The author just seems lost honestly. Being homeschooled in a religious environment and having had a breakdown. I think she’s a woman looking for someone to tell her how she should feel and it looks like Jeff’s the one to tell her how. Her writing is okay, but it’s not quite the book it’s marketed to be.

[The Distracted Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

My counsellor initially recommended this book to me because she kept thinking that Clara Bensen is someone I would definitely be friends with.

Little did she know that Clara Bensen is one of the mental health trailblazers that I'm trying to track down, study, and write about myself!!

Initially you think this is just a travel book (of which I NEVER read, usually) about a crazy minimalist couple on an adventure. And that it is, but the story leading up to their daring trip is, to me, almost more important than the trip itself!!!!

There is a growing momentum (redundant?) of creative peoples willing to share their journeys with (or through) mental health challenges, with brutal honesty, love and humour.

I am jealous of Bensen having so many life epiphanies at a relatively young age, and am definitely intrigued to follow her travel adventures in the future!

[Ericka Clou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I heard about this book back when it came out because it got a lot of media attention for the gimmick of the book which is that two people that just started dating travel Europe together with no luggage. A minimalism book meets travelogue. In reality, the book is more about her existentialism, her strange romance with her travel companion, and a little bit about mental illness. She a very good writer so the existentialism is especially fun to read. The romance was a little difficult to read as her romantic companion is in turns withholding and teasing, and that is totally not my scene.