I travel light but I still pack days (sometimes weeks) early because once it’s done, it’s done.
Also, unrelated but I don’t care if I look like a tourist. I am a tourist, doing touristy things.
Your mom is overpacked.
My pack is 3 days of clothes, a spare pair of shoes, medicine and the necessary papers/electronics.
Buy, take, break, throw it away.
That’s a good attitude to have when you are trying to calm a mind anxious about whether you forgot something, but it is a really wasteful strategy long-term
Traveling light and buying everything at your destination are two completely different things. It’s not an imposition to carry a backpack around.
Yup, passport and money are the necessities. Probably want a change of clothes too I guess. Everything else is just nice-to-have things.