I recently spent five weeks travelling around the world and enjoyed some pretty amazing experiences. Telling friends about these, I've noticed that the single fact that interests them most is not my account of the machete-wielding women cutting the grassy verge of a Cambodian road or the overwhelming power of the riptide in the sea off a Sydney beach.

No. What most intruigues people is that we traveled only with hand luggage. My partner, Eoin, might have managed that – he's a man, after all, as they helpfully point out. But me? A woman of 52 with a love of clothes and knickknacks? No way.

I was determined to travel light right from the start. We were going to be taking ten flights spread over our five weeks and I didn't want to spend hours at the baggage carousel or have to lug hefty cases around.

I took just a handbag and a small cabin suitcase, Eoin a back pack and (even smaller) suitcase. This meant limited clothes and shoes, liquids of only 100ml to fill no more than the regulation clear plastic bag and no sharps of any kind.

I did a bit of research, followed a few simple principles – and found to my surprise that it was far easier than I'd expected. More than that, I didn't actually miss ANYTHING. Well, there were a couple of times when I really wanted a pair of nail scissors – but, hey, I went and had a pedicure instead!

So how did I do it? The turning point – when I first thought it might be possible – was when I read a blog that declared any traveler only really needed three pairs of shoes: something to walk in (I took trainers), something for the beach (I took flip flops) and one pair of smartish ballet flats for going out in the evening (I bought mine online – Tieks by Gavrieli). I wore the trainers every time I got on a plane and packed the others.

What else? I followed the golden rule about making sure every item of clothing went with everything else (this meant a restricted colour scheme of blue and grey, but made choosing outfits dead easy). I also bore in mind the excellent principle that I should pack for the best, rather than (as I would normally) the worst, so took a limited supply of medicaments. And I kept my makeup basic – I had an eyelash tint before I left and just took an eye pencil, a tiny eye shadow (grey) and a bronzer. Oh, and my trusty Touche Eclat!

I should point out that we were travelling mostly in first world countries and staying either in hotels or Airbnbs. I was also fortunate enough to be able to afford to buy stuff when I needed it, from a new hand cream in Melbourne to a jumper in San Francisco. I dumped my worn out flip flops then, too.

And traveling light turned out to bring a benefit I hadn't expected. No room for souvenirs! At first this felt annoying – but as time passed I realised how great it was to be liberated from stuff that would only end up cluttering my home – and free to focus on the moment, on each experience as it happened, on our holiday of a lifetime.

Sophie's new book Tha Black Sheep, is published by Simon Schuster and is available from Amazon.