I've been on one trip (England), and am preparing for another (Belgium and environs), in both of which I spend a few weeks in an academic setting and then spend another couple of weeks seeing sights. In both cases I have a nice room to myself for the first half, but then I go from hostel to hostel in the second half. My solution so far is to pack as lightly as possible for the first half and resign myself to carrying around more than I'd otherwise do for the second half. Are there any good ways to alleviate the difficulties of such a trip?