When I travel, I always use a small crossbody messenger bag and no one knows it’s my “camera bag” I take a body and 2 lenses that’s it!

I'm with you on going light. I'm gonna be 61 in a couple of months and my wife and I are taking a 6 month trip to the Philippines. I just sold my Sony 24-105mm and 70-200mm OSS lens back to B&H and got the Sony 24-240mm to replace both of those lenses. I still have my Sony 12-24 mm wide angle lens that I'll take with me but I'm guessing most of the time that will stay back at the hotel. I got a really light travel tripod also but the plan is to only take that out for sunrise and sunset shots. During the day while we're walking around everything will be hand held or if indoors, I have my trusty Platypod that'll be in my pocket. I still can't into the idea of using my phone for photos other than quick instagram posts or checking a composition. If I didn't have my Sony A7 rV maybe things would be different but that gets me 20" X 40" prints right out of the camera so if I'm doing any printing, a phone camera just isn't going to cut it.

What about nature shots, not city shots? Waterfalls? Moving water? Ocean shots? Don’t think you can bracket your way out of those shots. Maybe a monopod, if shutter isn’t too slow? Would love to figure a way to go light there.

I get torn. I do like my Sony 24-240mm, but man, it is soft when zoomed in. I travelled with that and the Zeiss 35mm F2.8 for the longest time. These days I have just been using a 24-70mm F2.8 and cropping in on a high MP sensor... but that also has limitations. I am hearing Sony are working on a new superzoom which I might look into when it comes...

I use the Sony A6700 (APSC) with a 18-135 (FFE 27->200) with a tiny tripod. They are all I need.

For stealth, I use a small insulated lunch bag to carry my camera and an extra lens.. Nobody wants to steal a ham sandwich.

I found that the iphone takes better pictures inside dark places better than my camera, so another reason you don't need to carry a tripod.