No single lens can truly cover every situation; traveling with one lens always means accepting limits. The practical choice is deciding which compromises matter least for your style of shooting.

Common approaches are:

• Choose a broader zoom range for convenience, knowing it still won’t do everything.
• Specialize: carry one lens suited to the kind of photography you expect, and accept that some shots won’t be possible.
• Prioritize portability: smaller-sensor mirrorless or compact cameras can offer more zoom range in a lighter package, but usually with some image-quality tradeoff.
• Use your limitation creatively: instead of trying to match every “ideal” focal length, work with what you brought and compose differently.
• Crop when possible: with a high-resolution camera and a sharp wide or normal lens, cropping can sometimes substitute for moderate extra reach, at the cost of resolution.

So the real solution isn’t finding a magic one-lens setup; it’s matching one lens to your most likely needs and being willing to adapt. Traveling light improves speed and simplicity, but versatility, image quality, and size always trade off against each other.