All good tips above.

A few other tips I learned in the long distance hiking world are:

1) You should be able to wear all your clothing at the same time. Everything should work together as layers. This will reduce your clothing bulk quite a bit.

2) Decide whether you are going on a camping trip or a cycling trip and pack accordingly. When I finally figured out I enjoy cycling more than camping, I stopped carrying heavy camping gear and the cycling got much more fun.

As a subset of the above, consider going stoveless, though that's definitely not for everyone. My "kitchen" used to take up an entire front pannier. My travels improved when I left my stove at home.

I have successfully resisted the urge to carry electronics and am happy with that. I enjoy library visits for internet use and journaling. I carry a few sheets of paper with crosswords and Sudoku puzzles instead of a book. Again, I spend little time "camping"--if I'm not cycling or being a tourist, I'm sleeping.

Good luck with your quest.