My two big photo/travel months, in New York and the Amalfi Coast were done in opposite ways. In both cases, I was staying in a rented apartment the whole time, so I could have whatever gear I wanted there and just take what I wanted on a particular day. In New York, I basically had ALL of my gear. And there were days, particularly early on, when I took too much of it, shot with a small portion of what I took, and felt pretty stupid about it. So then I learned to bring less out each day and I had a great time and it helped me narrow down how much gear I needed in general, not just on that trip. I sold a good bit of stuff when I got back - of course I bought a good bit of stuff in NYC that month too! For the Amalfi Coast, I basically took four fixed lens cameras, all of them small. Two weren't actually fixed lens, but since I only brought one lens for each, they effectively were. One almost never left the apartment, but it was still nice to have for the amazing views we had from our deck. If I had it to do over again, though, I'd have brought an extra lens or two for that camera, to get even more reach. It wouldn't have taken up much room in the luggage and it never would have gone into the camera bag anyway. The other three were my most commonly used focal lengths, all in small setups. And most days out, I took two or all three of those, and sometimes just one of them. I never felt like I had too much or needed to justify shooting with each. I shot with what I wanted to. And never really felt the desire to have ore or less in the small bag this all fit into. I had a freaking awesome time shooting on both trips and having too much or too little gear was never more than a momentary concern or distraction. I wouldn't trade either experience for anything. The was nice to have but was secondary to the experience...
So I'd say bring less if you KNOW which portion of your gear you really want to shoot with. And if you don't, bring more and figure it out. Of course this depends on your mode of travel. If it's all on your back, I'd take as little as possible. If it's in the car or in an apartment or hotel room and you can choose what to take each day. take what you want and don't worry about having too much with you - just use what you want when you want it.
-Ray