In this article I will discuss exactly what I packed, and how I packed, on my 3-month journey – a journey which took me from the busy streets of Tokyo, to sleeping deep in the jungles of Borneo.
All I took was one backpack, weighing less than 7kg – carry on size. I recently returned from what was, when I set off, an open ended trip around the world. This was my second trip of the year and ended up lasting a little over 3 months. Over the course of both trips this year, totaling nearly 6 months combined, I have learned a great deal about what to pack, what not pack, and what I will do differently next time.
Please please stop paying attention to those ridiculous articles which argue that you must have a certain kind of backpack in order to made it through each day. You know, those that claim that you simply will not survive without an Osprey 5 trillion, or whatever the latest fashionable bag on the market is. If it will be your first solo trip, or first time travelling, it is only natural to have concerns. But, your time and energy is far better spent thinking about the things which will really help you when you’re on the road.
Jump to:
- My FULL packing list
- Clothes
- Toiletries
- Travel documents
- Health
- Technology
- Miscellaneous
- The backpack
- On the phone – essential apps
My FULL packing list
What I wore and had on me when I left my front door:
- 1x Oxford shirt
- 1x Pair of jeans (1x belt)
- 1x Jumper
- 1x Underwear
- 1x Pair of socks
- 1x Pair of brogues
- 1x Mobile phone
- 1x Headphones
- 1x Wallet (Containing debit card, driving license and cash from my own country)
If like me you plan to travel with just a carry-on bag, it is best to wear your heaviest clothes when catching flights. For example, jeans, long trousers, and larger shoes. There were 2 major mistakes I made above.
MISTAKE: Firstly, as I live in the UK, a jumper seemed like a great idea for the journey to London to catch my flight. However, I did not wear that jumper a single time over the next 107 days. Leave your jumper, and most definitely any coats, at home, providing you plan to visit somewhere consistently warm, like Asia.
MISTAKE: Secondly, brogues – what, I have a soft spot for brogues. Whilst I did originally wear them with jeans – I ended up buying trainers for pure comfort, and as a different option to flip flops when wearing shorts – which was more often. Just take trainers with you. Preferably some which are versatile enough to wear with both your long trousers and your shorts.
What I had on my back when I left my front door – one carry-on size bag, weighing way less than the 7kg allowance.
Clothes:
- 4x Oxford shirts
- 2x Shorts (1x belt)
- 1x Swim shorts
- 1x Flip flops
- 5x Underwear
- 4x Socks
Toiletries
- 1x Wash bag
- 1x Clear plastic bag for bottles of toiletries – for airport security
- 1x Toothbrush
- 1x Plastic case for toothbrush
- 1x Toothpaste
- 1x Floss
- 1x Shaving gel
- 1x Razor – for airport security, take a cheap molded plastic one, not one with a detachable razor
- 1x Moisturiser
- 1x Shower gel
- 1x Deodorant
- 1x Eau de toilette
- 20x Ear buds
- 1x Nail clippers
- 1x Micro fiber towel (100x50cm)
Travel documents
- 1x RFID passport and document wallet
- 1x Passport
- 1x Yellow fever certificate
- 1x Piece of paper with travel insurance contact phone numbers and policy numbers on
- 1x Credit card
- 1x Debit card
- 1x EHIC card
- 1x House key
Health
- 1x Small first aid box
- 6x tablets for pain relief or headaches, for example Anadin
- 6x tablets for the runs, for example Imodium
- 10x plasters – variety of small sizes
- 4x blister plasters
- 1x Small bandage
- 1x Safety pin
- 1x Hand sanitizer
- 40x Multivitamins
- 1x Anti-pollution mask
Technology
- 1x Worldwide travel adaptor
- 1x Portable power bank
- 1x Mobile phone charger (No cable)
- 2x Micro USB cables (1x original cable with phone, 1x 2m cable)
Miscellaneous
- 1x Small sewing kit (Including needles, thread, buttons)
- 1x Sudoku book
- 2x Pens
- 1x Combination padlock
- 1x Black tape
- 10x Precut short pieces of strong string
- 6x Plastic shopping bags
There it is, a complete list of exactly what I took on my latest trip – but, I made mistakes, costly mistakes. Below I’ll break down exactly what I did right and what I did wrong when packing and how you can avoid those mistakes.
Clothes
MISTAKE: As mentioned, one of the biggest mistakes I made in the wardrobe department was taking brogues, or actual adult shoes. Subsequently, when I finally invested in some trainers, I was carrying way too many long socks which were of no use when wearing my shiny new trainers with shorts. I had to buy ankle socks on the road. Instead, if you take trainers from the start, pack 5x ankle socks for wearing with shorts, and 3x long socks for wearing with jeans or long trousers.
Only take what you will wear
This is the section which will vary depending on what you feel comfortable in and feel comfortable wearing for an extended period. The idea of only taking a carry-on size bag might make you feel like you are at a disadvantage compared with those taking a larger check in bag. Yes, they will have more clothes. But, do you, or do you not, consistently wear your favorite few shirts, t-shirts, and tops when at home. If, like most, you do, then taking a larger bag simply for a greater selection of clothes is not only utterly pointless, but it will be costly when you have to pay extra for check in luggage on flights. If you choose to take a small bag like me, the reality is you will just have to spend more of your time in launderettes.
Dressing for all occasions
As a gentleman’s rule of thumb, it is always better to be over dressed than under dressed. By always wearing shirts with a collar, I felt equally as comfortable at both a 5-star hotel in Bangkok and a tiny bar in a remote town in northern Cambodia. In Asia, for example, clothes are very inexpensive so you will be able to pick up more on your travels if you need to. Or, if you really want to embrace the irony – you can even pick up a nice pair of elephant print Aladdin trousers.
Toiletries
TIP: Use roll on deodorant. Spray cans are physically larger, don’t last as long, and can be frankly annoying for other people if you decide to stay in a dorm. Using roll on deodorant avoids those annoyances and is equally as effective at doing the job deodorant is designed to do.
TIP: Invest in one medium size micro fibre towel. If you plan to stay in hostels – be aware that not all hostels provide a towel. Even if you are taking a ridiculously oversized check in bag, a standard towel will become extremely annoying when you have a wet through towel every morning you take a shower and check out shortly after. Don’t bother taking 2 towels either – there is no need to have 1x hand towel and 1x bath towel. Just find a medium size one. You won’t need a bath towel size – you won’t be walking from the dorm to the shower with a towel wrapped around you. A good medium size micro fibre towel also has the added benefit of being perfect for those beach days!
Take a good travel wash bag
A good travel wash bag is a solid investment. However, that doesn’t mean you have to go out and spend big buying a new one. Chances are, you will already have a great travel wash bag or 2 in a draw or cupboard somewhere in your house right now. Think of those shower gel and deodorant sets you get for Christmas or your birthday – the free bags you get with those are perfect. Take the smallest bag that you can cram all of your toiletries in to. Also, try and pick up a cheap plastic toothbrush case if you don’t already have one. You will be on the go a lot and it is just a good hygienic investment!
Razors
If you want to take a razor, try and find a wash bag with a separate compartment on the bottom to avoid cuts when reaching in to the main section of the bag. Also, leave the 12 blade super razor you have at home. To be safe when it comes to airport security, take a molded plastic one. These are the ones which are usually sold in a multipack.
Bottle sizes – airport security
When it comes to the toiletries themselves, if we are travelling with only a carry-on bag, we have to consider the size of bottles. At major airports, the security can be a little tighter on bottle sizes. However, if you will be travelling throughout Asia, and taking plenty of short haul flights, don’t worry as much.
In Asia, we are talking about airlines where the head steward will often open the cockpit door to have a quick chat with the pilot. Unheard of in the west. This lax attitude by airlines is comparable to lax airport security when it comes to carry on bottle sizes.
Again, you may have some small bottles of shower gel or deodorant lying around from gift sets last Christmas, if you don’t, invest in the 100ml size bottles to get you started. You will need to buy more during your travels anyway.
Travel documents
MISTAKE: This was my single biggest mistake over both trips travelling in Asia this year and everytime i have travelled. Invest in an app based travel money account and card – if you have a UK address, you really should be using Revolut. Revolut is an app based bank account which is free to use and charges you a 0% fee for all foreign currency transactions – your current high street bank will probably charge you 2 or 3% for every transaction. With Revolut, you get a free digital card to – meaning you can add your digital Revolut card to your phones e-wallet, and make contactless payments with your phone. Extra piece of mind should you lose any physical bank cards. Even if that happens you will still be able to make fee free contactless payments with your phone. For more information, see here, where I further explain the benefits of using Revolut, and how to get yourself set up with an account in no time.
TIP: This isn’t 2005, don’t photocopy your passport and secretly stash it in your socks. Save paper. Instead, take photos of all your important documents, such as your passport, and upload the photo to a cloud service. That way, should the worst happen, you can access it from anywhere. Even if you become separated from your phone, you can still access most cloud accounts from a computer. I used pCloud.
TIP: For some reason, most people travel with one bank card and the, I’ll ever lose it attitude. If you have a spare account with a spare bank card, even with a different bank, take that second physical card. Keep both cards separate – ideally keep the second card in a passport and document holder in your backpack. That way, if you lose your primary bank card, you can simply transfer money online from your primary account to the secondary account, and still have a physical card to use to withdraw cash. Before you leave your home country, remember to get some foreign currency in cash for your first destination.
Take a passport and document holder
I found a good passport and document holder to be a great investment. In my back pocket, I would only ever have a small wallet with just my debit card, driving license and some cash. That meant all of my other important documents needed to be in one place, organized and secure. Here, you can keep all the things you will only need every now and then; your passport, vaccination information, a written copy of travel insurance phone numbers and policy numbers, spare debit and credit cards, and cash.
Keeping your belongings safe
These are also great for security. If you will be staying in hostels, then it’s important to be aware that not every place will have a locker provided which is large enough to keep your bag secure under lock and key. However, more often than not, hostels will at least provide a small locker for you to keep your valuable items. A small passport holder containing the important documents mentioned above, will be easy to take from your main bag and keep locked in one of these smaller lockers.
Security on long distance bus journeys
In addition, you may plan to take some exciting long distance bus trips, those which take 12 hours and cross international boarders, for example from Bangkok to Siem Reap. In that situation you may have to be separated from your bag, for example you might be asked to place your bag in the hold. If you have a passport wallet then you can easily grab just one item containing all the important stuff and keep it with you at all times – something you should be doing if making such a trip. This protects against people taking advantage of you being separated from your belongings and helping themselves.
Make sure your passport holder is RFID ready
Another growing security issue to be aware of is the use of contactless card and document scanning devices to steal details from your bank card. Realistically, this is a scam we are more likely to experience in crowded areas within major cities, rather than at a pit stop in the middle of absolutely nowhere on a 12-hour bus journey. However, to easily counter this very current threat to our money and documents, simply make sure the travel wallet you buy or use has RFID. My small wallet in my back pocket even has RFID, and is another inexpensive way to keep your hard earned money secure.
Health
TIP: Tablets – let’s be honest, you’ll be on holiday, you’ll enjoy some beer or a few cocktails – take paracetamol. Of course they also double up in case you have any actual aches and pains which aren’t self-inflicted! If you’re going anywhere near Asia, you might love the food, but it won’t love you – take some tablets for when you get the runs ahead of that big cross border bus trip, or planned day of sightseeing on that one day you have in a city. I took 6 of each, don’t take too many, just enough so you’re prepared. You will need more throughout your travels but you’ll be able to pick them up locally to keep yourself stocked on the road.
Take a first aid kit
You absolutly need a first aid kit. Don’t take everything, just a small one to save space and weight. There is no point in taking too much because if you need more than just a plaster, chances are you’re going to be making use of that travel insurance and visiting a hospital. Adjust this to your trip, if you’ll be hiking through the jungles of Borneo more than the average traveller – take more blister plasters. If you’re from the west and you plan to spend 2 months in India – take more tablets for the inevitable runs you’ll become good friends with.
Technology
TIP: Invest in a good quality worldwide travel adaptor. Look out for an adaptor which has both an outlet for the plug from your home country and has USB outlets built in. The one I use can take a three pin UK plug and 2 USB cables at the same time – perfect for charging multiple devices.
TIP: Take a portable power bank. Unless you have a ridiculous amount of tech, then don’t take a large brick like power bank. I opted for something small, a chunky bank card sized power bank, something I could stick in my pocket and forget. Even small power banks will still give you well over a full charge for your phone – do you really need to carry around something which will charge your phone 5 times over – probably not. It will be bulky and heavy; things we need to give consideration to if planning to travel light.
Take a long cable for your phone
Technology will vary for everyone and what you deem essential to have with you, whether it’s wireless headphones, a camera, or a laptop. If you plan to take a laptop, you will not be able to travel with solely a carry-on bag – laptops simply weigh too much. If you’re travelling light, as I did, at least take a couple of spare micro USB cables, or whatever type cable you need for your phone. Consider taking at least 1 cable which is around 2 metres – not all dorm rooms are created equal. Although in most you will have a socket by your bed, that won’t always be the case, and the socket might be some distance from where you’ll be sleeping for the night.
Miscellaneous
TIP: Do not buy travel packing cubes – really, how are they actually a thing! Cons – they cost money, they weigh more, and they restrict how you can pack your bag. Instead, use plastic bags. I used them to keep my shirts, shorts, socks, underwear, dirty clothes, and flip flops separated. The best thing about them is that you can arrange the inside of your bag exactly how you want in order to maximize space, plus you can easily compress them! Yes, I know it is plastic – but you will more than likely already have some laying around in your house, or be given more when you go shopping between now and when you leave. They have already been produced so help the world and make use of them.
TIP: Make your Mum proud – take a sewing kit. You could be that annoying person who asks everyone in the hostel for a needle and thread, or you could just do being an adult well and take your own. If you have one, the complimentary sewing kits from hotels are perfect. If you don’t have one of those, get hold of a small container, no bigger than the size of a matchbox. Take white and black thread to be versatile, a few needles in case you misplace one, and a few buttons. 4x buttons is perfect, if you need more than this you can easily pick them up at a market or shop. Remember, most items of clothing have spare buttons in those little clear plastic bags stapled to the inside – one to remember if you’re on the road and in need.
TIP: Take a combination padlock – do not take a padlock with a key. Losing a key won’t end well for the zip on your bag and will be very frustrating. These can be useful to secure the compartment in your bag containing your passport and document holder, or for those annoying times when a hostel has a locker – with no padlock! If like me you don’t have expensive cameras or headphones in your bag, 1 padlock will be fine. If we have a passport and document holder, like the one discussed above, then 1 padlock is enough to secure the most valuable compartment in our bag. Is there a need to secure the compartment with your shorts and socks in – no, there is not. Some hostels will provide a locker large enough for your bag, but will want you to provide your own padlock – we therefore don’t need 6 padlocks because our whole bag will be safe and secure in 1 locker.
TIP: Take some tape and strong string. These are 2 very useful things to have. I used the black tape to wrap the loose straps on my backpack to stop them getting caught and to stop them from generally flapping around and annoying me. The string, I used to tie together the holes in my mosquito net deep in the jungles of Borneo. There are many more uses, items such as these take up very little room even when you want to travel as light as possible.
Books
The extent of my commitment to travelling light is that I almost left my Sudoku book at home! My treat to myself in the end, and extremely useful on the plane when the phone police onboard insist on your phone being switched off for takeoff and landing. I could oblige, and simply take out my puzzle book and pen. Even if planning to travel light, a small puzzle book won’t harm your weight limit – but, be cautious of taking too many heavy books. Leave the lonely planet books and romantic novel you’ve been meaning to read at home.
The backpack
This article is not going to recommend a specific backpack – the best backpack you can take is one you already have, and one that you feel comfortable with. If you plan to travel light and just live with a carry-on size bag, then the only other important thing to check is that it is within the airline carry-on size and weight limit.
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The backpack I used was a Sandpiper of California three-day pass black. Sounds great, but it wasn’t perfect. I liked it becasue it had plenty of compartments inside to help me keep myself organised on the road, and the main compartment opened up suitcase style so saved me having to take everything out to reach something at the bottom. At full capacity, this bag would be slightly larger than the maximum dimensions that most airlines allow. However, by tightening straps I kept it compressed and within the size limit – most of the time anyway. I was asked to weigh my bag once in 12 airport visits over 3 months. The truth is, most people take those small suitcases as carry-on luggage these days, and therefore airline staff never question someone with just a backpack.
Disclaimer: This article may contain affiliate links, clicking through and paying for these products or services may result in this website getting a commission at no additional cost to you.
