My Gear

What's in my backpack and what's not?

I often get asked how I travel with such a small and light backpack—here is my urban packing list for long term travel.

While there's no “best” packing list as we are all different, many items are common among all backpackers, just swap out the obvious items.

You’ve booked your flight, but what do you pack? I spent a long time carefully selecting my travel items before leaving the UK; however, I have held off writing this article as many items have changed or been discarded as I learned what worked for me and what didn't.

The best way to decide on your packing list, is firstly by laying everything that you think you need, out on a bed. Next read online articles by other backpackers to help refine what items will remain.

Backpacker Type

I would describe myself as an urban backpacker, compared to a traditional hiking backpacker. This is important as it dictates the items you will be carrying. There is no need for hiking boots, tent, bed etc. The occasional hike/trek aimed at tourists is easily handled by using trainers or sports sandals. At the most extreme, I am only a few days away from normal shops and never in serious need of anything, this allows me to pack fewer items. You will find that you will need and use far fewer items than you had planned.

My Philosophy

Simplicity & minamalism with very few items is how I choose to travel; less is more. Fewer items means less time is spent choosing, sorting, washing and ultimately less to worry about. Importantly, less means a lighter load on your back and being able to travel more quickly by not having to check in your bag when flying. If you are on a long trip like me, taking many regional flights, means saving at least £25 per flight by not paying for hold luggage.

Carrying a large, heavy and bulky 70-90 litre backpack onto a bus or the back of a motorbike taxi is not fun. You will also have to place a large backpack into the hold or roof rack of a bus/coach which means being separated from it, which could be a security consideration.

A few other points to consider is that it's very rare to find a hostel with lockers big enough for a large backpack, mine however usually fits in easily adding to my security. Walking long distances is often part and parcel of being a backpacker. When it's hot, it's not even fun with my small backpack.

Essentials

There are some obvious essentials that any traveller must have. As long as you have a passport and money you can go pretty much anywhere even forgetting your backpack, as everything can be purchased. Always check you have these items before leaving for any trip.

Climate

I had planned to be in warm parts of the world where the temperature tended to be a minimum of around 75 degrees. My clothes reflect this, and therefore summer based. When it gets cooler, I simply wear multiple layers. I think I have only had to use my fleece and rain jacket (which I no longer carry), for a few days in the past two years.

Colours

With a cleverly thought out clothes colour palette, you can enjoy a diverse wardrobe with relatively few items. I have a total of 10 looks all based on different shades of blue.

My Backpack

If you exceed 7kg/15.4lbs, you start running the risk of exceeding the carry-on weight limit for many budget airlines like Air Asia. The current weight of mine is 7.5kg/16.5lbs. I have found that as long as you are pleasant at check-in, you rarely get asked to weigh your bag. With the cheaper airlines like Ryanair or AirAsia, I take the precaution of taking out my camera prior to approaching the check-in desk, when they see how tiny it is, they overlook it.

Having a smaller backpack immediately means you will pack fewer items. On a previous 3-month trip, I had a 38 litre roller cabin bag that was too heavy, my current backpack, of a similar size, without wheels is 3kg lighter. The trend seems to be for smaller & lighter backpacks with regular washing in mind. A problem with traditional large hiking backpacks, is that it's difficult to get things out without pulling out other items first. With mine, everything I use daily is immediately available and even with my less used items, I can get to them in under 5 seconds.

The Vango Zest 40 litre, 1.35kg for £25, has been my faithful friend for over two years and never let me down. my-backpackUnfortunately this is no longer a current model but can sometimes be found online. The Vango Nomad 45 seems to be its replacement available for around £50. For me, the most important specifications are its weight, padded handles, exterior zippered pockets and for it to be fully openable. My current backpack only opens up 75%, making removal of items a little harder.

There are so many well designed and trendy backpacks available now, especially on crowd funding platforms. These are however, uber expensive in the £200+ range! I would suggest looking at other travel blog websites where people recommend backpacks they use. In addition, go over to Amazon where you'll find a huge range of backpacks for under £30.

Packing Cubes

I purchased a set of 3 packing cubes, but currently only use 2 of the 3, with the largest one containing all the items that I rarely use. cube This is packed at the bottom of my backpack and also contains the smallest cube with bits & bobs. After watching many YouTube packing videos, the most efficient was the military packing method, which involves rolling rather than folding clothes, which I highly recommend.

Clothes

Even with this small collection of clothing, I sometimes feel I am carrying too much as 2-3 of my shirts, rarely come out of their packing cube. You only need a few items of clothing as they can be easily washed and dried, normally within hours. clothes If you are worried about wearing the same clothes day after day, don't. Other backpackers will be too, no one cares. Darker clothes can be worn for longer periods as they hide dirt better, sounds gross, but true, which is one reason my primary colour is dark navy blue.

T-shirts, I used to wear, as they are light and easy to wash, especially the Uniqlo high tech ones. I now prefer shirts with collars and buttons when it gets really hot, as they can be fully opened, unlike a polo type shirt which cannot. A brand I have grown to appreciate is Uniqlo. They make cheap and good quality sweat wicking shirts and shorts with shops pretty much world-wide.

Footwear

I started my trip with a pair of well worn Teva sports sandals which lasted over a year of constant wearing everyday. Despite being resoled twice, my-shoes I had to admit they were beyond their life. In addition, the next part of my trip entailed mainly walking around towns and cities so open sandals would look a little scruffy.

I have always absolutely hated trainers but decided to buy a set of breathable ones, which turned out to get very very smelly. When my trainers finally wear out I will just keep my shoe count to three pairs, most people could probably get away with just two pairs. The best overall shoe I now believe are suede leather deck shoes, they can be worn anywhere—from the beach, to any restaurant, bar or high end hotel or club.

Backpacker Essentials

The ear plugs are really really important, I have two sets. One set are soft foam versions for when it's not too noisy, the second set are made of moldable silicone for when things get really noisy with others snoring etc. The eyemask is for when a fellow backpacker returns in the middle of the night and turns the lights on, rather than using the torch on their smartphones!

Gadgets

Charging your gadgets can get rather complicated, but I have made sure everything charges via USB cables, including my camera. This means I don't have to carry a battery charger and cable separately for the camera as I just plug it into the USB charger like everything else. gadgets When I eventually purchase a laptop, I will also make sure that it can charge via USB rather than carrying around a brick of a charger.

A question you should ask yourself is, do I really need a laptop? It looks very trendy to have a laptop when you're in a cafe and you're a digital nomad, but I've been able to use my smartphone for over a year and a half to create content for all my websites, do all the photography, the editing and uploading via FTP, all without a laptop.

Toiletries

My toiletries bag is ultra simple as I don't need sunscreen lotion and I can buy pretty much anything I need everywhere, so I just carry the bare minimum. toiletries I'm not fussy about using particular soaps etc., I just use whatever is available at my hostel.

Other

As smartphones are getting so big and cumbersome, keeping it inside a small pocket, is far from ideal as it can easily fall out. One of the most essential items that I purchased was a smartphone belt holster that holds my 6-inch smartphone, reading glasses and money. To store my shoes, I use recycled shopping bags which double up as shopping bags! I didn't want to bring my more expensive reading glasses, so I make do with cheap disposable ones which get scratched up and broken fairly easily anyway.

Items Discarded

Items Not Needed

It's very rare to read travel articles making reference to what isn't needed, which I think is also useful. Although highly personal, here is my list, including a short reason why....a few may surprise you!:

One last vital item to pack...is of course your smile—I'm sure everyone will enjoy backpacking as much as I have...happy travels everyone.

HOMEPAGE

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If you have any comments, questions or just want to say hello.....let's chat

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