One of the things I quickly became obsessed with when planning our trip was packing lists – I just can’t get enough of them. I’m fascinated by what to take travelling and have searched out as many backpackers’ packing lists as I can find. They’ve really helped us decide what we need to take with us and have been invaluable in the travel planning process.
We’ve been slowly buying all our gear over the past year to spread out the cost, which you can read about in our pre-trip costs post. Now, seven weeks before we leave, we’ve collected everything and have even had a trial packing session (I know, we’re keen!). So here it is – the complete packing list for our travel adventure.
Our Round the World Packing List
Here’s our complete list of what to take backpacking.
Packing
Osprey Aura 35L backpack
Osprey Atmos 38L backpack
2 Eurohike compression sacks for our dirty clothes
2 Vango small compression sacks for our underwear
2 Vango large compression sacks for the rest of our clothes
Eagle Creek packing cube to store our toiletries and medicines
25L dry sack (to keep our electronics safe)
20L Regatta pack-away day bag
Electronics
Panasonic Lumix GF3 Camera (which we used to take this picture), case and charger
16gb and 8gb Sandisk camera card
Acer Aspire 11.1 inch laptop, case and charger
2 Kindle PaperWhites, cases and chargers (second one not pictured)
2 iPhones and charger
External hard drive (not pictured)
Epilator and charger
Amy’s Clothing
1 pair of linen trousers
1 pair of ¾ length running/exercise trousers
3 pairs of shorts
1 pair of running/exercise shorts
10 tops
2 bikinis
2 sarongs
1 pair of swimming shorts
1 scarf
Regatta micro fleece
Montane featherlight marathon jacket, which packs away into the tiny case pictured
1 long sleeved shirt
Underwear x 10 (not pictured)
Bra (not pictured)
Socks x 3 (not pictured)
Andrew’s clothing
2 pairs of linen trousers
2 pairs of long shorts
1 pair of running shorts
1 pair of swimming shorts
6 t-shirts (1 not pictured)
Long-sleeved top
Regatta micro fleece
Montane Singletrack jacket, which packs into the tiny case pictured above
Long-sleeved shirt
Short-sleeved shirt
Hat
Buff
Belt
Underwear x 6 (not pictured)
Socks x 3 (not pictured)
Footwear
2 pairs of trainers
2 pairs of Havaianas flip-flops
Toiletries and medicines
Seven month supply of contact lenses for Amy
Contact lens case and travel-size bottles of solution
Amy’s eye glasses
Ear plugs
Eye mask
Moon cup (I’ve been using this for about a year already and I love it; it saves money and is eco-friendly)
Somerset shaving oil
Toothbrushes and guards
Toothpaste
Hairbrush and hair bands
Lush shampoo bar and tin
Face wash
Shower gel
Sponge (not pictured)
Razors
Tweezers
Nail clippers
Scissors
Deodorants
Ibuprofen
Cystitis medicine
Amy’s migraine medicine
Travel sickness pills
Diarrhoea medicine
Dulcolax
Plasters
Antiseptic cream
Antibacterial hand wash
Travel wash (for hand-washing clothes)
Travel accessories
2 micro towels
Skross World Travel Adapter 2
2 cotton sleep sacks
4 combination locks
Head torch
Clip torch
Swimming goggles x 2 (I can’t swim without them because of my contact lenses)
Sunglasses x 2
Money belt
Notebook and pens
Wallet with bank cards in
Zipper bags for the following documents:
Passports
Driving licences
International drivers permits
Vaccination cards
Indonesian visas
Passport photos
Photocopies of our passports
Print outs of our first bookings
Did we miss anything essential?
I can’t imagine packing for an indefinite time and for all weather! Just packing for 4 weeks gave me grief because I wanted to keep it to 2 bags but still have some variety. I realized today it didn’t really matter because we have our jackets and scarves on every day so no one can tell (in photos) what we’re wearing anyway! The only thing I didn’t noticed in your photos, maybe I missed it, was gloves and hats for cold weather, and some kind of lightweight boot?
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Hi Patti, yes it was definitely difficult to narrow down what we needed. We aren’t really taking any cold-weather gear as the places we’ve so far planned to visit should be warm, although we still packed the micro fleeces and rain coats in case. We would have liked boots but sadly we just didn’t have room, hopefully our trainers will be good enough for the kind of activities we’re planning.
Love the organization! I find packing so stressful, trying to be strict with what I pack while tormented by the fear of leaving something essential! Looks like you’re on it though. OK, it’s not by any means essential, but what I felt I was missing while traveling before was one nice outfit to wear when going out. Wasn’t so much of an issue in Asia but when in Oz and heading out to clubs/bars/dinner with people we’d met, I felt proper scruffy in my shorts and Converse! Ended up having to go shopping for something so I could get in to certain bars and clubs and walking round identical shops, missing all the sights, really isn’t what you want to be doing in a new city!
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Knowing that we’ve got everything organised on the packing-front has definitely eased some of the pre-trip stress! Thanks for the suggestion, shamefully though, I never get dressed up to go out at all in London so I’m probably not likely to while we’re away – a semi-decent top is about as good as it gets for me! If I feel really out of place I guess I’ll try and get something a bit smarter on the road though.
I am seriously so impressed that you are getting all that stuff into your tiny little bags! Our’s aren’t much bigger, but that extra 10 – 15L, I can’t imagine going without!
Just remember that pretty much anything you need, you will be able to get wherever you go! It’s scary to leave home thinking you forgot something, but when you travel long-term inevitably you have to buy something you didn’t foresee!
Thanks Steph – I’m pretty amazed it all fits too! We don’t have much extra space at all though so I expect most of the time we’ll have to use the day-pack as well. I’m sure we’ll have to buy things along the way, we’ll just have to make sure we swap something old out every time we get something new to make room for it!
Yes, you missed that photocopies should never go together with the originals!
It certainly sounded like that in your list. Ah, and wallets, cash, credit cards… Or are you going without? Then I’ll be really curious!
All that “special & brand new travel gear” must have set you back a fortune. BTW: a couple of large waterproof zip-lock bags are always handy, for example on boat trips, to keep electronics and passport dry. I’ve been on many transfers in small speed boats where water was splashing in and my backpack on the floor was soaked with water, and in Thailand somebody dropped my pack into the ocean. A raincover for the backpack comes in handy, too, depending what your destination is. A larger padlock to keep cheap beach huts secure is sometimes helpful (but can be found in almost every shop around the world), and I don’t travel anymore without a light mosquito net and some string to hang it (so many bungalows have ‘holy” mozzie nets…).
Enjoy the trip!
There is a wallet in the last picture but I forgot to add it to the list; thanks for pointing that out! Yes, we do have a couple of zip lock bags and are planning to keep the copies in a separate pack from the originals; we’ll also split my contact lenses between packs. We also have the dry-sack that’s mentioned to keep electronics and our most important stuff dry although we do need to get new rain covers for our packs (the ones we have are a different brand and don’t quite fit). I’ll look into getting an extra padlock – think I’ll leave the mosquito net though until we get to Asia. Thanks for the tips!
IKEA has some of the cheapest light nylon mozzie nets (the ones with the plastic ring – take the ring out and bin it), rolled up they take up as little space as a pair of shorts, and they need hanging form one central point only, unlike the box-shaped nets preferred in asia, which you need to hang from all four corners.
Thanks Juergen – maybe we can squeeze in a trip to Ikea before we leave!
It looks like you’ve planned well and covered a lot of the key essentials. It should be a great trip!
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Thanks – I’m sure it will be!
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Y’all make me feel like we packed everything but the kitchen sink for our travels! Haha! Nice job on downsizing. I can’t imagine narrowing down to so little, but it will be nice to carry less weight.
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Yep, one of the reasons we’re taking so little as that I’m not physically capable of carrying too much weight comfortably. We’ll see how it goes once we get out on the road!
Good stuff, do you have total respective pack weights?
We don’t have them right at this moment, but we can let you know soon; when we do a final pack we’ll try to weigh them.