We’re finally on the road! After almost three years of staring longingly at other RTW trippers post photos of themselves posing with their backpacks, we’re doing it for ourselves. So we thought we’d put together a packing list for the blog – yes, it’s a travel blogger cliché, but one that we rather like.
Admittedly, we’re both backpacking for the first time, so I’m sure we’ve brought way too much with us (this was confirmed when we first tried our loaded packs on – aouch), but we’re learning (which means ditching as much as possible along the way).
Gimp 1
Gimp 2
We both bought ourselves the Osprey Farpoint 70 Travel Backpack, Charcoal Gray, Small/Medium
We also bought packing cubes from Muji in Dubai Mall. When you’re going to be living out of a backpack for the foreseeable future, it’s important to have some sort of organisation otherwise you’ll go mad. Well, I will anyway; usually after six days of living out of a suitcase I go a little crazy because I can never find anything, so I just had to buy these to maintain some order (and sanity).
I got myself two medium ones that have two compartments each. In one I have all my tops in one side and all my bottoms and a dress in the other side. In the second one I have all my underwear and a bikini, while in the other side I put my dirty laundry. Genius! I’m also using a small one for all my toiletries, as well as an even smaller one for all my electronic wires, as they can get all messy and easily lost if you don’t keep them in one place.
The Farpoint 70L is like a suitcase that you can wear like a backpack
Ankit got himself two large ones – one for his tops and the other for his bottoms, one small one for his electronic cables, and one for his toiletries. He’s also using the large one that I didn’t need as his ‘laundry basket.’
I’m happy to say that after just six days of being on the road, we’re SO glad we got these. They help you to keep things super organised and tidy. We highly recommend them to anyone who’s travelling, whether that be long-term or just a short trip.
So, what else is in these backpacks of ours? Let’s take a look.
His
Tops
4 tank tops
5 t-shirts
4 polo neck shirts
1 light zip-up top
Ankit’s bottoms
Bottoms
2 shorts
1 pair of jeans
3 tracksuit bottoms
Other clothing
10 underwear
4 pairs of socks
Shoes
1 pair of loafers
1 pair of trainers
1 pair of flip-flops
Ankit’s smelly shoes
Toiletries
Deodorant
1 Lush shampoo bar
Toothbrush
Aftershave
Toothpaste
Razor and beard trimmer
Ankit’s trimmers
Other miscellaneous
Starbucks traveller coffee mug
Velbon DF40 tripod
Electronics
Macbook Pro 13”
Nikon D90 camera
50mm 1.8g Nikkor lens
70-300mm Nikkor lens
18-105mm Nikkor lens
Nokia Lumnia 1520
iPhone 4s
Travel adaptor (we both use this)
Travel chargers
Bose headphones
2TB external hard drive
Loads of chargers and cables
Sea to Summit dry bag
Ankit’s dry bag
Hers
Tops
5 tank tops
3 short sleeved t-shirts
1 black hoodie for when it gets chilly and for travelling on buses, planes etc
Andrea’s tops
Bottoms
One long black comfortable trackie bottoms
Two pairs of shorts
Two pairs of ‘hippie’ trousers (good Lord, I hate that term)
Two light, long skirts
Other clothing
A plain black dress for when I want to be slightly dressier
One bikini
Two colourful scarves
10 pairs of underwear
2 black bras (one of which is falling apart and I plan to throw away very soon)
1 nude bra
1 sports bra
Andrea’s bottoms
Shoes
One pair of flip-flops
Trainers
One pair of sandals
Andrea’s shoes
Toiletries
Shampoo and conditioner
Veet
Deodorant
Nivea SPF 30 sunscreen
Loads of hair grips and bands
Elastic Alice bands from H&M to put my hair back in funky styles
Toothbrush
Soap and Glory Scrub of Your Life exfoliator
Face wash
Razor
Boots nail polish remover pads
Rosehip oil
Tweezers
Andrea’s many toiletries
Makeup/beauty
Clinique superbalanced makeup
Clinique high lengths mascara
Black eyeliner
Face powder
Juicy tubes lip gloss
Eyeliner
Emery boards
Miniature Chanel perfume samples (perfect for sprucing myself up on the go)
3 pairs of earrings and 2 chunky necklaces
Andrea’s makeup bag
Other miscellaneous
Packing cubes from Muji
One extra large travel towel
Two journals
Incense sticks for when I want to make a room feel homely
Hair straighteners (quickly realising that these are pointless and I plan to ditch them in Cyprus later this year)
Sea to Summit dry bag
Electronics
13″ Macbook Pro
Nikon D60 camera and 18-55mm lens
Kindle Paperwhite
LG G2 phone
1TB external hard drive
Sony headphones
Loads of different cables and chargers
Andrea’s electronics
First aid/meds (we share these)
Andrea’s iron and vitamin D tablets
After bite medication
Antiseptic cream
Activated charcoal tablets
DEET insect repellant
Eno for the stomach
Boots effervescent powder for stomach and headaches
Migraine tablets
Anti-histamines
Just some of our first aid items
So, that’s all! This packing list is appropriate for Southeast Asia, as the weather is generally warm. When we visit India in a couple of months, I imagine we’re both going to have to add a few warmer items to this.
Seems legit for a RTW trip. If you have a base like you originally planned, then that is way too much 😀
Nope, no base 🙂 I still think we can both do with getting rid of a few things, but so far I’m happy with what I’ve packed. I’ll definitely be ditching the hair straighteners, though! Big mistake.
We have exactly the same backpacks, we used them for more than two years and still using them and never had a little complain, not at all. Great choice! We also use soft packing cubes to keep our clothes and everything else tidy and separate, it simply makes it easier to find everything 🙂
We are already in love with these backpacks! So glad we went with them 🙂 And as for the packing cubes – how do people survive without them? They make life so much easier!